comprise the National Institutes of Health. With this prestigious appointment, Dr.
Sieving will oversee a budget of $510.6 million, a staff of 300 scientists and administrators on the NIH campus, and approximately 1,600 research grants and training awards made to scientists at more than 250 institutions across the country and around the world. He is eminently qualified to do so.

“The selection of Paul Sieving for this highly visible and immensely important position speaks volumes not only for Dr. Sieving’s outstanding talents, but also to the program that provided an environment that fosters success,” says department chair, Paul R. Lichter, M.D. “There is much that goes into nurturing the qualities that lead to one’s selection for a post such as this.”

Dr. Sieving has served on the faculty of the UM Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences since 1985. After graduating with honors in history and physics from Valparaiso University, he received an M.S. in physics from Yale. He completed medical school at the University of Illinois, where he also received a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering. After completing his ophthalmology residency at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary he completed a fellowship in retinal physiology at the University of California at San Francisco with the late Dr. Roy Steinberg, following that up with a retina fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School with Eliot Berson, M.D. Considered one of the premier diagnosticians and researchers in retinitis pigmentosa and retinoschisis, Dr. Sieving has spent many years investigating the genetic basis for retinal and macular degenerations. His work on the basic biology of retinal cells has increased our understanding of how and why they degenerate and lead to vision loss. Because of his exceptional abilities Dr. Sieving was named the Paul R. Lichter Professor of Ophthalmic Genetics when that professorship was established in 1990.

The National Eye Institute was created in 1968, when it was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. Ever since, it has stimulated clinical and basic research into the mechanisms of sight. Its accomplishments are many; yet its challenges are daunting. “The people deserve to have the NEI led by someone with vision and a breadth of experience. Paul Sieving brings these qualities to this new job, along with a deep understanding of the terribly debilitating physical and psychological effects of vision loss. We and his patients will miss him sorely. However, we are eager to watch him take on this responsibility successfully,” says Dr. Lichter, “and wish that his term as NEI Director matches and even exceeds the achievements his years in Ann Arbor have seen.”

UM Medical School Dean Allen S. Lichter, M.D., says, “Dr. Sieving joins a distinguished list of UM faculty in leadership roles in the NIH. We are proud that our faculty are serving in these important posts.” Dr. Sieving joins five former UM faculty in prominent NIH positions:

Josephine Briggs, M.D., Head, Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases, Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director, National Human Genome Research Institute, Elizabeth Nabel, M.D., Director, Clinical Research, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Gary Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Vaccine Research Center, and Jeffrey Trent, Ph.D., Chief, Cancer Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute.