The objective of the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) Intellectual and Developmetal Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) Administrative Core is to direct and coordinate the activities of the BCM IDDRC in a manner which will meet the overall objectives of the center, including:

1. To enhance activities at BCM aimed at understanding intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) by encouraging and focusing research efforts on etiology, diagnosis, prevention, pathogenesis, and intervention of IDD;

2. To continue to promote a multidisciplinary approach to IDD research by enhancing interactions among Center investigators and by continuing to develop and apply leading edge technologies;

3. To enhance the productivity of project investigators through effective and efficient research core units and to accelerate translational research efforts through animal models;

4. To recruit new investigators into the field of IDD research through scientific interactions with Center investigators and by providing the infrastructure for a multidisciplinary approach through the IDDRC core facilities; and,

5. To promote scientific and collaborative interactions with investigators outside BCM who have demonstrated a major commitment to study and treat IDD.

The Administrative Core will continue to meet these objectives through the administration of funds awarded to the IDDRC. The Administrative Core will also actively seek additional funding for IDD research and will assist new investigators in applications for individual awards to agencies and foundations that are most appropriate.

The organizational chart of the BCM IDDRC outlines the administrative responsibilities of the director, the associate director, and the Administrative Core to the research cores and individual research projects. Due to the number of research projects approved for access to cores in the BCM IDDRC, we have represented them by their thematic topics, with a number in parentheses indicating the number of individual projects supported within each theme.

	The director of the BCM IDDRC is Huda Y. Zoghbi, M.D. She is a professor of pediatrics, neurology, neurosciences, and molecular and human genetics at BCM. Dr. Zoghbi is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and a board certified pediatric neurologist. She has directed the IDDRC since 1994.
Huda Zoghbi, M.D.
	The associate director of the BCM IDDRC is David L. Nelson, Ph.D. He is a professor of molecular and human genetics at BCM. Dr. Nelson assists Dr. Zoghbi and the other investigators of the IDDRC to maintain the smooth operation of the various activities and cores. He brings administrative experience to the position from his prior service as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded BCM Human Genome Sequencing Center (BCM-HGSC). He also serves as director of the BCM Fragile X Center.
David Nelson, Ph.D.

Dr. Zoghbi and Dr. Nelson will report to and be assisted by the Administrative and Scientific Advisory committee (ASAC).

© 2003 Baylor College of Medicine - Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center
Phone: (713) 798-7353    Fax: (713) 798-8728    Houston, Texas 77030    E-mail: iddrc@bcm.tmc.edu
Modified May 2009