NIGMS Communications and Public Liaison Branch
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Director Jon R. Lorsch, Ph.D., has announced the selection of Kenneth Gibbs, Ph.D., to direct the Institute's Division of Training and Workforce Development (TWD). Gibbs will assume this new role later this month.
TWD programs foster the training and development of a strong biomedical research workforce. The division supports leadership in training the next generation of scientists and broadening participation in the scientific workforce through a variety of programs at the undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, faculty, and institutional levels.
“NIGMS has a deep and long-standing commitment to biomedical research training and in ensuring a strong and robust research workforce,” said Lorsch. “Dr. Gibbs’s vast experience in creating, implementing, and overseeing a range of innovative research training and career development programs makes him an ideal selection for this role,” he added.
Gibbs, an immunologist by training, is currently chief of TWD’s Cross-Disciplinary Pathways Program Branch, and he oversees the Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) program, research grants on the “science of science” in the biomedical research enterprise, and scientific conference grants. He has also managed research grants in the areas of stem cell biology for the NIGMS Division of Genetics and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology.
Prior to becoming a branch chief at NIGMS in 2021, Gibbs directed the NIGMS Postdoctoral Research Associate Training program and before that he was a program analyst in the Institute’s former Office of Program Planning, Analysis, and Evaluation. Before joining NIGMS, he completed postdoctoral training as a cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute and was a science and technology policy fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science at the National Science Foundation.
At NIGMS, Gibbs has led the development of key initiatives, including the MOSAIC and Advancing Research Careers programs. He has also contributed his expertise to NIH-wide efforts, including leading implementation of NIH-wide updates to training grant applications and serving on the fellowship application and review simplification working group, the NIH Training Advisory Committee, and the UNITE committee focused on the NIH internal workforce.
Gibbs earned a B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in immunology from the Stanford University School of Medicine.
"As TWD director, I look forward to working with the TWD team, my colleagues across the NIH, and the broader scientific community to expand opportunities for research trainees and scientists from all backgrounds,” said Gibbs.
