People in the news

Two distinguished retirements at Fogarty

Dr. Joel G. Breman, a senior scientist at Fogarty for 15 years, has retired from NIH after a long and illustrious career. Trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases and epidemiology, Breman joined Fogarty in 1995 and served as Deputy Director of the Division of International Training and Research, director of several infectious diseases and research and training programs and Senior Scientific Adviser. Among a lifetime of accomplishments, Breman worked on smallpox and measles in Guinea, endemic diseases in Burkina Faso, ebola hemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of Congo and malaria at the CDC. He has authored over 100 publications on infectious diseases and research capacity strengthening in developing countries.

Dr. Duane Alexander, Fogarty’s senior scientific adviser for global maternal and child health research, is also retiring. Alexander was the longtime director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. He was recently honored for his work in helping to cut sudden infant death syndrome cases in half and the reduction of mental retardation from Hib meningitis. He joined Fogarty in the fall of 2009 to help coordinate the NIH role in the administration’s Global Health Initiative.

Both men will retain their Fogarty connection as senior scientist emeritus.

Dr. Joel G. Breman

Dr. Duane Alexander

Lois Quam

Quam to run Global Health Initiative

Minnesota health executive Lois Quam has been named by the U.S. State Department as the new executive director of the Global Health Initiative. Quam, a former UnitedHealth Group executive, was a senior adviser to then-First Lady Hillary Clinton’s health care task force in the mid-1990s. The GHI is aimed at helping developing nations fight disease, improve nutrition and provide more aid for pre- and postnatal care.

Steven Smith new health attaché in Delhi

Steven Smith, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Office of Global Research, has been appointed the HHS Health Attaché in New Delhi, India, replacing Dr. Danuta Krotoski who was serving as acting health attaché. Smith will serve as the main contact for health cooperation and social policy issues related to HHS and Indian interactions. Smith also worked overseas for the State Department in Cameroon, South Africa and Haiti.

Steven Smith

Dr. Hiyun Xiang

Honors for Dr. Xiang

Fogarty research grantee Dr. Hiyun Xiang received two awards from The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital as the 2010 Outstanding Principal Investigator and the 2010 Outstanding Mentor. As a mentor, Dr. Xiang worked with Fogarty Scholars and hosted other international scholars and students. He had five mentee publications and his USA-China Agricultural Injury Research Training Workshop trained 25 researchers in Xi’an, China in 2010.