Nora Volkow, a psychiatrist who now heads life sciences at Brookhaven National Lab in Upton, New York, has been offered the top job at the National Institute on Drug Abuse--but she hasn't yet decided if she'll take it. The institute, which will have a budget of $970 million in 2003, has lacked a director since Alan Leshner stepped down last year to head AAAS (publisher of Science).
Volkow, 46, trained in her native Mexico and uses brain imaging to study the neurobiology of addiction. She has shown that drug addicts tend to have fewer than normal dopamine receptors. She has also found that dopamine signaling could be linked to obesity. "She's a hot-shot researcher who has quite a vision and is not afraid to express it," says Alan Kraut, director of the American Psychological Society.
Volkow's appointment would also fit with the growing emphasis on linking basic and clinical research, says neuroscientist Eric Nestler of the University of Texas, Dallas. "Nora embodies translational research," he says. Volkow expects to make a decision by 1 January.
