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Carole A. Heilman, Ph.D., Director, DMID
Dr. Carole Heilman, Director of the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID), welcomed the Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Subcommittee of Council and provided a brief report on Division activities. In opening remarks, Dr. Heilman introduced Dr. Irene Glowinski, who was hired to head the newly-formed Office of Scientific Coordination and Program Operations. Prior to coming to DMID in May, Dr. Glowinski had worked at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) for the past eleven years. Also introduced by Dr. Heilman was Dr. Rory Duncan, who has joined the Bacteriology and Mycology Branch as an Assistant Program Officer for Mycology. Dr. Heilman also praised Dr. Bill Branch (who was not in attendance), who recently retired from the Center for Scientific Review.
Dr. Heilman described recent activities in the area of vaccine safety, mentioning the hearings that Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN), as Chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, recently held on topics such as the relationship between vaccines and autism, and conflict-of-interest issues related to licensure and the use of vaccines. Dr. Heilman discussed the recent increase in Government Accounting Office (GAO) reviews that involve DMID. The two most recent ones focused on chronic fatigue syndrome and pandemic influenza; future GAO audits are expected. She mentioned the St. Louis smallpox dilution trial and stated that DMID is actively engaged in other bioterrorism preparedness activities. Finally, Dr. Heilman told the subcommittee members about the Challenge Grant Program, providing a brief legislative history as well as some details of the program's evolution.
The first presenter was Dr. Harold Greenberg from Stanford University, who discussed the programmatic review of the Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEU). Dr. Greenberg mentioned numerous areas on which the reviewers came to consensus, including: the need for better coordination between VTEUs and other DMID, NIAID, and NIH programs; the need for VTEUs to specifically address questions of high public health priority and/or have important scientific relevancy; the need for VTEUs to be involved in post-licensure studies; the need for a review system for VTEU priority setting; the need to take advantage of this resource for basic studies in biology; the need to increase the "pipeline" of interesting new vaccines; and the need for the VTEUs to help produce vaccinologists for the 21st century.
Dr. Dennis Lang, Program Officer in the Enteric and Hepatic Diseases Branch, reported on the workshop titled "Can Antibiotic Treatment of STEC Infections be Expected to Reduce the Incidence or Severity of HUS - Review of Data." This workshop was prompted by the need to determine how to most effectively treat children diagnosed with STEC infections, particularly 0157:H7. Workshop participants reviewed the current literature and concluded that antibiotic treatment does not prevent HUS or shorten the duration of illness. However, a treatment strategy that would combine antibiotics with other available therapies may hold some promise for the future. Dr. Lang also mentioned research currently underway on other interventions such as the use of monoclonal antibodies against the toxins.
Dr. David Klein, DMID's Pertussis Program Officer, briefly discussed the outcome of a recent workshop held to evaluate whether NIAID should support the development of an adult pertussis challenge model. The workshop brought together numerous experts involved in the development of challenge models and individuals with an interest in pertussis. Dr. Klein also introduced Drs. Joel Ward and Sylvia Yeh, both from the Harbor - UCLA Medical Center, who presented a detailed discussion of their approach to the development of a pertissus challenge model and its ultimate feasibility.
Dr. Lowell Young from the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute presented a workshop report on leprosy research in the post-genomic era. Dr. Young described several issues/recommendations that came out of that workshop, which included the need for more intensified research on leprosy, the need for new tools to achieve leprosy eradication, the need for leprosy research to focus on issues unique to that disease, and the need for the development and use of new in vitro culture methods to facilitate drug screening. He indicated general agreement among the workshop participants that a major effort to develop a vaccine for M. leprae at this time was not a good idea because the basic science is still not well understood. He expressed the hope that this field could learn from TB vaccine efforts.
The last presenter was Dr. Dennis Dixon, Chief of DMID's Bacteriology and Mycology Branch. Dr. Dixon provided the subcommittee with an update on the Interagency Task Force and Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance. He described the action plan in detail, provided an overview of recent meetings, and described other related activities. Dr. Dixon mentioned the just-introduced legislation authored by Senators Bill Frist (R-TN) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA), which would, among other things, establish the task force in statute. He also discussed the current open public comment period (until August 3), which will allow the public to provide feedback on the plan. back to top |