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Child health authority Alexander joins Fogarty

September - October, 2009  |  Volume 8, Issue 5

Dr. Duane Alexander, the long-time director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), has joined the Fogarty Center as senior scientific adviser for global maternal and child health research.

"Duane Alexander has devoted decades to providing leadership to the pediatric community to improve the health of women and children through research," said Fogarty Director Dr. Roger I. Glass. "Given the administration's keen interest in this topic, Duane will be instrumental in our efforts to engage with the State Department and other agencies to further the administration's $63 billion Global Health Initiative."

Among Alexander's achievements are: the study of the safety of amniocentesis; the reduction of mental retardation from Hib meningitis; the reduction in preterm birth among women who had previously delivered a preterm infant; the dramatic reduction in sudden infant death syndrome; and the reduction of mother-to-child HIV transmission.

Dr. Susan Shurin, deputy director of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, will serve as acting director of NICHD until the position is filled permanently.

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