Diabetes Dateline
Summer 2006

Briggs Leaves NIDDK

Josephine P. Briggs, M.D., director of the Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases (KUH) at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), has accepted a position at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) in Chevy Chase, MD.

During her 9-year tenure, Briggs was a strong, active leader for the KUH, the NIDDK, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She established the National Kidney Disease Education Program, advocated rigorously and effectively for KUH programs, and recruited top-notch scientists to guide education and research programs. She also was actively involved in several trans-NIH activities, such as the Zebrafish Committee and the Roadmap NIH-RAID program.

Briggs, whose last day at the NIDDK was August 18, is a senior scientific officer in HHMI’s science department, where she is involved in leading the HHMI Investigator Program.

Robert A. Star, M.D., is serving as the KUH acting director until a permanent director is named. Star, a nephrologist, has been a senior scientific adviser for translational biology in the KUH division since 1999. He also served as senior adviser for clinical research in the NIH Office of Science Policy and Planning and has been actively engaged in NIH Roadmap initiatives for “Re-Engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise.” His intramural research is aimed at earlier diagnosis and management of acute renal failure.

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NIH Publication No. 06–4562
September 2006