U.S.-Baltic Health Science Collaboration Workshops

U.S. Participants

Katherine Davenny
Associate Director
AIDS Research Program
NIH/NIDA

Mary Fanning, MD, PhD
Director, Transition Office of International Research Integration
Division of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
NIH/NIAID
(biosketch)

Hortencia Hornbeak, PhD
Associate Director for Review and Policy
Division of Extramural Activities
NIH/NIAID
(biosketch)

Peter Jackson, PhD
Chief
AIDS Clinical Review Branch
Division of Extramural Activities
NIH/NIAID
(biosketch)

Edward McSweegan, PhD
Health Scientist Administrator
Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
NIH/NIAID
(biosketch)

Nasrin Nabavi, PhD
Program Officer
Basic Immunology Branch
Division of Allergy Immunology and Transplantation
NIH/NIAID
(biosketch)

Siri Oswald
Director
Cooperative Grant Programs
CRDF
(biosketch)

Mukul Ranjan, PhD
Technology Transfer Manager
Office of Technology Development
NIH/NIAID
(biosketch)

David Sorrentino
Regional Program Officer (Europe)
Office of Global Research
NIH/NIAID (FedSource contract)
(biosketch)

NIH – National Institutes of Health
   NIAID – National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
   NIDA – National Institute on Drug Abuse

CRDF – U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation

Mary Fanning, MD, PhD

Dr. Mary Fanning is the Director of the Transition Office of International Research Integration at the Division of AIDS, NIAID/NIH and in this capacity is responsible for the International Research Program and serves as the NIAID AIDS coordinator. She has led the Prevention Science Research effort for the past 2 years and prior to that served a leadership role in the Vaccine and Prevention Research Program. She received her medical training at the University of Toronto and completed her infectious disease fellowship at Case Western Reserve University as well as her Ph. D. in Immuno-pathology of parasitic infections at Case Western Reserve University (1982). She has been at NIH since 2002 and prior to that at the Food and Drug Administration for 7 years as Associate Director of Medical Affairs, Office of Generic Drugs and Director, Division of Anti-Infective Drug Products. Dr. Fanning was an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease at the University of Toronto from 1982-1995 where she provided leadership in HIV/AIDS research from the inception of the epidemic and directed an international research capacity training program.

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Hortencia Hornbeak, PhD

Hortencia Hornbeak is the Associate Director for Scientific Review and Policy and Director of the Scientific Review Program in the Division of Extramural Activities (DEA), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH). She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Chemistry from Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and her Ph.D. in medical microbiology from Georgetown University School of Medicine and Dentistry, Washington, D. C. After her post-doctoral fellowship at the NIAID/NIH in Dr. Bernard Moss’s laboratory, Dr. Hornbeak assumed the position of Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama, School of Medicine, Mobile, Alabama where she taught medical students and conducted independent research for five years. She then returned to the NIH where she began a career in Health Science Administration.

Dr. Hornbeak has broad experience in research, teaching, policy governing extramural biomedical research, leading change, and organizational/operational management. She has substantial experience in the national and international biomedical research political arenas and has served as a spokesperson for the DHHS/NIH/NIAID within the US and foreign countries. She is an integral part of the development of initiatives in research areas within the mission of the NAID and in the development of review strategies to achieve program objectives. In addition, she oversees the peer review of grant applications and contract proposals submitted to the NIAID for review.

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Peter Jackson, PhD

Peter R. Jackson is Chief, AIDS Clinical Research Review Branch, Scientific Review Program, Division of Extramural Activities, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Jackson has over 16 years of experience at the NIH managing the scientific and technical peer review of basic, clinical, and applied research grants and contracts in HIV/AIDS, other infectious diseases, Biodefense and Immunology. As a Branch Chief, Dr. Jackson has a role in the interpretation, implementation and development of extramural policies, the training and development of Scientific Review Administrators (SRAs), and the management of employees. Dr. Jackson’s Branch is one of several in the Scientific Review Program (SRP) that collectively manage the peer review of all submissions in response to NIAID Requests for Applications (Grants), and Requests for Proposals (Contracts). Dr. Jackson recently led the team that managed the peer review of the recompetition of all the NIAID funded AIDS Clinical Trials Networks and the team that managed the peer review of applications for funds to construct new National and Regional Biocontainment Laboratories for Biodefense Research. Dr. Jackson also was the SRA for two chartered NIAID review committees: the Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Research Committee (MIDRC), and the AIDS Research Review Committee (ARRC). Dr. Jackson is familiar with the review of most of the types of grant applications / contract proposals supported by NIAID. Many applications reviewed by committees assembled by Dr. Jackson include, or were submitted by, scientists from outside the US. Thus, Dr. Jackson is familiar with the requirements of managing the review of applications from foreign investigators. Dr. Jackson has presented NIH Grantsmanship Workshops in Hungary, Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, South Africa, India, Puerto Rico, and the US (Maryland, Mississippi, and Florida).

Dr. Jackson has a background in infectious diseases, especially tropical and parasitic diseases. He holds a PhD in Biology from Rice University, Houston, Texas, a MA in Zoology from the University of Texas at Austin, and a BA in Biology from Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J. Dr. Jackson held a NIH Postdoctoral position at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and then a National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council Postdoctoral position at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), Washington, DC. From 1978-1987 Dr. Jackson was a civilian Microbiologist at the WRAIR conducting biochemical and molecular research on parasitic protozoa (Leishmania and African trypanosomes). In 1987 he joined the American Institute of Biological Sciences in Washington, D.C. to manage the review of malaria vaccine research grant applications for the US Agency for International Development and moved to the NIAID Scientific Review Program in 1990.

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Edward McSweegan, PhD

Edward McSweegan is a program officer at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He graduated from Boston College in (B.S.) and has degrees in microbiology from the University of New Hampshire (M.S.) and the University of Rhode Island (Ph.D.). He was a National Research Council Associate and did postdoctoral research at the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Md. Dr. McSweegan served as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Diplomacy Fellow in the U.S. State Department and helped negotiate science and technology agreements with Poland, Hungary and the former Soviet Union.

After moving to the National Institutes of Health, he continued to work on international health and science projects in Egypt, Israel, India, and Russia. Currently, Dr. McSweegan manages a portfolio of infectious disease training grants, NIAID’s bilateral Vaccine Action Program with India, and represents NIAID in the HHS Biotechnology Engagement Program (BTEP) with Russia and related countries. He is a member of AAAS, the American Society for Microbiology, and the D.C. Science Writers Association.

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Nasrin Nabavi, PhD

Nasrin Nabavi is a molecular immunologist with a background in immune activation and tolerance, including T cell costimulation, activation, anergy, and cancer vaccines. She received her B.S. from Cambridge College of Art and Technology, Cambridge, UK, and her Ph.D. from University of Oklahoma. She received four years of postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, followed by 11 years working independently as a Senior Scientist at Roche Research Center, and as an associate professor of immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina. Nasrin joined the NIAID Division of Extramural Program as a Scientific Review Administrator in mid 1999, and in 2002 she became a Program Officer in the Basic Immunology Branch of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation (DAIT). Currently, her portfolio covers the extramural research in lymphocyte’s costimulatory, accessory, and adhesion receptors/molecules, TCR function, CD4 T cell activation, and T and B cell-mediated immune tolerance. She also manages biodefense cooperative agreements, and contracts in the areas of innate immune receptors, adjuvant, and vaccine developments, and polymorphisms in immune response genes which are associated with immune responses to infections or vaccinations.

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Siri Oswald

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Mukul Ranjan, PhD

Mukul Ranjan is Branch Manager at NIAID’s Office of Technology Development and represents NIAID in collaborations between the public, private academic and non-profit sectors.

Dr. Ranjan has extensive knowledge of intellectual property and U.S. patent laws, issues and procedures, and is a member of the U.S. Patent Bar. He has worked at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) as a Biotechnology Patent Examiner dealing with receptors and cytokines. Before joining the PTO, Dr. Ranjan was a research scientist at NIH studying gene regulation during early embryonic development and examining gene expression during cell differentiation in the context of multiple sclerosis and has published in numerous scientific journals.

Dr. Ranjan has a special interest in alleviating the global disease burden due to infectious disease and is keenly interested in international collaborations and development issues. He has attended and spoken at a number of international symposia on technology transfer in the developing world, including the U.S.-Egypt "Investment in Biotechnology" workshop (Cairo, Egypt) and the U.S.-India Technology Managers Symposia in 2001 and 2002 (Delhi, India), the U.S. Licensing Executives Society 2005 Annual Meeting on “Emerging Strategies and Structures in Global Health”, the AUTM 2006 Annual Meeting where he chaired a panel on "Drugs and Vaccines for Global Health: Challenges and Strategies", and the NIH/Nordic meeting, 2006 (Helsinki, Finland). He has also lectured on Patent Law to students in a Biotechnology Law and Policy Foundation for the Advancement of Education on the Sciences (FAES) class. Dr. Ranjan has a M.S. from the University of New Delhi and a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.

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David Sorrentino

David Sorrentino is the Regional Program Officer for Europe at the Office of Global Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this capacity he manages a European portfolio of NIAID research partnerships, including liaison, administration, and facilitation of Europe-related activities. Mr. Sorrentino has led and participated in collaboration-seeking efforts in Italy, Romania, Spain, Ireland, Belgium and Finland, among others. He also has led efforts to track, manage and analyze information on all NIAID international research. Prior to this position, he worked for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and CancerSource.com, and held several internships and volunteer positions in international NGOs.

Mr. Sorrentino has broad educational experience in international relations and public affairs. He obtained his Master of Science degree in International and European Politics from the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Economics (minor) from the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. He also participated in the International Student Exchange Program and undertook a semester of study in Public Administration at Leiden University in Leiden, the Netherlands.

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