W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity and John Snow Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, has received an award of up to $31 million over a five-year period by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish the Center for Research in Diagnostics and Discovery (CRDD) under the auspices of a new National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) program entitled Centers of Excellence for Translational Research. The CRDD brings together leading investigators in microbial and human genetics, engineering, microbial ecology and public health to develop insights into mechanisms of disease and methods for detecting infectious agents, characterizing microflora and identifying biomarkers that can be used to guide clinical management.
Other scientists and their institutions include Ken Shepard of Columbia University's School of Engineering, David Relman of Stanford University, Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina, Michael Katze of the University of Washington, William Karesh of EcoHealth Alliance, Christina Egan of the New York State Department of Health, and Jay Varma of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.