NCCIH Research Blog

Please join me in wishing the best to Dr. Martin Goldrosen, who has retired after 16 years with NCCIH, the last 9 as Director of the Division of Extramural Activities (DEA).

Dr. Goldrosen’s contributions to the Center and NIH, especially in administrative oversight, grants policy and management, and peer review, have been immeasurable. We will miss his thoughtful advice and good judgment.

Dr. Goldrosen began his NIH career in 1991 as a health scientist administrator in the Grants Review Branch of the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Extramural Activities. He came to NCI from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, where he had interests in tumor immunobiology. He performed the first orthotopic transplant procedure in mice, which ultimately became the standard for animal models simulating human cancer. Concurrently, he was a research professor of experimental pathology at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he trained dozens of doctoral and postdoctoral candidates who went on to successful careers.

Last fall, Dr. Briggs and I convened a search committee to recruit a new DEA Director. After careful review of many strong candidates from inside and outside of Government, it became clear that the strongest, most knowledgeable candidate was within our own Center. We are pleased to announce that Dr. Partap Khalsa, former Deputy Director of the Division of Extramural Research (DER), is the new Director of DEA.

Dr. Khalsa has a sustained history of accomplishment, recognition, and leadership in the field of complementary and integrative health. He began his NIH career in 2006 as a Program Director within the Center charged to develop and oversee our portfolio on manual therapies. In 2014, he was promoted to Deputy Director of DER. Among his many other contributions, he served as co-chair of the NIH Task Force on Chronic Low-Back Pain, a group of external scientific experts, and administered NCCIH’s Centers of Excellence program in complementary and integrative therapies.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Khalsa led a successful clinical practice as a doctor of chiropractic before pursuing additional scientific training. After earning an M.S. in biomedical engineering and a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences, he became a faculty member and eventually vice chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University in New York. From there he was recruited to NIH.

Dr. Khalsa has brought unique expertise to NCCIH and is an exceptional manager of clinical and basic research as well as an expert in NIH administrative operations. We’re delighted to welcome him to his new role at our Center.