Loud Retires After 27 Years at NCI
Dr. Jennifer Loud, adult nurse practitioner and assistant chief in the Clinical Genetics Branch (CGB), Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), retired in August after 27 years of service to the National Cancer Institute. She played a pivotal role in multiple clinical and epidemiologic studies aimed at improving our understanding of clinical cancer genetics and the psychosocial impact of high genetic risk of cancer on affected individuals and families.
“Jennifer was one of the first people I recruited to CGB,” said Dr. Mark Greene, NIH scientist emeritus and former chief of CGB. “I could never have envisioned recruiting an investigator and colleague with the extraordinary array of traits, skills and potential that Jennifer embodied.”
Prior to her arrival in DCEG, Loud spent 7 years as a nurse practitioner with NCI’s Medical Oncology Branch, working with individuals enrolled in clinical trials of new cancer treatments. During that time, she was a clinical trials coordinator and an associate investigator on two chemoprevention trials for women at increased risk of breast cancer.
Loud held leadership roles throughout the division, at NCI and other professional communities. She served on key committees, including the technical evaluation of questionnaires committee, committee of scientists and the NCI women’s health activities committee. Her dedicated involvement with NCI’s Clinical Center institutional review board, first as affiliated scientist and then as deputy chair, established her as an invaluable resource for human subjects research regulatory matters.
In the months before her retirement, Loud’s expertise in web-based data and patient management systems was critical to DCEG’s Covid-19 pandemic response, bringing the COVIDcode study of genetic and immunologic contributions to the severity of disease from conception to production in less than 6 months.
“Jennifer’s kind and gentle spirit, clinical and scientific rigor and mentoring of staff at all levels has been the foundation for CGB’s continued success,” said Dr. Sharon Savage, DCEG clinical director and chief of CGB. “She has been my right hand, my voice of reason, my sound board—and she will be missed dearly.”