Dr. Gary H. Gibbons, who trained at Harvard, to lead National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

Dr. Gary H. Gibbons/Courtesy photo

The National Institutes of Health has named Dr. Gary H. Gibbons, a cardiovascular researcher with ties to Harvard, to lead the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Gibbons, who will start in the role this summer, founded and directs a research institute at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta that has focused on cardiovascular health of minorities.

He will replace Dr. Susan Shurin, who has been serving as acting director since Dr. Elizabeth Nabel left the post in January 2010 to lead Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The national institute has a budget of more than $3 billion. Gibbons has received 15 grants from the institute since 1997 and has been a member of the advisory council there. He studied medicine at Harvard Medical School and was a resident and cardiology fellow at Brigham and Women’s. He was on the faculty at Harvard from 1996 to 1999.

“The globally recognized research and training supported by the NHLBI continues to advance biomedical knowledge in fields related to heart, lung, and blood diseases,” Gibbons said in an NIH press release. “I look forward to working with the institute staff and with the many researchers supported by the Institute to foster multi-disciplinary approaches to improve disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment that will advance the health of all Americans.”