‘Scientist-in-Chief' Welcomed President Obama Visits NIH to Tout ARRA Benefits
By Rich McManus
President Barack Obama at NIH
President Barack Obama spent about an hour at NIH on Sept. 30, touring a Clinical Research Center laboratory with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and getting updates on scientific research before delivering a 15-minute address to a packed Masur Auditorium. He congratulated NIH for getting the first $5 billion of a $10.4 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act appropriation out the door by the end of fiscal 2009. more…
Pioneers, Innovators Celebrated at Ceremony
By Rich McManus
NIH director Dr. Francis Collins presents the first of 18 2009 Pioneer Awards to Dr. Ivor Benjamin, professor of medicine and biochemistry at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
As FY 2009 wore to a close with NIH disbursing some $5 billion in ARRA money, the 115 grantees who won Pioneer Awards, New Innovator awards and Transformative R01’s—representing an investment totaling $348 million over 5 years (some of which is ARRA money)—might seem a relative drop in the bucket. But in that bucket lie high hopes for scientific breakthroughs, said NIH director Dr. Francis Collins, who presided over the fifth annual NIH Director’s Pioneer Award Symposium Sept. 24-25 in Masur Auditorium. more…
