Administrative - BCM MRDDRC

The objective of the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) Mental Retardation and Developmetal Disabilities Research Center (MRDDRC) Administrative Core is to direct and coordinate the activities of the BCM MRDDRC in a manner which will meet the overall objectives of the center, including:

1. To enhance mental retardation activities at BCM by encouraging and focusing research efforts on etiology, diagnosis, prevention, pathogenesis, and intervention of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (MRDD);

2. To continue to promote a multidisciplinary approach to MRDD research by improving interactions among center investigators and by continuing to develop and apply leading edge technologies;

3. To enhance the productivity of project investigators through effective and efficient research core units and to facilitate translational research efforts by providing clinical research support;

4. To recruit new investigators into the field of MRDD research through scientific interactions with center investigators and by providing the infrastructure for a multidisciplinary approach through the MRDDRC core facilities; and,

5. To promote scientific and collaborative interactions with investigators outside BCM who have demonstrated a major commitment to study and treat MRDD.

The Administrative Core will continue to meet these objectives through the administration of funds awarded to the MRDDRC. The Administrative Core will also actively seek additional funding for MRDD research and will assist new investigators in applications for individual awards to agencies and foundations that are most appropriate.

The organizational chart of the BCM MRDDRC outlines the administrative responsibilities of the director, the associate director, and the Administrative Core to the research cores and individual research projects. Due to the number of research projects approved for access to cores in the BCM MRDDRC, we have represented them by their thematic topics, with a number in parentheses indicating the number of individual projects supported within each theme.

	The director of the BCM MRDDRC is Huda Y. Zoghbi, M.D. She is a professor of pediatrics, neurology, neurosciences, and molecular and human genetics at BCM. Dr. Zoghbi is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and a board certified pediatric neurologist. She has directed the MRDDRC for the past eight years.
Huda Zoghbi, M.D.

	The associate director of the BCM MRDDRC is David L. Nelson, Ph.D. He is a professor of molecular and human genetics at BCM. Dr. Nelson assists Dr. Zoghbi and the other investigators of the MRDDRC to maintain the smooth operation of the various activities and cores. He brings administrative experience to the position from his prior service as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded BCM Human Genome Sequencing Center (BCM-HGSC). He also serves as director of the BCM Fragile X Center.
David Nelson, Ph.D.

Dr. Zoghbi and Dr. Nelson will report to and be assisted by the Administrative and Scientific Advisory committee (ASAC).