Carstea Appointed Chief of CSR Group
Dr. Eugene Carstea has been named new chief of the cardiovascular and respiratory sciences integrated review group at the Center for Scientific Review. He has been scientific review officer for CSR’s molecular neurogenetics study section, the biophysical and physiological neuroscience fellowship study section and the molecular and the cellular neuroscience small business study section.
“Dr. Carstea has excelled as CSR’s education and development coordinator for our scientific review officers,” said CSR director Dr. Richard Nakamura. “We are pleased he will bring his tremendous leadership skills and policy insights to this important position.”
As CVRS chief, Carstea will oversee 11 standing study sections and numerous special emphasis panels that review a broad range of NIH grant applications to fund research involving basic investigations, translational approaches and patient-oriented studies to advance understanding of the development, physiology and pathophysiology of cardiac and pulmonary systems.
Carstea received his Ph.D. in microbiology (molecular biology) from Clemson University. He was a senior research fellow within the Developmental and Metabolic Neurology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. He led his team in identifying NPC1, the gene (mutation) responsible for the inherited neurodegenerative disorder Niemann-Pick disease type C.
Following his work at NIH, he became scientific director at the Saccomanno Research Institute in Colorado. He then moved into the biotech/biopharma industry. Among his positions, Carstea was a principal scientist at Invitrogen Corp., designing novel research reagents and strategies associated with RNA interference. He later served as associate director of discovery at Vanda Pharmaceuticals in Rockville.