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Selected Job Opportunities at NIMH
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/selected-job-opportunities-at-nimh.shtml
NIMH may be advertising other jobs on USAJobs (the Federal Government's official jobs site): http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/jobsearch.asp?vw=d&q=nimh
Or you may click on the following link for more information about NIMH employment opportunities. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/jobs.shtml
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Deputy Director of the National Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health, a major research component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), is seeking exceptional candidates for the position of Deputy Director, Office of the Director (OD). The Deputy Director serves as the second-in-command for the Institute. Working closely with the Director, the Deputy Director assists in the scientific and administrative management of an organization with a budget of $1.4 billion and a staff of approximately 1,300.
The Deputy Director is primarily responsible for implementation of the Institute’s Strategic Plan and management of the daily operations of the Institute. In this sense, the Deputy Director is the chief internal champion and guarantor for the intellectual and administrative environment at the Institute. The Deputy Director is aided in this effort by the Directors of the Institute’s divisions and offices. The Deputy Director also serves as an ambassador and spokesperson for the Institute.
Applicants must have a Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent degree in the biomedical sciences, with broad senior-level research experience and experience in direct administration of a research program. Applicants should be known and respected within their profession, both nationally and internationally, as distinguished individuals of outstanding scientific competence and administrative capability. Salary is commensurate with experience and accomplishments. Experience with NIH administrative policies, procedures, and operations is highly desirable but not essential.
Interested candidates should send a letter of interest, including a brief description of research and administrative experience, a curriculum vitae and bibliography, and the names of at least three references to: Chair, NIMH Deputy Director Search Committee at NIMHsearch@mail.nih.gov or at 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8235, MSC 9669 Bethesda, Marylandd 20892-9669 (for express or courier delivery use Rockville, Maryland 20852). Review of applications will begin on November 3, 2008, but applications will continue to be accepted and considered until the position is filled. For questions contact Dr. Thomas Insel, Director, NIMH at tinsel@mail.nih.gov.
The NIH encourages the application and nomination of qualified women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities. HHS and NIH are Equal Opportunity Employers.
Associate Director for Special Populations
Office of the Director
The National Institute of Mental Health, a major research component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), is seeking exceptional candidates for the position of Associate Director for Special Populations. This Congressionally mandated position reports to the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, and serves as the Director’s principal staff advisor on issues of recruitment, retention and training of a diverse scientific workforce and research on mental health disparities. The Associate Director is responsible for leading the Institute’s Office of Special Populations, and works with other senior leadership members to formulate practices, policies and procedures that will have a positive impact on NIMH initiatives and activities, especially as these relate to diverse populations and diversity issues.
The Associate Director for Special Populations is responsible for developing and implementing an overall vision for the Institute on enhancing and building a diverse national scientific workforce that is consistent with the mission and strategic objectives of the NIMH. This effort would encompass working collaboratively with the other divisions of the Institute to develop and execute initiatives.
Applicants must hold an advanced degree in the biomedical sciences or related field. Broad senior-level experience in direct administration of a research, science education or public health related program is also required. Applicants should be known and respected within their profession as distinguished individuals of outstanding leadership and management ability, with a solid understanding of mental illness issues. Salary is commensurate with experience and accomplishments. Experience with NIH administrative policies, procedures, and operations are highly desirable but not essential.
Interested candidates should send a letter of interest, including a brief description of research and administrative experience, and a curriculum vitae and bibliography to: Chair, NIMH Associate Director for Special Populations Search Committee at NIMHsearch@mail.nih.gov or at 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8235, MSC 9669 Bethesda, MD 20892-9669 (for express or courier delivery use Rockville, MD 20852). Review of applications will begin on June 30, 2008, but applications will continue to be accepted and considered until the position is filled.
The NIH encourages the application and nomination of qualified women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities. HHS and NIH are Equal Opportunity Employers.
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PRESS RELEASE
October 2, 2008
Millisecond Brain Signals Predict Response to Fast-Acting Antidepressant
Electromagnetic Biomarker Could Minimize Trial-and-Error Prescribing
MEG scanner captures thebrain’s fastest signals
Source: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2008/millisecond-brain-signals-predict-response-to-fast-acting-antidepressant.shtml
Images of the brain's fastest signals reveal an electromagnetic marker that predicts a patient's response to a fast-acting antidepressant, researchers have discovered.
"Such biomarkers that identify who will benefit from a new class of antidepressants could someday minimize trial-and-error prescribing and speed delivery of care for what can be a life-threatening illness," said Carlos Zarate, M.D., of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program.
In the new study at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, depressed patients showed increasing activity in a mood-regulating hub near the front of the brain while viewing flashing frightful faces - the more the increase, the better their response to an experimental fast-acting medication called ketamine. By contrast, healthy controls showed decreasing activity in this brain area under the same conditions.
MEG scanner captures the brain’s fastest signals
Zarate, Giacomo Salvadore, M.D., Brian Cornwell, Ph.D., and NIMH colleagues report on their discovery online in Biological Psychiatry September 24, 2008.
Two years ago, Zarate and colleagues reported that ketamine, which targets the brain chemical glutamate, can lift depressions in just hours instead of the weeks it takes conventional antidepressants, which work through the brain chemical serotonin. Evidence suggests that glutamate likely acts closer to the source of the depression than serotonin, and is not dependant on slower mechanisms, such as the synthesis of new neurons.
Earlier imaging studies with conventional antidepressants had hinted that increased activity of the mood-regulating hub, called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), signals a better response.
To find out if ACC activity might also forecast response to glutamate-targeting medications, the NIMH researchers imaged the brain activity of 11 depressed patients and 11 healthy participants, using magnetoencephalography (MEG). This imaging technology can non-invasively detect brain electromagnetic activity lasting only milliseconds - the speed of communications in neural circuits - whereas other functional brain imaging techniques can only capture activity that last seconds or minutes, and some involve radiation exposure.
This precise timing enabled the MEG scanner to capture the brain's split-second responses to rapidly flashing pictures of fearful faces, a task known to activate the ACC. While healthy participants' ACC activity dropped off as they quickly habituated to the faces, patients' ACC activity showed an opposite trend. The more robust this increase, the more symptoms improved just four hours after a patient received a single infusion of ketamine.
“The ACC may be slow to react, but not completely impaired, in patients who respond to ketamine,” explained Cornwell.
The lag in ACC activity could be a window into the dysfunctional workings of the glutamate-related circuitry targeted by the medication, the researchers suggest. Ketamine's side effects make it a poor candidate for becoming a practical antidepressant, but the new findings are helping to focus the search for new treatments that work through the same mechanism, they say.
The degree of increased activity in a mood regulating hub called the anterior cingulate (arrow) in response to flashing frightful faces predicted a patients' response to a fast-acting antidepressant mechanism. MEG data superimposed on anatomical MRI image of the brain.
Source: NIMH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program
Carlos Zarate, M.D., (left) NIMH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, with MEG scanner.
Source: NIMH
References
Salvadore G, Cornwell BR, Colon-Rosario V, Coppola R, Grillon C, Zarate CA Jr, Manji HK. Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Sep 24. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 18822408.
Tottenham, N., Tanaka, J., Leon, A.C., McCarry, T., Nurse, M., Hare, T.A., Marcus, D.J., Westerlund, A., Casey, B.J., Nelson, C.A. (in press). The NimStim set of facial expressions: judgments from untrained research participants. Psychiatry Research.
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The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) mission is to reduce the burden of mental and behavioral disorders through research on mind, brain, and behavior. More information is available at the NIMH website.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation’s Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit the NIH website: http://www.nih.gov/
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DIRECTORS UPDATE
October 6, 2008
2008 NIH Director’s Pioneer and New Innovator Awards Include Research That Promises to Improve Understanding of Mental Health and Brain Disorders
NIH Director Elias Zerhouni announced on September 22, 2008 the new recipients of the Pioneer Awards and New Innovator Awards. The awards are key components of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research and support exceptionally creative scientists who take highly innovative approaches to major challenges in biomedical research.
The awards will go to 47 scientists, many of whom are in the early stages of their careers. The grants, estimated to be up to $138 million over five years, enable recipients to pursue exceptionally innovative approaches that could transform biomedical and behavioral science.
Now in its fifth year, the Pioneer Award program has made 63 awards, 16 of them in 2008. Each Pioneer Award provides $2.5 million in direct costs over five years.
The New Innovator Award program, launched in 2007, supports 61 investigators—30 selected last year and 31 more this year. New Innovator Awards are for $1.5 million in direct costs over five years.
Selected award recipients whose work may add to the body of mental health knowledge include the following:
2008 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award Recipients
Ricardo Dolmetsch, Ph.D., Stanford University assistant professor of neurobiology, who will study the development and function of neurons from children with autism.
James Eberwine, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania Elmer Bobst Professor of Pharmacology and co-director of the Penn Genome Frontiers Institute, who will use groups of RNA molecules to modify cellular properties.
Charles M. Lieber, Ph.D., Harvard University professor of chemistry, who will develop interfaces between nanoelectronic devices and cells to create new biomaterials and tools for studying the brain.
Hongkun Park, Ph.D., Harvard University professor of chemistry and of physics, who will develop new nano- and microelectronic tools that enable the meticulous study of the design principles of the brain.
Aravinthan D.T. Samuel, Ph.D., Harvard University associate professor of physics, who will develop new biophysical and imaging techniques to link behavioral responses with neuronal activity.
Saeed Tavazoie, Ph.D., Princeton University, associate professor of molecular biology, who will explore how intracellular networks allow microbes to carry out cognitive behavior.
2008 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award Recipients
Aaron D. Gitler, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, who will use novel genetic screening and cell biological approaches to define the mechanisms of human neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Chay T. Kuo, M.D., Ph.D., Duke University Medical Center assistant professor of cell biology and pediatrics, who will develop new genetic and chemical screening approaches in mice to identify signals regulating repair and remodeling after brain injuries.
Karin S. Pfennig, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, assistant professor of biology, who will use an experimental approach to understand how an individual’s health status and external environment influence his or her behavior.