John I. Gallin, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center and NIH associate director for Clinical Research, will speak about the Institutes' Roadmap for Medical Research at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept.11, at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State College of Medicine in the hospital auditorium. The lecture will highlight key components of the NIH Roadmap as they relate to clinical research in the years ahead. The one-hour lecture is free to the public.
The Roadmap for Medical Research encompasses a set of initiatives that are central to extending the quality of life for people in the United States and around the world. It offers a vision for a more efficient and productive system of biomedical and behavioral research. The Roadmap identifies the most compelling opportunities in three main areas: new pathways to discovery; research teams of the future; and re-engineering the clinical research enterprise.
"It has become clear to the scientific community that our country will need to recast its entire system of clinical research if we are to remain as successful as in the past," said Gallin. "Clinical research in the 21st century will encompass new organizational models for scientific teams to include investigators, experts in tech transfer and regulatory affairs, clinicians, statisticians, pharmacologists, medicinal chemists, coordinators, the public and industry. The Roadmap promises to enhance medical research capabilities and to increase the speed at which research discoveries can be moved from the bench to the bedside."
Gallin was appointed to his current position as director of the NIH Clinical Center with a dual appointment as NIH associate director for clinical research in 1994. The NIH Clinical Center serves the clinical research needs of 17 NIH institutes and is the largest clinical research hospital in the world.
Gallin is a 1965 graduate of Amherst College and earned his medical doctorate at Cornell University Medical College in 1969. He has been elected to membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Gallin's lecture is part of the College of Medicine's annual alumni weekend.