Escalante appointed to NIH rehabilitation research committee

San Antonio (March 30, 2004) – Agustín Escalante, M.D., professor of medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, has been appointed to a three-year term on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Function, Integration and Rehabilitation Sciences Subcommittee. The subcommittee is responsible for reviewing and assigning priority scores to proposals for individual research grants, program projects, career development awards and conference grants submitted to the National Center of Medical Rehabilitation Research.

The center is part of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the NIH. The committee meets every four months in Bethesda, Md. The center uses the committee’s priority scores as the primary criterion in making funding decisions regarding grant proposals.

“Being named to this NIH study section is an honor,” Dr. Escalante said. “In essence, the NIH is asking for our opinion about the merits of grant proposals submitted by investigators throughout the United States and other countries,” he added. “As a member of the committee I will gain enormous insight into the inner workings of NIH funding.”

Dr. Escalante earned his medical degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City in 1983. He joined the Health Science Center in 1992. Dr. Escalante is a board-certified rheumatologist who diagnoses and treats arthritis, rheumatism, lupus, back pain and related ailments. His research interests include rheumatoid arthritis-related disabilities and outcomes. He also studies ethnic and racial disparities in patients with musculoskeletal diseases.



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