Whitmer Appointed NEI Executive Officer
 David
L. Whitmer has been appointed to the position of associate director
for management and executive officer of the National Eye Institute.
NEI director Dr. Paul Sieving said, "We are very pleased to have
an executive officer of David's expertise at the NEI. His extensive
managerial experience here at NIH will serve him well in this senior
leadership position."
In his new post, Whitmer serves as principal advisor to Sieving
on all management issues affecting NEI. This includes managing
financial, human resource, information technology and procurement
activities and coordinating the institute's ethics and equal employment
opportunity and diversity programs. NEI has approximately 520 scientists,
clinicians, support staff, volunteers and contractors and an FY
2006 budget in excess of $670 million.
Before coming to NEI, Whitmer served as executive officer and
director of the Division of Management Services, Center for Scientific
Review and as chief of the Management Policy and Administrative
Services Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
He began his NIH career as a presidential management intern in
1993, spending his first year as an administrative officer for
the Division of Cancer Etiology at the National Cancer Institute.
He then moved to NCI's office of the director, where he served
as a management analyst.
Whitmer holds a master's degree in public administration and political
science from the University of South Florida in Tampa.
NIDDK's Briggs Leaves, Star Named
Acting Division Director
Briggs photo courtesy of Paul Fetters
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Dr. Josephine Briggs (l),
director of NIDDK's Division of Kidney, Urologic and Hematologic
Diseases, recently left NIH to become a senior scientific officer
at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, where she will
participate in oversight of the Howard Hughes Investigator program.
In 9 years at NIH, she established the National Kidney Disease Education
Program, was an effective spokesperson for KUH programs and recruited
top scientists to guide education and research programs. She also
participated in cross-NIH activities such as the trans-NIH zebrafish
committee and the Roadmap's NIH-RAID program. Dr.
Robert Star (r) has been named acting director of the division
until a permanent replacement is appointed. He is a nephrologist
and has been senior scientific advisor in the KUH division since
1999. In addition, he has been senior advisor for clinical research
in the NIH Office of Science Policy and Planning and has been engaged
in NIH Roadmap initiatives for re-engineering the clinical research
enterprise.
NIH Environmental Specialist Lee Dies
 John
Curtis Lee, 78, who retired from NIH as an environmental specialist
last January after a 56-year career here, died Mar. 7 in Frederick
after an extended illness. He held a variety of positions at
NIH before moving to the Division of Safety and then the Division
of Environmental Protection.
"He quickly became a valued member of Environmental
Protection and is sorely missed by all who knew him," said his
former supervisor Jim Carscadden, chief of DEP's Environmental
Compliance Branch, Office of Research Facilities.
Born in Hopehill, Md., Lee graduated from Lincoln
High School in 1944 and attended Morgan State University.
He served as a logistic specialist in the U.S. Army,
then joined NIH, where he served in numerous positions before finishing
his career as an environmental specialist. He was also employed
at Microbiologic for 20 years in a building services role.
Lee was an avid sports fan and had played baseball
for the Hopehill Wildcats and Frederick Bombers. He also enjoyed
bowling and cards.
He is survived by his wife, Fay Lee, and by six daughters,
three sons, three sisters, 19 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
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