Study Section members review grant applications submitted to the NIH, make recommendations on these applications to the appropriate NIH national advisory council and survey the status of research in their fields of science. Members are selected for their demonstrated competence, scientific research achievements, journal publications, other significant scientific activities and honors. "Service on a study section also requires mature judgement and objectivity as well as the ability to work effectively in a group," said Toni Scarpa, M.D., Ph.D. and Director of the Center for Scientific Review, "qualities we believe Dr. Dean will bring to this important task."
Dr. Dean will be one of only 10 standing members in her study section. Each study section of the NIH peer review process consists of standing members and dozens of temporary members. Dr. Dean is an internist, whose subspecialty is infectious diseases, and also a molecular biologist. She is the pioneer of current genetic typing and comparative genomics of Chlamydia trachomatis. Her research encompasses the molecular genetics, molecular epidemiology and pathogenesis of chlamydial infections around the world. Her research is paving the way for development of the first vaccine for chlamydiae, the primary cause of preventable blindness and bacterial sexually transmitted diseases worldwide.
About Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland
Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland is a designated Level I pediatric trauma center and the largest pediatric critical care facility in the region. The hospital has 170 licensed beds and 166 hospital-based physicians in 30 specialties, two thousand employees, and an operating budget of $200 million. With more than 300 basic and clinic investigators and an annual budget of over $43 million, the research institute has made significant progress in areas including pediatric obesity, cancers, sickle cell disease, AIDS/HIV, hemophilia and cystic fibrosis.