Cornell President David Skorton has been named to the advisory council of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) for a four-year term beginning Sept. 1 by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The NIBIB advises the secretary and assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services; the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and the director of the NIBIB on research, training, health information dissemination and other programs that address biomedical imaging, biomedical engineering and associated technologies and procedures with biomedical applications.

The NIBIB meets three times per year. Council members provide the second-level review for all applications for funding of research and training grants or cooperative agreements by the NIBIB. The council also advises on policy and program priorities.

Skorton is one of 12 council members appointed by Sebelius. The council has eight nonvoting ex officio members: Sebelius; the NIH director; the NIBIB director; the chief medical director of the Department of Veterans Affairs; the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs; the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the director of the National Science Foundation; and the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.