Tufts Doctor to Direct NIH’s Pediatric and Maternal Health Research

Diana Bianchi is a prenatal geneticist and pediatric researcher.

Diana Bianchi

Diana Bianchi/Photo courtesy of NIH

A Boston doctor will soon oversee the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) efforts to improve the health, development, and wellbeing of mothers, children, and families everywhere.

Diana Bianchi, currently of Floating Hospital for Children, Tufts Medical Center, and the Tufts University School of Medicine, has been named director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), NIH Director Francis Collins announced Thursday.

NICHD directs and finances research related to child and maternal health, childhood development, reproductive health, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. Bianchi’s expertise in prenatal and reproductive genetics, and her work in pediatric research, make her an ideal fit for her new role, Collins said in a statement.

“Throughout my career, I have witnessed the impact of discoveries made in the lab on the health of mothers and babies,” Bianchi said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful to my colleagues at Tufts Medical Center who have taught me so much and I am honored for this opportunity to lead the NIH’s research effort to improve the wellbeing of children, families, communities and people with disabilities around the country and the world.”

Bianchi will assume her new role on October 31.