The 2012 NIH Research Festival will be held on the NIH campus from October 9 through October 12. The festival is an annual event showcasing the wide-ranging activities of the NIH Intramural Research Program. Comprised of several events held over four days, the Festival includes a scientific symposia, poster sessions, and the Technical Sales Association exhibit tent show.

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to extend to you an invitation to the 26th annual NIH Research Festival, which runs from Tuesday, October 9, through Friday, October 12. The Festival features more than 120 talks and 450 posters highlighting homegrown science from the NIH intramural research program.

The theme this year is "The NIH at 125: Today's Discoveries, Tomorrow's Cures," in recognition of our humble beginnings as a one-room laboratory --- that is, the Laboratory of Hygiene, established in 1887 by Dr. Joseph James Kinyoun within the U.S. Marine Hospital Service. In fact, Dr. Kinyoun plans to speak at the opening plenary, which is no simple engagement, seeing how he died in 1919.

The opening plenary begins on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. in Masur Auditorium with three bold "TED-style" talks by visionary NIH scientists: the newly recruited NHLBI Director Gary Gibbons, Jennifer Lippicott-Schwartz (NICHD), and Ronald Germain (NIAID). Following this will be a provocative panel discussion about where the NIH intramural program has been and where it can go from here. The panel comprises NIAMS Director Stephen Katz, William Paul (NIAID), and Judy Rapoport (NIMH), moderated by myself.

Then we move to the Natcher Conference Center at 12:30 p.m. for an equally provocative and enlightening conversation with Rep. Dr. Andrew Harris, the Congressman from Maryland's 1st district. Yes, that's M.D. and Md. Dr. Harris, an anesthesiologist, is a past recipient of several NIH grants, and he currently serves on the House Committees on Science, Space and Technology; Transportation and Infrastructure; and Natural Resources. Refreshments will follow.

The remaining talks and poster presentations will be at Natcher on October 9 to 11, with the NIH Core Poster Session on October 11 in the South Lobby of Building 10 and the ever-popular vendor "tent show" at Parking Lot 10H on October 11 and 12.

The October 9 plenary will be videocast. For all other events, if you work in the Bethesda area, I encourage you to get out and mingle over at Natcher. Please forward this invitation to your scientific colleagues in the Bethesda area.

We're proud of the science we do.

Michael M. Gottesman, M.D
Deputy Director for Intramural Research

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