Celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the annual NIH commemorative program on Tuesday, Jan. 17 from 2 to 3 p.m. in Masur Auditorium, Bldg. 10. The 2006 national theme is "In the Spirit of Unity and Service: Remember! Celebrate! Act!" The keynote speaker will be Dr. Clayborne Carson, professor at Stanford University, civil rights historian and senior editor of the King Research Papers Project.

For more information and reasonable accommodation, call Kay Johnson Graham at (301) 451-0859. Sign language interpreting services will be provided.

In honor of the recent retirement of Dr. Philip S. Chen, Jr., NIH associate director for intramural research, the Office of the Director will present the Philip S. Chen, Jr., Ph.D. Distinguished Lecture on Innovation and Technology Transfer on Friday, Jan. 20 at 1:30 p.m. in Lipsett Amphitheater, Bldg. 10.

Chen retired from NIH on Jan. 2 with more than 41 years of service. He conducted research in an intramural lab within the then National Heart Institute from 1956 to 1959, and has been in Intramural Research Program administration since 1974.

Keynote speaker will be Dr. Maria Freire, chief executive officer, Global Alliance for TB Drug Development and former director of the NIH Office of Technology Transfer, an office that Chen started. She will be speaking on "Innovation and Collaboration: Revolutionizing TB Therapy." All are welcome to attend.

The National Cancer Institute's Nanotechnology Seminar Series will resume on Tuesday, Jan. 24 from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Natcher Conference Center (Balcony B). The featured speaker will be Dr. Michael Hawkins, chief medical officer, American Bioscience, Inc., developers of a nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab) delivery platform most recently applied with paclitaxel (Abraxane). The presentation will be webcast at http://videocast.nih.gov.

The lecture series features innovative perspectives on current research and development efforts in nanotechnology applied to cancer diagnosis, treatment and prevention, presented by leaders from both the cancer and nanotechnology research communities. For more 2information visit http://nano.cancer.gov.

Sign language interpreters will be provided upon request. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation should call Travis Earles at (301) 496-1550 or the Federal Relay, 1-800-877-8339.

The Wednesday Afternoon Lecture series — held on its namesake day at 3 p.m. in Masur Auditorium, Bldg. 10 — features the R.E. Dyer Lecture on Jan. 18. It will be given by Dr. Bruce Beutler, professor, department of immunology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla. His topic is "Sensing Infection: Toll-Like Receptors and the Genetic Analysis of Mammalian Innate Immunity."

On Jan. 25, Dr. Mitzi I. Kuroda will discuss "Chromatin Organization: Non-Coding RNAs and Dosage Compensation in Drosophila." She is HHMI investigator at Brigham and Women's Hospital and professor of genetics, Harvard Medical School.

For more information or for reasonable accommodation, call (301) 594-5595.

The Work and Family Life Center will hold a seminar on "Harnessing Your Potential with an IDP" on Wednesday, Jan. 25 from noon to 2 p.m. in Bldg. 50, Conf. Rm. 1227/1233L. As Casey Stengel once said, "If you don't know where you are going, you'll probably end up somewhere else." Creating an individual development plan (IDP) helps you identify goals and resources as well as develop an action plan. Learn the importance of "beginning with the end in mind."

Friday, Feb. 3 is National Wear Red Day, a key activity of NHLBI's Heart Truth campaign. Join Americans nationwide in wearing red to show support for women's heart disease awareness. For more information about the campaign, National Wear Red Day and the Red Dress pin — the national symbol for women and heart awareness — visit www.hearttruth.gov.

The NIH Tae Kwon Do School is offering a beginner's class for adults and mature teens starting Feb. 6. The curriculum combines traditional striking arts, forms and sparring with emphasis on self-defense. No experience is necessary. Class will meet in the Malone Center (Bldg. 31C, B4 level, next to the NIH Fitness Center) from 6 to 8 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, and will continue for about 2 months until participants can be integrated into the regular school training. Dues are $40 per quarter and a uniform costs $30. Interested persons are welcome to watch regular training sessions. For information call Andrew Schwartz, (301) 402-5197 or visit http://www.recgov.org/r&w/nihtaekwondo.html.

Representatives of the U.S. Bone and Joint Decade (USBJD) met recently with members of the NIH community to discuss progress made since 2002 and information on relevant new programs. NIH director Dr. Elias Zerhouni spoke to the group and emphasized the importance of bone and joint research as medicine increasingly makes the transition from treatment of acute to chronic diseases. He also spoke of interdisciplinary approaches to medical research as being more important than ever before. Seated at the table are (from l) Dr. Henning Birkedal-Hansen, acting deputy director, NIDCR; Dr. Janet Austin, director, NIAMS Office of Communications and Public Liaison; Dr. Joan McGowan, chief, Musculoskeletal Diseases Branch, NIAMS; Dr. Stephen Katz, director, NIAMS; Zerhouni; Dr. Nancy Lane, president, USBJD; and Dr. Regis O'Keefe, past president, USBJD.

The NIH Record appears today in one of its four seasonal colors. The two-color production began with the Oct. 7, 2005, edition, which was a brownish red. That was the fall hue. The winter shade is purple, and will persist throughout the season. There are also spring and summer colors ahead. Don't be fooled by the cosmetic changes, though. What you are reading is still "The Second Best Thing About Payday."

The campus's own Building 6 Boys Plus entertained at a number of parties in December, continuing a holiday tradition at NIH. Present at a Dec. 14 gathering at the FAES House were (from l) Jim Nagle, NINDS, dobro; Steve Stahl, NIAMS, guitar; Jim Tomlin, CIT, mandolin; Kate Saylor, NIDCD, fiddle; Ken Weeks, NINDS, bass; and FDA's Jim Rice on banjo. The group, plus or minus a few members, has been playing bluegrass and other acoustic music for 10 years. A favorite venue, because of its good sound, is a conference room in Bldg. 35. The band also plays outdoors in fair weather.

The National Institutes of Health participated in Telemundo Washington’s La Feria de la Familia 2005 (the Family Fair 2005) held Dec. 11 at the D.C. Armory. An estimated 2,000 people visited the health and fitness section of the feria where they received health information, promotional items, posters and other materials at the NIH booth. In addition to sections on employment, finance, education and other topics, attendees had the opportunity to celebrate the holidays with Telemundo’s international stars and with the anchors of Telemundo Washington, D.C.’s local evening newscast, Telenoticias-64.

The American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) workshop held in the Natcher Bldg. recently gave the NIH communications community an opportunity to meet with Native health professionals to discuss ways to better communicate health messages to AI/AN populations. The meeting was sponsored by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Applications for the 2006-2007 NIH-Duke Training Program in Clinical Research are available in the Clinical Center, Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education, Bldg. 10, Rm. B1L403.

The NIH-Duke program, implemented in 1998, is designed primarily for physicians and dentists who desire formal training in the quantitative and methodological principles of clinical research. The program is offered via videoconference at the CC. Academic credit earned by participating in this program may be applied toward satisfying the degree requirement for a master of health sciences in clinical research from Duke School of Medicine.

For more information about course work and tuition costs, visit http://tpcr.mc.duke.edu. Email queries about the program may be addressed to tpcr@mc.duke.edu. The deadline for applying is Mar. 1, 2006. Applicants who have been accepted into the program will be notified by July 1, 2006.

A women's baseball team consisting primarily of players from NIH is looking for new players and a coach. The Lasers are located in Rockville and play in the Eastern Women's Baseball Conference. They play one game most weekends, May to September, on a regulation ballfield with professional umpires.

The team will train locally in the coming months, indoors and outdoors. The Lasers have a core roster of women 18-52 years old, from all walks of life and with a range of previous baseball and/or softball experience. If you are interested in playing or coaching, contact Susan McCarthy at mccarths@mail.nih.gov.

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