April
6, 2005
|
Vol.
8 No. 4
|
WASHINGTON
UPDATE
*How will basic
behavioral science fit into a reorganized National Institute of Mental
Health? (see HABIT, May 25, 2004). Two documents on the Web from NIMH
offer some guidance. In the first update, NIMH Director Thomas Insel,
M.D. discusses behavioral science in the context of the institute’s
stronger focus on public health. The second document is a FAQ on funding
basic research at NIMH. To read more, go here and
here.
*The Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid announced on March 22 that it would add coverage
for smoking cessation counseling for some Medicare beneficiaries. The
benefit is only available to those who suffer from certain diseases,
however. To read the final decision, go here.
*On March 22, the
Food and Drug Administration released guidelines for pharmaceutical
companies on collecting and including genetic information in drug applications.
The FDA says the guidelines should speed the development of “personalized
medicine,” by which specific drugs and dosages can be targeted
to individuals with a particular genetic profile. To read more about
the FDA’s pharmacogenomics policy, go here.
*Prominent researchers
are refusing positions at the National Institutes of Health as a result
of NIH’s strict new conflict of interest regulations, according
to reports in the Washington Post. Duke University researcher David
Schwartz, M.D., M.P.H. has “indefinitely postponed” his
acceptance of the position of director of the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences, saying the regulations will make it
hard to attract top talent to NIEHS. James Battey, M.D., Ph.D., the
current head of the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication
Disorders and chairman of the NIH Task Force on Stem Cell Research,
said he will retire in September because the conflict of interest rules
would keep him from managing a family trust, according the report in
the Post.
*HHS Secretary Michael
Leavitt announced six new members of his senior staff on March 28.
Rich McKeown is the new chief of staff, Kerry Weems is the deputy chief
of staff, Jennifer Young will fill the new position of acting senior
counselor for health policy, William F. Raub is the acting counselor
for science policy, Richard M. Campanelli is acting counselor for human
service policy and Natalie Gochnour is the counselor to the secretary.
*Antonio Scarpa,
M.D., Ph.D., will become the new director of the NIH Center for Scientific
Review on July 1. Scarpa, a physiology professor from Case Western
Reserve University, replaces Brent Stanfield, Ph.D., who became the
acting director of the Center for Scientific Review in October 2003.
