NLM in Focus is pleased to welcome Suzanne Bakken, RN, PhD; S. Claiborne “Clay” Johnston, PhD, MD; and Neil H. Rambo, MLS, to the NLM Board of Regents.

As we’ve done in the past, we’ve reached out to these newest Board members to learn more about them.

Bakken, Johnston, and Rambo share a commitment to “think more holistically about research and the health system,” “advance health equity,” and contribute to NLM’s “continued excellence and record of exemplary service.”

When their letters arrived from the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) inviting them to serve on the Board of Regents at the National Library of Medicine, they felt honored and excited.

That’s exactly how we at NLM in Focus feel, too.

We enjoyed reading about their service and experience, and we must admit that we smiled when they told us something surprising about themselves.

Q&A with Suzanne Bakken, PhD

	Suzanne Bakken, PhD
1. Very briefly, what is your background?	Nurse scientist and biomedical informatician with focus on applying informatics and data science methods to advance health and health equity. Although I’ve focused on different aspects of informatics through the years, I am currently excited about information visualization.
2. How did you feel when you received your invitation from the Secretary of HHS to serve on the Board of Regents?	I was excited by the opportunity to serve the public.
3. Why are you serving on the Board of Regents?	I have a strong interest in science policy. I have previously served on the Lister Hill Board of Scientific Counselors and one of the strategic planning groups. Serving on the Board of Regents provides me with the opportunity to learn about critical issues and offer my perspectives as a nurse scientist and biomedical informatician who is committed to advancing health equity.
4. Tell us something surprising about yourself.	I now work in New York at Columbia University, but I previously worked in New York City as a hostess for the New York Mets baseball team in the early 1970s.

Q&A with S. Claiborne “Clay” Johnston, MD, PhD

	S. Claiborne “Clay” Johnston, MD, PhD
1. Very briefly, what is your background?	I began my career at the University of California, San Francisco, as a stroke neurologist. I got frustrated with our lack of knowledge in how we care for patients and became interested in research, later getting a PhD in Epidemiology from UC Berkeley. After many grants and papers, I was faced with the reality that the pace of research was too slow, and I moved into research administration, ultimately becoming Associate Vice Chancellor of Research and head of the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute at UCSF. The reality set in that in order to truly improve care, we needed to think more holistically about research and the health system. That insight brought me to my current role as the inaugural dean of the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, where I have been for the last five years.
2. How did you feel when you received your invitation from the Secretary of HHS to serve on the Board of Regents?	I was honored to be asked and also a little nervous about how I would fit it into my hectic work life.
3. Why are you serving on the Board of Regents?	The work of NLM is critical to the pace of research and to the delivery of clinical care. Every researcher and clinician touches NLM products and benefits from its research. I am excited about helping to push it forward even faster.
4. Tell us something surprising about yourself.	I drive an elderly convertible Mini Cooper. I like its nimbleness and the connection with road and air. The rest of my family are not fans.

Q&A with Neil H. Rambo, MLS

	Neil H. Rambo, MLS
1. Very briefly, what is your background?	Most of my career has been managing and administering academic health sciences libraries and related programs. A common thread throughout the roles I have played is pushing the boundaries of what librarians do, from health information outreach in underserved communities to exploring data curation roles for librarians in support of biomedical research. I began my career with a post-graduate fellowship at NLM.
2. How did you feel when you received your invitation from the Secretary of HHS to serve on the Board of Regents?	After marveling at actually receiving an invitation to serve from the Secretary of HHS, I was honored. I am excited to serve at a time of such great changes and challenges. I am also gratified to have the opportunity to serve the institution where I began my career.
3. Why are you serving on the Board of Regents?	I am serving on the Board of Regents to advocate for the future of NLM; to do what I can to contribute to NLM’s continued excellence and record of exemplary service to its many audiences worldwide; and, to the extent I am able, to represent the interests and perspectives of academic health sciences libraries and librarians.
4. Tell us something surprising about yourself.	After sailing only sporadically for many years, I am in the process of being credentialed at several levels, eventually leading to a US Coast Guard captain’s license.

Please welcome Suzanne Bakken, S. Claiborne “Clay” Johnston, and Neil H. Rambo.

To get to know all the Board members better, please refer to the NLM in Focus profiles of Board members that ran last May and in February of 2018.

The Board of Regents serves as an advisory body to the secretary of Health and Human Services, the director of NIH, and the director of NLM on important aspects of policy regarding the Library. In addition, the Board is the final review body for NLM’s extramural grant program. The Board meets three times a year in February, May, and September.

The Board of Regents has 10 members plus nine ex officio members. The Director of the National Library of Medicine, Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PHD, is the Executive Secretary.

By Kathryn McKay, NLM in Focus editor