David Shurtleff, Ph.D.
I'm very pleased to tell you that David Shurtleff, Ph.D., has joined the NCCAM staff as Deputy Director. In this capacity, he will partner with me in directing the Center’s scientific, programmatic, and administrative endeavors. During Dr. Shurtleff’s initial period of tenure, he will share the Deputy Director position with Jack Killen, M.D.
Dr. Shurtleff brings to NCCAM extensive experience in NIH leadership. He served as Acting Deputy Director, and Acting Director of the Special Populations Office, at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) from 2011 to mid-2013. Previously, he was Director of the Division of Basic Neuroscience and Behavioral Research at NIDA. NCCAM and NIDA share a strong interest in improving the management of chronic pain and reducing prescription drug abuse, and his background in these areas will strengthen our partnership with NIDA on these important areas of public health concern.
Dr. Shurtleff has a Ph.D. in experimental psychology. He came to NIH in 1995 from the Naval Medical Research Institute, in Bethesda, Maryland, where, as a research psychologist, he studied many kinds of issues related to cognitive performance, environmental stress, and peripheral neuropathy; his strong scientific background will also be a great asset to the leadership team at NCCAM. Please join us in welcoming him to the Center.
As we know, chronic low back pain (cLBP) is an enormous public-health problem—and a frustrating one to patients, health-care providers, and researchers.
