Three New Program Directors Join NIGMS Scientific Staff

NIGMS recently added three new program directors to its scientific staff.

Dr. Kenneth Gibbs joins the Division of Training, Workforce Development and Diversity, where he will handle fellowships, training grants and the Coordination and Evaluation Center, a component of the NIH Diversity Program Consortium. He will also manage research grants in the Division of Genetics and Developmental Biology. Additionally, he will interact directly with trainees through the Postdoctoral Research Associate Program. 

Gibbs was previously a program analyst in the institute’s Office of Program Planning, Analysis and Evaluation. Before joining NIGMS, he was a cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute. Gibbs earned a B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, a master of public health from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in immunology from Stanford University, where he also conducted postdoctoral research.

 Dr. Irina Krasnova joins the Center for Research Capacity Building. She manages Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence and Support of Competitive Research grants. 

Before coming to NIGMS, Krasnova was a staff scientist in the Molecular Neuropsychiatry Research Branch at NIDA. Formerly, she was a research scientist in the department of molecular neurobiology at the Institute of the Human Brain in Russia. Krasnova earned a B.S. in analytical chemistry and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from St. Petersburg State University in Russia.

Dr. Amanda Melillo joins the Division of Genetics and Developmental Biology. She administers research grants on cell growth and differentiation and the cell cycle. Melillo comes to NIGMS from NIDCR, where she was a program director in the Integrative Biology and Infectious Diseases Branch. 

Formerly, she was a technology transfer coordinator assistant at the Food and Drug Administration, where she also conducted postdoctoral research. Melillo earned a B.S. in biology and biochemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a Ph.D. in microbial disease from Albany Medical College in New York.