Nathanson to head AIDS office at NIH

Earlier last month Medical School Vice Dean Neal Nathanson added yet another notable accomplishment to his already impressive resume when he was named director of the National Institute of Health's Office of AIDS Research. Over the course of his distinguished career -- the last nineteen years of which were spent at Penn -- Nathanson, a microbiology professor, has established himself as a world leader in the study of viral diseases. Although he first gained notoriety for his definitive work on polio, students have known him best in his role as vice dean for research and research training, which he has held for the past two years. Nathanson brings a broad background in virology, epidemiology and public health to the position of director, where he will be responsible for coordinating the scientific, budgetary, legislative and policy elements of the NIH's AIDS research program. As the NIH's largest program -- receiving nearly 12 percent of its $13.7 billion budget -- the AIDS research office has recently come under pressure to streamline its organizational structure through the elimination of inadequate programs. In his new position, Nathanson will oversee the office's implementation of this broad-based restructuring. But he contends that the main challenge of his tenure will be scientific, rather than organizational, as the NIH works to create a vaccine against AIDS. "[Nathanson's recruitment] will further enhance [our] deep commitment to vaccine research," NIH Director Harold Varmus said. Nathanson said he also hopes to emphasize "research [which would] increase the effectiveness of behavioral sciences in reducing HIV transmission.? the use of interventions of known efficacy to reduce transmission while we await a vaccine." "There is a need to make "improvements on existing anti retroviral drugs, to reduce cost, simplify treatment regimens and further reduce perinatal transmission [of HIV]," Nathanson said. Nathanson will maintain with the University as a professor emeritus, while his position as vice dean will be filled by Associate Dean Glen Gaulton. A professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, Gaulton is also the director of Biomedical Graduate studies. Nathanson earned his bachelor's and medical degrees at Harvard University, and then went on to the University of Chicago to complete his clinical training before beginning postdoctoral work at Johns Hopkins University. Nathanson spent two years at the Centers for Disease Control before joining the faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. He came to University in 1979 and chaired its Department of Microbiology for 15 years. Last year, Nathanson was appointed to NIH's AIDS Vaccine Research Committee. Some of Nathanson's most important contributions to science have included the study of sheep visna viruses -- a prototype for the lentiviruses, which include HIV. And most recently, he has been studying the effect of HIV on the central nervous system.

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