Early-Career Researchers Join the NHLBI DIR through Stadtman Tenure-Track Recruitment Program

Office of the Director - March 23, 2011

The NHLBI Division of Intramural Research (DIR) has hired two highly talented early-career scientists through the NIH's first search for Earl Stadtman investigators. Launched in 2009-2010 and named for a late NIH biochemist who mentored several Nobel laureates, the Stadtman program is a trans-NIH initiative offering tenure-track positions across all areas of biomedical research.

Of the over 800 researchers who applied to the first round, eight were ultimately hired by various NIH institutes. The NHLBI hired two: Dr. Haiming Cao, a Stadtman tenure-track researcher in the Center for Molecular Medicine under Dr. Toren Finkel, and Dr. Nasser Rusan, an investigator in the Cell Biology and Physiology Center under Dr. Clare Waterman.

Cao, Rusan, and the others are "are all outstanding investigators," said Dr. L. Michelle Bennett, deputy director of the NHLBI DIR and a co-chair of the search committee. "This process identifies the best and brightest. We're looking forward to this annual opportunity to attract promising tenure-track investigators."

Recruitment for the second group of Stadtman investigators closed in October 2010 with just over 560 applicants. Information about applying to the 2011-2012 round will be posted at http://tenuretrack.nih.gov/apply/faq/stadtman.html.

Read more in the March-April issue of the NIH Catalyst. (PDF)

Dr. Haiming Cao stands over a microscope

Biochemist Haiming Cao came to the NHLBI in January after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. He uses mouse models to study the molecular and pathological basis of obesity with the hopes of developing effective therapies against obesity-related disorders such as diabetes and heart disease.At the NHLBI, he intends to search for hormones that fight human disease. He looks forward to "free thinking and unguarded scientific discussions" with colleagues and being able to "completely focus on scientific thinking and innovative experimentation."

Cell biologist Nasser M. Rusan came to the NHLBI in February after finishing his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is exploring the molecular interactions in mitosis. His work combines Drosophila (fruit fly) genetics, high-resolution live-cell imaging, and functional genomic screening to answer questions that have direct human health implications."My immediate environment in Building 50 brings together biochemists, biophysicists, and cell biologists who think at the nanometer and micrometer level," he said. "My interactions with them will undoubtedly shed light on my research that is focused on how changes at the biochemical and cellular levels can result in changes at the tissue level in an animal."

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