Chris A. Kaiser, PhD, to Lead NIGMS

NIH Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, today announced the selection of Chris A. Kaiser, PhD, as the new director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Dr. Kaiser, a leader in cell biology, is currently professor and head of the Department of Biology at MIT. He expects to start his new position in the spring of 2012.

Judith H. Greenberg, PhD, will continue to serve as NIGMS acting director until that time.

As NIGMS director, Dr. Kaiser will oversee the Institute’s $2 billion budget, which primarily funds basic research in the areas of cell biology, biophysics, genetics, developmental biology, pharmacology, physiology, biological chemistry, bioinformatics and computational biology. NIGMS supports more than 4,500 research grants—about 10 percent of those funded by NIH as a whole—as well as a substantial amount of research training and programs designed to increase the diversity of the biomedical and behavioral research workforce.

The full text of the NIH news release on Dr. Kaiser’s selection is available at: http://www.nigms.nih.gov/news/releases/kaiser.html