RCMI Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus

Dr. Sidney A. McNairy Jr. Appointed Associate Director Associate Director of the Research Infrastructure Area at the National Center for Research Resources, NIH.

The RCMI Program at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus extends its congratulations to Dr. Sidney A. McNairy, Jr. for his appointment as Associate Director of the Research Infrastructure Area at the National Center for Research Resources, NIH.

Dr. McNairy was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He received his B.S. degree in Chemistry at LeMooyne/Owen College, Memphis, Tennessee in 1959. A graduate assistantship led to studies at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, where he received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in biochemistry in 1963 and 1965, respectively.

In 1965, Dr. McNairy was appointed Professor of Chemistry at Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Aside from his academic responsibilities, he served as Director of the Health Research Center at Southern University from 1971-1975. In 1972 he was appointed Director of the university's Minority Biomedical Research Support Program (MBRS). In addition to his academic and administrative duties, he participated in numerous collaborative research projects in the private and government sectors.

In 1975, he was awarded a special government fellowship and subsequently was appointed Executive Secretary of the MBRS Program, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland. He has served as Director of the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program since its inception in 1985.

As Associate Director of the Research Infrastructure Area (RIA), National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), NIH, Dr. McNairy will oversee the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program, the RCMI Clinical Research Infrastructure Initiative (RCRII), the Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) Program, the Research Facilities Improvement Program (RFIP), the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program and the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) Program.

Dr. McNairy has been the driving force of the RCMI Program, always emphasizing action and not words. His insistence on excellence combined with a philosophy of commitment and dedication have raised biomedical research in minority institutions to new and unforeseen levels. Dr. McNairy has insured through the original RCMI Program and, more recently, through the RCMI Clinical Research Infrastructure Initiative that minority institutions respond effectively and promptly to the national health agenda. We are confident that he will continue to provide leadership to the RCMI Program as it meets the challenges of a new century.

On behalf of the administrative staff and investigators of the RCMI Program at the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, we wish him success in his new position and extend our congratulations to his wife Bobbie Nelson; his children Alicia, Sidney and David, and grandchildren Brittany Marie and Sidney, IV.

Emma Fernández-Repollet
RCMI Program Director
October 20, 1999

Emma Fernández-Repollet,Ph.D.

Program Director

RCMI Program

Room 621-A, 6th. floor

Main Building, Medical Sciences Campus

GPO Box 365067

San Juan, PR 00936-5067

Email: efernandez@rcm.upr.edu

Voice (787) 763-9401

FAX (787) 758-5206