By Andrea Frydl, Contributing Writer
Although it was delayed by almost a month because of the federal shutdown, the NIH Research Festival still took place at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., and attendance was high.
The festival kicked off on Nov. 6, with lectures from NIH scientists presenting their findings. The evening was marked by a reception in the south side of the Clinical Center Building. Speakers included NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., and Deputy Director for Intramural Research Michael Gottesman, M.D. Collins and Gottesman reinforced the importance of research at NIH. Throughout the days of Nov. 6–8, there were symposia, poster sessions, and special exhibits.
NCI at Frederick and Frederick National Laboratory (FNL) were well represented at the NIH Research Festival.
Courtney Silverthorn, Ph.D., partnership alliance manager, Partnership Development Office, FNL, presented a poster on research and development support opportunities through FNL. Julie Hartman, education program specialist, Outreach and Special Programs, NCI at Frederick, presented a poster on student training and fellowship opportunities at NCI at Frederick and FNL.
Other posters were presented by Diana Haines, D.V.M., staff pathologist, and Bobbi Smith, assistant manager, Pathology/ Histotechnology Laboratory, both of the Laboratory Animal Sciences Program; Bailey Kessing, programmer analyst, Basic Science Program Center for Cancer Research Genetics Core; Joe Kalen, Ph.D., director of the Small Animal Imaging Program; and clinical project managers Jiwan Giri and C.K. Osborn, Clinical Monitoring Research Program.
NCI at Frederick and FNL also exhibited throughout the course of the festival, presenting information about resources and services to the NIH community.
“It is always a pleasure to come down the road to see the work that we do in action, with the buzz of activity from our scientists. They do really good work and ought to showcase it. I think this event gives them that opportunity,” Hartman said.
To find out more about the 2013 NIH Research Festival and how to present next year, visit http://researchfestival.nih.gov/2013/index.shtml.
