Judy Lansing Kovler Elected to Foundation for the NIH Board of Directors

BETHESDA, MD, June 25, 2015 – The Board of Directors of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) has unanimously elected Judy Lansing Kovler, Ph.D., as a Director of the Foundation. Her three-year term began immediately after the May 21 Board meeting.

Dr. Kovler, a psychotherapist in private practice for more than 30 years, provides individual, family and couples counseling to adults and adolescents. She has worked as a consultant to various government agencies, including the State Department, Treasury Department, Secret Service and the White House. In the Washington, D.C., area, she has served as a consultant to several schools and corporations. She was listed as a Top Couples Therapist by Washingtonian magazine.

“I am delighted that we have added to the FNIH Board someone with such wide-ranging healthcare experience and deep community involvement,” said FNIH Chairman Charles Sanders, M.D. “Judy will bring a new, strong voice to the Board of Directors, and she will offer a fresh perspective and wise counsel to the FNIH.”

Dr. Kovler is a Director of the Kovler Foundation, which supports scientific and humanitarian programs. The foundation has funded The Kovler Diabetes Center at the University of Chicago and the Everett and Marjorie Kovler Professorship in Pancreas Cancer Research at Johns Hopkins. Recently, the foundation was a major supporter of the Ken Burns documentary “Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies.”

Dr. Kovler is Vice Chair of Sasha Bruce, Inc., a Washington, D.C. organization that supports homeless, runaway, abused and neglected youth and their families. She is a Board member at DC Prep, a group of charter elementary and middle schools that work to increase the number of students from underserved communities who succeed in competitive high schools and colleges. In the past, she has served on the boards of several national and local non-profit organizations, including the NARAL Pro Choice America Foundation, Arena Stage, the Foundation Schools, WETA, Jellef Boys and Girls Club, the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing and the Georgetown Day School.

She was a member of the President’s Advisory Council at Dartmouth College and the Parent’s Fund at Princeton University. She is a member of the George Washington University School of Education Advisory Council. She has been on the selection committee for awardees of the Children’s Defense Fund Beat the Odds scholarship.

Dr. Kovler earned a BA from Stanford University, an MSW from the University of California, Berkley, and a PhD from Catholic University. She is married to Peter Kovler and has two sons.

“Members of the FNIH Board are intimately involved in all aspects of the Foundation’s work, providing prescient counsel on issues from science to resource mobilization and management. I know Judy will help the Foundation in its important work today and, in the years ahead, as the FNIH continues to develop unique alliances to further enhance biomedical research for the benefit of patients everywhere,” said FNIH President and Executive Director Maria C. Freire.

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About the Foundation for the NIH
The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health creates and manages alliances with public and private institutions in support of the mission of the NIH, the world’s premier medical research agency. The Foundation, also known as the FNIH, works with its partners to accelerate key issues of scientific study and strategies against diseases and health concerns in the United States and across the globe. The FNIH organizes and administers research projects; supports education and training of new researchers; organizes educational events and symposia; and administers a series of funds supporting a wide range of health issues. Established by Congress in 1990, the FNIH is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For additional information about the FNIH, please visit www.fnih.org.