NIDDK Transitions
 Briggs Accepts Position at Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Josephine P. Briggs, M.D., director of the Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases (KUH) at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), has accepted a position at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) in Chevy Chase, MD.
During her 9-year tenure, Briggs was a strong, active leader for the KUH, the NIDDK, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She established the National Kidney Disease Education Program, advocated rigorously and effectively for KUH programs, and recruited top-notch scientists to guide education and research programs. She also was actively involved in several trans-NIH activities, such as the Zebrafish Committee and the Roadmap NIH-RAID program.
Briggs, whose last day at the NIDDK was August 18, will serve as a senior scientific officer in HHMI’s science department, where she will be involved in leading the HHMI Investigator Program.
Robert A. Star, M.D., is serving as the KUH acting director. Star, a nephrologist, has been a senior scientific adviser for translational biology in the KUH division since 1999. He also was a senior adviser for clinical research in the NIH Office of Science Policy and Planning and has been actively engaged in NIH Roadmap initiatives for “Re-Engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise.” His intramural research is aimed at earlier diagnosis and management of acute renal
failure.
 Narva Heads NKDEP
Andrew Narva, M.D., FACP, a veteran of the Indian Health Service (IHS) Kidney Disease Program, is the new director of the National Kidney Disease Education Program (NKDEP), replacing Thomas Hostetter, M.D.,
who accepted a position at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Narva, who served with the IHS since 1981, is a member of the NKDEP’s steering committee, as well as the steering committee of the National Kidney Foundation’s (NKF) Kidney Early Evaluation Program.
He also served on the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Advisory Board, the Renal Community Council of the U.S. Renal Data System, the Medical Review Board of End-Stage Renal Disease Network 15, and the NKF’s Minority Outreach Committee (as chair).
Narva is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and is board-certified in internal medicine and nephrology.
Public Health Problem
Coming to NKDEP “offers me the opportunity to take some of what I’ve learned from our patients and
colleagues at IHS and share it on a broader stage,” said Narva. “Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is now accepted as a public health problem. The IHS operates on a multidisciplinary, integrated public
health model, serving people from some of the highest-risk communities for CKD in the United States.”
Narva sees educating providers about how to treat CKD within the primary care system as an important
part of NKDEP’s role.
“We want to make providers more comfortable implementing therapies to slow the progression and treat the complications of CKD,” said Narva. “The interventions are not difficult—they’re just not part of what the primary care system has done. In the past, interventions were deferred until late in the course of the disease when patients were referred to a nephrologist.” Narva wants to collaborate not only with primary care doctors but also with nurses, nutritionists, and pharmacists in providing care to people with CKD.
NIH Publication No. 07–4531
November 2006
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