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News Release
Thursday, January 25, 2007
NIH Director Selects Dr. Alan M. Krensky as NIH Deputy Director for the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives (OPASI)
Bethesda, Maryland — National Institutes of Health Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. announced that Alan M. Krensky, M.D. has been selected as the first NIH Deputy Director for the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives (OPASI). Dr. Krensky will assume his position on July 8, 2007.
“We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Krensky join the National Institutes of Health,” said Dr. Zerhouni. “He will play a key leadership role as the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives provides an ‘incubator space’ to address critical research efforts in cross-cutting areas of NIH priorities.”
"I am pleased and honored to join the NIH leadership team at this most important time. OPASI will facilitate interactions across NIH activities, including systems for portfolio analysis, new ‘roadmap’ and trans-NIH strategic initiatives, and program evaluation. Such institutional planning and assessment is critical as the interdisciplinary nature of biomedical science evolves,” said Dr. Krensky.
OPASI was built on the success of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research and has two goals: to identify important areas of emerging scientific opportunities or rising public health challenges, and to help accelerate investments in these areas to make sure new ideas have a chance to develop. OPASI provides new opportunity for more trans-NIH dialogue, decision-making, and funding for scientific priorities and opportunities that would be difficult to support otherwise.
Dr. Krensky graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973, and received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977. At the Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Krensky most recently served as professor of pediatrics, Chief of the Division of Immunology and Transplantation Biology, Associate Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics, and Associate Dean for Children’s Health.
Dr. Krensky’s research interests are in human cellular and molecular immunology, transplantation immunology, and tumor immunology. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians and is a co-author of more than 240 research papers.
Dr. Krensky has received numerous awards, including the Young Investigator Award from the Society for Pediatric Research, the Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Nephrology/American Heart Association, the Joseph A. Shankman Award from the National Kidney Foundation of Massachusetts, the Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, the Award for Excellence in Pediatric Research from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Scholar in Experimental Therapeutics Award from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the E. Mead Johnson Award from the Society for Pediatric Research, and the Novartis Established Investigator Award from the American Society for Transplantation.
The Office of the Director, the central office at NIH, is responsible for setting policy for NIH, which includes 27 Institutes and Centers. This involves planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all NIH components. The Office of the Director also includes program offices which are responsible for stimulating specific areas of research throughout NIH. Additional information is available at http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/.
The Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives (OPASI) provides the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its constituent Institutes and Centers (ICs) with the methods and information necessary to manage their large and complex scientific portfolios, identifies –– in concert with multiple other inputs –– important areas of emerging scientific opportunities or rising public health challenges, and assists in the acceleration of investments in these areas, focusing on those involving multiple ICs. More information about OPASI can be found at: http://opasi.nih.gov/
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): 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. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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