The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) has announced the appointment of five new members to its Advisory Council. NIDDK is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NIH is the federal agency with primary responsibility for funding and conducting biomedical research within the United States. NIDDK welcomed the following members at its February meeting:

David M. Klurfeld, Ph.D., is a National Program Leader in Human Nutrition in the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As a Program Leader, Dr. Klurfeld oversees ARS research, the purpose of which is to define the role of food and its constituents in optimizing health throughout the life cycle for all Americans. Dr. Klurfeld will serve as an Ex-Officio member of the Advisory Council and will attend the Digestive Diseases and Nutrition Subcommittee.

Mitchell A. Lazar, M.D., Ph.D., is a Sylvan H. Eisnman Professor of Medicine and Genetics and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. He is also the Director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Dr. Lazar's research interests include the regulation of gene expression and metabolism by nuclear hormone receptors and mechanisms of obesity-associated insulin resistance and diabetes. Dr. Lazar joins the Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases Subcommittee.
Juanita Lynne Merchant, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular and Integrative Physiology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Merchant's research interests include the use of animal and cell culture models to better understand how bacterial colonization in the gastrointestinal tract can lead to ulcers and cancer. She also studies gastrointestinal peptides to further understanding of gastric epithelial development. Dr. Merchant joins the Digestive Diseases and Nutrition Subcommittee.

David H. Perlmutter, M.D., is the Vira I. Heinz Professor and Chair of Pediatrics and Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He is also Scientific Director of the John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center and Physician-in-Chief at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. He is a liver disease researcher, whose work on alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, the most common genetic cause of liver disease in children and of emphysema in adults, has greatly advanced the understanding of these diseases. Dr. Permutter joins the Digestive Diseases and Nutrition Subcommittee.

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