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I found in the June 22 issue of the journal The Scientists, which is on-line at http://www.the-scientist.library.upenn.edu/yr1998/june/notebook_98062 2 .html that Gerald Fischbach, chairman of Harvard Medical School's neurobiology department, has been appointed the new director of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke effective July 30. "At NINDS, he will oversee a staff of 700 and an annual budget of close to $800 million. 'The challenge is to go into a government bureaucracy, which is a bit of an unknown, and to be effective and really make changes,' Fischbach says. He anticipates 'a lot of new hiring in regard to administering and planning the extramural program' and a review of the intramural program, with its 23 laboratories and branches, 'to make sure it's all of the very top quality.' Fischbach intends to stress research into neurodegenerative diseases, repair of injured neurons, early neuronal development, synaptic plasticity, and chronic pain. 'I would also very much like to expand joint programs with other institutes,' he says, citing the new Brain Molecular Anatomy Project (with the Institute of Mental Health) and the half-year-old Brain Tumor Genome Anatomy Project (with the National Cancer Institute)...." Phil Tompkins Hoboken NJ 60/9