"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 ...
