April 10, 2010?President Obama announced today that he plans to appoint Col. Nelson Michael, the Director of the Division of Retrovirology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Director, U.S. Military HIV Research program, to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.

The President's Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues will advise the President on bioethical issues that may emerge from advances in biomedicine and related areas of science and technology. The Commission will work with the goal of identifying and promoting policies and practices that ensure scientific research, health care delivery, and technological innovation are conducted in an ethically responsible manner. President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order creating the new Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues on Nov. 24, 2009.

Michael began with the Division of Retrovirology at WRAIR in 1989, and became the Director in 2006. The U.S. Military HIV Research Program is a multi-dimensional, international research program encompassing vaccine research and development, HIV prevention research and clinical research.

Michael's research interests include HIV molecular pathogenesis and host genetics, HIV clinical research, and HIV vaccine development. He is concurrently an Associate Professor of Medicine, Uniformed Services University and is a Diplomat, American Board of Internal Medicine.

Michael currently serves various NIH committees dealing with AIDS research and vaccines. He graduated summa cum laude from University of California, Los Angeles in 1979 with a degree in biology and from Stanford University with M.D. and Ph.D. (cancer biology) degrees in 1986. He trained in internal medicine at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital from 1986-1989. Michael has co-authored 120 papers in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.

Read the full press release at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts-4-7-10.

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