NLM Appoints Assistant Director for Research and Education

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NLM Appoints Assistant Director for Research and Education

Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D., Director of the National Library of Medicine, has announced the appointment of Steven J. Phillips, M.D., as Assistant NLM Director for Research and Education. The NLM is a component of the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Phillips is a cardio-thoracic surgeon who most recently was Medical Director and Director of Research of the Iowa Heart Institute. He has had a distinguished career in cardiovascular surgery and research and he established the cardiac surgery and heart transplant program at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, where he was Medical Director. His team there implanted the first artificial heart in Iowa and pioneered the technology for emergency coronary bypass surgery during heart attacks and percutaneous cardiopulmonary bypass.

"The Library is fortunate to acquire the services of someone with such superb medical and scientific credentials," said Dr. Lindberg in making the announcement. "Dr. Phillips is well acquainted with the Library's mission and programs, having served as an appointed member and as Chairman of the NLM Board of Regents from 1994 to 1998."

The Assistant Director for Research and Education is the Library's principal medical advisor on research and medical education priorities. Among the matters he will be involved with are NLM's initiatives with consumer health information, the National Heart Attack Alert Program, intellectual property concerns, medical data privacy, and issues related to computer-based medical records. The Assistant Director also serves as Chairman of the NLM Editorial Review Committee.

Dr. Phillips has his undergraduate degree from Hobart College (Geneva, N.Y.) and his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine (Boston, Mass.). He trained in general surgery at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn and in cardiopulmonary surgery at the University of Oregon School of Health Sciences in Portland. Dr. Phillips holds patents for several inventions related to cardiac surgery and he is the author of some 300 articles. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs and has served on numerous professional and governmental advisory bodies including the Advisory Committee to the Director, National Institutes of Health.

Note to editors: A photograph of Dr. Phillips is available from the NLM Office of Communications and Public Liaison (publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov).

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Last updated: 29 April 2004
First published: 08 July 1999
Permanence level: Permanent: Stable Content