NIH official to take Pitt position next year

A top official from the National Institutes of Health will leave his position next year to… A top official from the National Institutes of Health will leave his position next year to assume a newly created administrative role at Pitt.

The new position of associate senior vice chancellor for science strategy and planning will go to Dr. Jeremy Berg, the current director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the NIH. He will begin his role at Pitt in July 2011.

Neither Pitt nor the National Institutes of Health stated the duties of Berg’s new office.

Berg’s is the second such administrative position to be created in the past year. Everette James left a post as the state’s secretary of health in October to become the associate vice chancellor for health policy and planning at Pitt.

Berg will work as a professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Computational and Systems Biology in addition to his duties as an associate senior vice chancellor. It is not clear what his class load will be.

A news release from the NIH stated that Berg formed the institute’s first formal strategic plan, initiated a plan for research training and workforce development, conducted reviews of major programs, increased support for innovative research and fostered dialogue through interactive outreach efforts to the scientific community and encouraged increases in diversity in the biomedical workforce.

Berg’s research in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases focused on the roles that zinc plays within a protein and on processes that are controlled by molecular recognition.

Proteins containing zinc and other metals will be helpful for future research on understanding gene function, according to the release. Enhancement of this research could lead to future medical applications involving disease.

Berg will join his wife, Dr. Wendie A. Berg as she begins her new position as a professor within the School of Medicine’s Department of Radiology in the early spring.

Wendie Berg is a leader in the advancement of clinical research regarding breast cancer screening and diagnosis, according to the release.

Dr. Arthur S. Levine, Pitt’s senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and the School of Medicine’s dean, could not be reached for comment as he is out of the country, Anita Srikameswaran, a spokeswoman for UPMC, said in an e-mail.

According to a news release issued by the University, Jeremy Berg’s new position is “a leadership role that will foster the University’s position on the forefront of biomedical research.”

“At this time of economic uncertainty, it is advantageous to have a senior scientist of Dr. Berg’s experience at Pitt to help sustain research excellence,” Srikameswaran said in an e-mail.