Deputy Director for Gene Therapy named

Nelson Wivel has been named Deputy Director of the Institute for Human Gene Therapy, spokesperson Rebecca Harmon said Monday. As deputy director, Wivel will oversee the effort to develop a quality assurance and control program for areas such as clinical pathology. Wivel will also co-chair the institute's Research and Development Committee. The committee was designed to assess, formulate and initiate new clinical protocols and to monitor and evaluate existing trials. "Dr. Wivel's addition to our institute will enhance our continuing efforts to research, discover and apply the principles of gene therapy to the prevention and treatment of human disease," Director James Wilson said. Wivel is the current director of the Office of Recombinant DNA Activities for the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. He will leave ORDA to take office at Penn July 1. The institute was created in 1992 by William Kelley, chief operating officer of the Medical Center and Health System, in order to focus on the emerging field of gene therapy. Wivel said he is excited about becoming a part of the University's academic medical center "wherein research investigations may be aggressively encouraged and pursued for their own scientific merit." According to Harmon, Wivel has served as director of ORDA since 1989. His other appointments have included serving as chief medical officer for AIDS Research for NIH. Wivel also currently serves as associate editor of Human Gene Therapy, a publication devoted to new findings in the area of genetics.