Alan Edward Guttmacher

Alan Edward Guttmacher (born 1949) is an American physician who was^[1] the director of the National Institute of Child Health (NICHD), one of the 27 institutes and centers that comprise the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In that capacity, he oversaw the institute’s activities as the focal point at the NIH for research in pediatric health and development, maternal health, reproductive health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and rehabilitation medicine, among other areas.

A pediatrician and medical geneticist, Guttmacher came to NIH in 1999 to work at the National Human Genome Research Institute, where he served in a number of roles, including deputy director and acting director, thus overseeing that institute’s efforts to advance genome research, integrate that research into health care, and explore the ethical, legal, and social implications of human genomics. Among Guttmacher’s areas of expertise is the development of new approaches for translating genomics into better ways of diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease. A major research interest has been the disease, hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia.^[2]