NIH Record - National Institutes of Health

French Public Health Research Leaders Visit NIH

Samuel holding assay plates in a lab
Samuel holds two 1,536-well assay plates used to test drug compounds at NCATS’s laboratories.

Photo:  terry rudd/ncats

Scientific collaboration crossed disciplines and borders late last year, as leaders from France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) met their U.S. colleagues in a tour of five NIH institutes, centers and programs.

Inserm Chair and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Didier Samuel and three colleagues—Dr. Elli Chatzopoulou,  Dr. Remy Slama and Dr. Mireille Guyader—met with team members in the All of Us Research Program, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Fogarty International Center, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 

On the tour, the Inserm officials visited NCATS’s Rockville, Md., laboratories, where scientists demonstrated how NCATS uses innovative technologies such as 3-D tissue models to accelerate the development of new therapies.

“Biomedical research is much more transdisciplinary than it was, requiring cooperation among scientists, engineers, mathematicians, statisticians and others,” Samuel told his NCATS hosts. “This is a big change and we have to find a way to merge all of these disciplines.”

“Welcoming Inserm is a significant milestone that underscores NCATS’s role as an integral player in fostering collaborative, multidisciplinary opportunities,” said NCATS Director Dr. Joni Rutter. “Such opportunities allow us to showcase the depth of our translational science work at NIH.” 

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Group photo in front of red wall, NCATS sign
From l: Dr. Mireille Guyader, counselor for science and technology with the Embassy of France; Dr. Remy Slama, director of the Inserm Thematic Institute on Public Health; Dr. Elli Chatzopoulou, director of Inserm’s department of national and foreign affairs; Dr. Didier Samuel, chair and chief executive officer of Inserm; and Dr. Matthew D. Hall, director of NCATS’s Early Translation Branch.

Photo:  terry rudd/ncats

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