Welcome to the first issue of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) internal newsletter. Delivered monthly to all NLM staff, the newsletter is a great way for us to stay connected, tell stories about our work and accomplishments, recognize staff achievements, provide updates about NLM building and renovation efforts, highlight upcoming training and events, and much more.

Our Office of Communications and Public Liaison (OCPL) designed this newsletter in collaboration with the NLM Strategic Planning Implementation Council. The newsletter fulfills a request we’ve heard often from our staff – to have a better sense of what is going on across the NLM and better plan for upcoming events. We hope it will become your go-to place to stay current. We’ll be working with the Office of Computer and Communications Systems (OCCS) to make it easy to submit upcoming events, your ideas for new features, or shout outs for staff recognition. In addition, we’ll be archiving each month’s newsletter on the new OCPL wiki page.

We would like to hear from you about a name for the newsletter. Please vote in our naming poll. 

I am looking forward to staying connected in this way! 

All the best,
Patti

Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PhD
Director, National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health
US Department of Health and Human Services

During the time of maximum telework, building repairs, pre-renovations and renovations have been ongoing. Below are some highlights.

Building 38

In January, furniture was removed and relocated from the first floor and mezzanine in Building 38. 

This month, asbestos abatement and demolition of the first floor and mezzanine in Building 38 will begin upon the award to the contractor (managed by NIH’s Division of Environmental Protection). Shelving was added to the B2 level of Building 38.

The construction contract for the first floor and mezzanine in Building 38 will be awarded in March. This is a three-year, multi-phase project to optimize and modernize the Library’s first and mezzanine floors. The HVAC system replacement for the Building 38 History of Medicine (HMD) stacks will begin.

In April, we should see completion of the HMD HVAC replacement project. Repairs will begin on the exterior of Building 38 to improve or resolve lighting, safety and water infiltration issues. Construction on the first floor and mezzanine in Building 38 should begin.

Building 38A

In January, renovations were completed in B1N30 and the 4th-floor conference room.

Construction will start for the Building 38A Data Center's secondary cooling and power near the end of February.

Construction on the 9th floor should be completed in April.

Building 38 - Main Reading Room in Library

Building 38 - Mezzanine



Building 38A - ClinicalTrials.gov, B1N30 Renovation Update



Building 38A - ClinicalTrials.gov, B1N30 Renovation Update



Building 38A - ClinicalTrials.gov, B1N30 Renovation Update

• Tuesday, February 9, 2021 from 10:00am-4:15pm - NLM Board of Regents
  
  
• Wednesday, February 17, 2021 from 12:45pm-1:45pm - February Brown Bag - RSVP to nlmtownhall@mail.nlm.nih.gov by February 16, 2021.
  
  
• The NLM Intramural Research Program (IRP) Seminars are held each Tuesday at 11:00am and selected Thursdays at 3:00pm.
  
  Upcoming seminars include:
  Tuesday, February 9, 2021 - Yiyan Yang
  Tuesday, February 16, 2021 - Wenya Rowe
  Tuesday, February 23, 2021 - Gurmeet Kaur
  Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - Alexander Burroughs
  
  
• Wednesday, March 4, 2021 from 1:15pm-2:15pm - NLM Town Hall
  

Hurry! Poll closes on February 24, 2021.

In Recognition

Dr. Sameer Antani’s long-term collaboration with NCI was highlighted in a recent NIH Intramural Research Program blog post, “AI Tools Provide Picture of Cervical Health: Artificial Intelligence Simplifies Cervical Cancer Screening,” on the NLM Internal Research Program page.

Dr. Antani and collaborators in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Global Health Labs and Unitaid developed and are now testing a machine learning-based approach to screen for cervical cancer using nothing more than a smartphone.

Ghada Zamzmi, PhD, Lister Hill Center

Congratulations to NLM Postdoctoral Fellow in the Lister Hill Center, Dr. Ghada Zamzmi on being the recipient of an MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 award for the Middle East and North Africa Region. 

She was nominated by Dr. Rosalind Picard of MIT Media Lab for her doctoral dissertation topic in automated detection of neonatal pain. Her algorithm used images and video to monitor behavioral (facial expression, sounds, body/head movements) and physiological signals detect pain and its intensity. The system sends an alert whenever a neonate experiences pain to prevent delayed intervention and mitigate the inconsistency resulting from caregivers’ subjectivity. She did this work at the University of South Florida under mentorship of Dr. Rangachar Kasturi.

In Memoriam