NIH Taps Black Biologist To Direct Unit; Move Seen As Breakthrough For Minorities

WASHINGTON--For the first time in the history of the National Institutes of Health, the director of one of its institutes is a person of color. And cancer cell biologist Kenneth Olden would like his appointment as director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to be read as a message of hope to prospective minority scientists everywhere. "My appointment says to minority youths that, if they work hard and prepare themselves, they can succeed," says Olden, who until last month was director of the Howard University Cancer Center here and chairman of the department of oncology within its medical school. "We're just not training enough black scientists, and I hope that I can play a role in increasing that number." Olden is the first major appointee of new NIH director Bernadine Healy, herself the first woman to lead the agency, which traces its origins to a United States Public Health Service laboratory set up in 1886 on Staten Island, N.Y. And while Healy emphasizes that Olden's selection had nothing to do with his race, she does not deny that it meshes with her oft-stated belief that NIH must do more to bolster the careers of talented women and minority scientists. "Dr. Olden is an outstanding scientist, with extensive knowledge of modern biology and a strong background in cancer research," says Healy, who appointed him to succeed David Rall, who retired last fall after 20 years as director of NIEHS. "Ken is a man of broad vision, as well as a very able administrator, and he was clearly the best candidate for the job. "At the same time, the fact that he is black adds a positive dimension to his appointment. We need more women and minorities in leadership positions. And the concept of equal opportunity must convey the message that such opportunities exist for all qualified people." By all accounts, Olden has made the most of his opportunities. Growing up in the rural South, he received a bachelor's degree in biology from tiny Knoxville (Tenn.) College and a Ph.D. from Temple University in Philadelphia. He spent four years as a researcher at Harvard Medical School before coming to NIH in 1974. Working in the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Biology and Diagnosis, he earned tenure as a staff scientist before leaving in 1979 to go to Howard. "He's an outstanding scientist," says Alan Rabson, who heads the division in which Olden worked. "And being the first black institute director is a colossal achievement." Several years ago, Rabson enticed Olden to serve on the board of outside scientists who serve as advisers to his division. And this past January, Olden was appointed by President Bush to the National Cancer Advisory Board, which oversees NCI, the largest of NIH's 13 institutes, and its $1.7 billion annual budget. NIEHS, by contrast, is one of the smallest. Its current budget is only $241 million, and it operates the smallest extramural program of any of the institutes. Those factors, plus its location in Research Triangle Park, N.C., instead of on the main NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., make the institute, in Healy's words, "one of our best-kept secrets." Olden says he wants to change that situation, fast. Not by coincidence, he acknowledges, he designed his plan to be politically attractive as well as scientifically sound. "One important area where NIEHS is lacking is its intervention and prevention efforts," he says. "Prevention is not only more effective, it also saves money. At the same time, it's consistent with the current national focus. That should give us more clout with [Health and Human Services] Secretary Sullivan and with Congress." An Increase For Academics Olden also wants to increase the amount of money that the institute awards to academic scientists. In proportion to its overall size, NIEHS runs the largest intramural program of any institute. Almost half of its extramural dollars are doled out in the form of contracts to various commercial firms to complete a specific task, rather than through the type of open-ended, investigator-initiated project grants that are the norm at NIH. In an interview last fall (The Scientist, Nov. 26, 1990, page 11), Olden said that the paucity of black scientists in leadership positions, especially within the intramural program, has given the agency a poor reputation among minority scientists. This summer Olden will begin trying to reverse that perception by carving out time from his new administrative duties to establish and run a small laboratory to continue his basic research on cancer metastasis. But leading by example isn't enough, he says. He's also toying with the idea of setting up an elementary-school program, to enlist NIEHS scientists in sharing the excitement of science with minority students in local schools. "You've got to start early if you want to change attitudes in the black community toward opportunities in science," Olden says. "If you wait until high school or college, then it's too late."

NIH Taps Black Biologist To Direct Unit; Move Seen As Breakthrough For Minorities

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