National Institutes of Health (NIH)Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, has announced the selection of Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, MD, as Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). Dr. Pérez-Stable is expected to join NIH in September 2015.
“Dr. Pérez-Stable is a highly respected leader with rich experience in advancing efforts to eliminate health disparities,” said Dr. Collins. “He has the passion and vision to guide the NIMHD research agenda in this critically important area.”
As NIMHD Director, Dr. Pérez-Stable will oversee the institute’s $270 million budget to conduct and support research, training, research capacity and infrastructure development, public education, and information dissemination programs to improve minority health and reduce health disparities. NIMHD is the lead organization at the NIH for planning, reviewing, coordinating, and evaluating minority health and health disparities research activities conducted by the NIH institutes and centers.
Dr. Pérez-Stable comes to NIH from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), where he is a Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine, and Director of the Center for Aging in Diverse Communities. The center works to alleviate health disparities with a focus on improving health care for aging minority populations and diversifying the scientific workforce addressing these issues. He is also Director of the UCSF Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations, which is addressing issues for African Americans, Asians, and Latinos in the areas of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and reproductive health.
Dr. Pérez-Stable’s personal research interest is in improving the health of poor and minority patients, reducing health risks such as smoking in minority populations, and improving cross-cultural communication skills among health-care professionals.
For more information about the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, visit http://www.nimhd.nih.gov. ■
