January 13, 2005

SDSC Director Appointed To National
Advisory Medical Sciences Council

By Ashley Wood

Dr. Francine Berman, director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) has been appointed to the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council. The council, which meets three times a year, is composed of leaders in the biological and medical sciences, education, health care and public affairs.

During Dr. Berman’s four-year term, she will perform the second level of peer review for research and research training grant applications assigned to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She will also offer advice and recommendations on policy and program development, program implementation, evaluation and other matters of significance to the mission and goals of NIGMS.

"UCSD is proud that Fran has been hand-selected to serve on the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council," said UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. "Fran's appointment to this highly regarded advisory council is a testament to her personal and professional commitment to supporting the research that will advance scientific discovery."

“Dr. Berman brings an ideal combination of scientific expertise and leadership experience to the advisory council,” said Dr. Jeremy M. Berg, director of NIGMS. “We look forward to benefiting from her advice in many areas, including bioinformatics and computational biology, fields of great importance to the NIGMS mission.”

A pioneer of grid computing, Dr. Berman was appointed the first holder of the Endowed Chair in High Performance Computing at UCSD's Jacobs School of Engineering where she also serves as Professor of Computer Science and Engineering. Berman earned a B.A. in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Washington in Seattle, and has been recognized as one of the top women in technology by BusinessWeek and IEEE Spectrum.

The National Institutes of Health is one of the public health service agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services. NIGMS, one of the institutes within NIH, funds research and research training in the basic biomedical sciences. This support enables scientists at universities, medical schools and research institutions to expand knowledge about the fundamental life processes that underlie human health and disease.

Media Contacts:
Greg Lund, SDSC Communications, (858) 534-8314 or
Ashley Wood, SDSC Communications, (858) 534-8363