On July 27, Dr. Kay L. Wanke joined NINR as Acting DESP Director. In this role, she is responsible for scientific leadership and overseeing policy and management for grants and contracts to support NINR research and training. Dr. Wanke is on loan to NINR – referred to at NIH as a detail – from the NIH Office of Disease Prevention, where she serves as the Deputy Director of the Tobacco Regulatory Science Program. The DESP Acting Director position was previously held by Dr. Kathleen Anderson, who was on detail from the National Institute of Mental Health. She will be leaving in August to assume a leadership position at another NIH institute. Dr. Martha Matocha, Chief of DESP’s Symptom Science, Genetics, and Self-Management Branch, was recently appointed as Acting DESP Deputy Director.
Dr. Jessica Gill, currently serving as NINR Acting Deputy Director, will return to the role of Acting Scientific Director upon the departure of Dr. Terri Armstrong, whose detail as NINR’s Acting Scientific Director is ending on August 1. We are pleased that Dr. Gill has agreed to continue to serve in a leadership role and guide the Institute’s intramural research and training activities, while continuing to lead her own research program.
NINR is grateful to Drs. Gill, Anderson, Armstrong, and Matocha for their service to the Institute during these unprecedented times. We wish Drs. Anderson and Armstrong continued success and look forward to opportunities for collaboration with them both.
