January 5, 2005

Dear. Chesselet:    

Thank you for your letter of December 10, 2004 updating me on the changes in the Department of Neurobiology at UCLA.  I had been unaware of some of the changes that have occurred over the last 20 years since I left UCLA.  Its hard to believe its been 20 years....anyway...I have enclosed a press release issued by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) last year when I was appointed Deputy Director. It traces my path to the current position and I thought it might be of interest. Although budgets for NIH over the next few years look rather grim in terms of any growth, I am happy to report that NIDA's budget topped the $1 billion mark in FY2005.  As you probably know, much of our budget is invested in the neurobiology and I know we have a number of outstanding investigators at UCLA.    Thank you also for updating me on Dr. Sawyer.  I was his last official post-doctoral fellow as he was winding down his laboratory career and I am quite proud to count myself among his academic offspring. We always referred to him as truly a "gentleman scientist" and he was a real inspiration to me and many others as a young scientist.

Thanks again for writing.  

Best Regards,   

Timothy P. Condon, Ph.D.
Deputy Director National Institute on Drug Abuse/NIH
6001 Executive Blvd. Rm 5274
Bethesda, MD 20892-9581
301-443-6036 (v)
301-443-6277 (fax)
tc52x@nih.gov

press release