For more news about the Friends, be sure to check out our newsletter, Among Friends.
FNLM receives award for "Distinguished Public Service" from the Medical Library Association
The Friends of the National Library of Medicine received the Distinguished Publish Service Award from the Medical Library Association on May 16th, at the MLA 2011 Conference. Dr. Donald King, chairman of the FNLM Board of Directors, accepted the award from Ruth Holst, president of MLA. The award recognized FNLM's contributions to the public through the development of NIH MedlinePlus magazine and through supporting and promoting the National Library of Medicine and its programs. "MedlinePlus magazine provides the gold standard of reliable consumer health information to the public," Ms. Holst said. In his acceptance speech, Dr. King said that medical libraries can play a crucial role in reducing health disparities among minorities by encouraging minority students to enter healthcare careers. The National Library of Medicine and FNLM provide support for one such effort, Mentoring in Medicine, which you can read about in the Summer 2011 issue of NIH MedlinePlus magazine.
The Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) recently honored Dr. Donald King and the late Paul Rogers for their contributions. The Resolutions of Appreciation detail the illustrious careers of both men and the support they offered the NLM during their careers. Dr. King became the new chairman of the FNLM in February 2009.
Friends’ Chairman—“Mr. Health”—a Champion For Medical Research
Paul G. Rogers, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the National Library of Medicine (FNLM), died October 13 while recuperating from surgery for lung cancer. As a Congressman from Florida for 24 years, and in so many endeavors in the years since he retired from Congress in 1979, Mr. Rogers maintained a career-long commitment to public health and biomedical research. As an expression of the priority he felt should be given to health research, the man widely known as “Mr. Health” often said, “Without research, there is no hope!”
Early in his public service career, Congressman Rogers recognized the vital role played by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) as the arm of the National Institutes of Health that collects and organizes scientific research to be accessible to researchers, healthcare practitioners, and the public. Characteristically, when Mr. Rogers recognized that something was important, he took action, called people together, and made good things happen. FNLM is one of the many beneficiaries of his life of service.
The Board of Directors of FNLM joins all of those in the biomedical, science, and public health communities who knew Mr. Rogers and benefited from his leadership and friendship. He was a wonderful, giving, and honorable man. As a board, we express our condolences to his wife and family. We will all miss him a great, great deal.
We include here a link to a statement released by NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. upon the passing of Mr. Rogers, and as additional information, links to obituaries about Mr. Rogers in the Washington Post and The New York Times.
The Board of Directors
Friends of the National Library of Medicine
The Director of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), Dr. Donald A.B. Lindberg, with the help of Dr. Rob Logan, has initiated a weekly podcast of pertinent medical topics related to NIH research programs. The topic last week was a discussion of a new vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) associated with carcinoma of the cervix. Past topics have included a description of Tangier disease, discovered by a former Director of the NIH, Dr. Donald Frederickson, and new research funded by the NIH at Johns Hopkins University related to the role of stem cells in neurological disease.
Following the successful completion of the sequence of the Genome by the NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), Celera Genomics, and a consortium of hundreds of investigators in scores of laboratories throughout the world, the NHGRI initiated a new program called HapMap sequencing. An optimum set of 300,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was identified as a base for correlating mutations in these sites with specific disease processes. NCBI maintains the database of all SNP mutations. A recent report indicates that individuals homozygous for the risk allele of a complement factor H (CFH) polymorphism are 7.4 times more likely to get age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
During 2005 and 2006 the National Library of Medicine has initiated a Long Range Planning program, under the direction of two past chairmen of the Board of Regents, Dr. Thomas Detre of the University of Pittsburgh, and Dr. William Stead of Vanderbilt University. After an initial planning meeting, the committee was divided into four working groups addressing the following topics: NLM Resources and Infrastructure, NLM Health Information for Underserved and Diverse Populations, NLM Support for Clinical and Public Health Systems, and NLM Support for Genomic Science. A report is expected at the September meeting of the Board of Regents.
