National medicine library director to lecture at WSU

Donald Lindberg, director of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, in front of the library’s Visible Human Project.

PULLMAN, Wash. – Donald Lindberg, director of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, will visit Washington State University for the inaugural distinguished lecture series through the Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience. He will present “The History of Science Publication in the U.S.” at 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 23, in the science forum (room 305) of the new Veterinary and Biomedical Research Building. A reception will follow.

 

Lindberg will hold informal discussions with IPN faculty and students, as well as others from the College of Veterinary Medicine, 9-11 a.m. Wednesday, July 24, also in the science forum.

 

A scientist who pioneered applying computer technology to health care, Lindberg has directed the NLM, the world’s largest biomedical library and part of the National Institutes of Health, since 1984. According to the NLM website, the library has an annual budget of $275 million and 690 career staff members.

 

Lindberg served as founding director of the National Coordination Office for High Performance Computing and Communications in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy 1992-95. In 1996, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala named him U.S. coordinator for the G-7 Global Health Applications Project.

 

He is recognized for contributions to information and computer activities in medical diagnosis, artificial intelligence and educational programs, the NLM website notes. Before his NLM appointment, he was professor of information science and professor of pathology at the University of Missouri at Columbia. He holds academic appointments as clinical professor of pathology at the University of Virginia and adjunct professor of pathology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

 

Lindberg was elected the first president of the American Medical Informatics Association and has served on many boards, including the Computer Science and Engineering Board of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Board of Medical Examiners and the Council of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

He has written three books, several book chapters and more than 200 articles and reports. He has served as editor and editorial board member of nine publications, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, and has received numerous awards.

 

 

 

Contacts:
James Peters, WSU Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, 509-335-0517, jamespeters@vetmed.wsu.edu
Charlie Powell, public relations officer, WSU College of Veterinary Medicine, 509-335-7073, cpowell@vetmed.wsu.edu