New Members Appointed to Panel on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses

WASHINGTON – Six new members have been appointed to the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

“The unique health care needs of our Gulf War veterans have not been forgotten,” said the Honorable R. James Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. “VA has an ongoing commitment to ensure they benefit from the best research this country can offer.”

As directed by Congress, VA established this public advisory committee to provide advice and make recommendations to the VA Secretary on research into the causes and treatments of illnesses and potential health problems of veterans who served in Southwest Asia during the Persian Gulf War. 

Committee members are appointed for two- or three-year terms, renewable by the Secretary.

The new committee members include Dr. Carrolee Barlow from San Diego; Dr. Floyd E. Bloom from La Jolla, Calif.; Dr. Daniel J. Clauw from Ann Arbor, Mich.; Dr. Mary D. Nettleman from East Lansing, Mich.; James P. O’Callaghan, Ph.D., from Morgantown, W.Va.; and Dr. Hugh H. Tilson from Chapel Hill, N.C.

A complete list of committee members is attached.

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Membership

VA Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses 

·      James H. Binns, Jr., chairman.  Former Chairman of Parallel Design, Inc., Phoenix, Ariz. and former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense.

·      Lea Steele, Ph.D., committee scientific director.  Research associate professor in the College of Human Ecology at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan.  Previously, principal investigator of the Kansas Gulf Veterans Health Study.

·      Dr. Carrolee Barlow.  Vice President of Biology Research and Development for BrainCells, Inc., San Diego, Calif., and previously director of molecular neuroscience for Merck Research Laboratories.

·      Dr. Floyd E. Bloom.  Professor Emeritus at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif., where he formerly served as chairman of the Department of Neuropharmacology.  Former chief of the laboratory of neuropharmacology at the National Institute of Mental Health and Editor-in-Chief of Science.

·      Dr. Daniel J. Clauw.  Assistant dean for clinical and translational research and professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.  He also is director of the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center and the Center for the Advancement of Clinical Research.

·      Dr. Beatrice A. Golomb.  Associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

·      Joel C. Graves.  Retired Army captain and a Gulf War veteran from Lacey, Wash.

·      Dr. Robert W. Haley.  Professor of internal medicine and chief of epidemiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.

·      Marguerite L. Knox.  Senior sales representative for the neuroscience division of  Eli Lilly & Company, Columbia, S.C. and a 1990-91 Gulf War veteran.  Currently a lieutenant colonel in the South Carolina Army National Guard.

·      Dr. William J. Meggs.  Chief of toxicology at The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C.

·      Dr. Mary D. Nettleman.  Chairperson of the Department of Medicine at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, East Lansing, Mich.  Former associate dean for primary care of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.

·      James P. O’Callaghan, Ph.D.  Distinguished consultant for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and head of the molecular neurotoxicology laboratory for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Morgantown, W.Va.

·      Stephen L. Robinson.  Executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center in Silver Spring, Md. and a 1990-91 Gulf War veteran.

·      Steve Smithson.   Deputy director for veterans affairs and rehabilitation for the American Legion in Washington, D.C. and a 1990-91 Gulf War veteran.

·      Dr. Hugh H. Tilson.  Clinical professor in the department of epidemiology and health policy, and senior advisor to the dean of the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C.

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