U. PROFESSOR TO LEAD NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE

WASHINGTON — University of Utah professor Glen R. Hanson has been named the
acting director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, one of the
National Institutes of Health.

His appointment follows the resignation of Dr. Alan I. Leshner, who served
as director since 1994. He is leaving to become the chief executive officer
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Hanson is a professor in the University of Utah's department of
pharmacology and toxicology and is recognized as an expert on psychostimulants.

He is particularly known for his work on the neurotoxic properties of
Ecstasy (MDMA) and amphetamines, as well as the role of brain peptides in
psychiatric and neurological functions.

As a researcher, he has been supported by grants from the National
Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Mental Health since
the early 1980s and in 1998 received a Senior Scientist Award from the drug
abuse institute.

Hanson has served on several grant review committees for the National
Institutes of Health and on the editorial board of the Journal of
Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

He is a frequent reviewer for most of the major pharmacology and
neuroscience journals.

Hanson joined the drug abuse institute in September 2000 as the director of
its Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research.

He holds a doctor of dental science degree from the University of
California, Los Angeles, and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah. From 1978
to 1980, Hanson was a fellow in the National Institutes of Health
Pharmacology Research Associates Training Program.

The drug abuse institute supports more than 85 percent of the world's
research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction.