Barbara Halpern

Program Coordinator Ms. Halpern is a program administrator for domestic and international activities including the NIH-NSF-USDA-funded International Cooperative Biodiversity Program (ICBG), the NIH Dietary Supplement Research Botanical Center and the Global Institute for Bioexploration (GIBEX). As a researcher in a plant virology laboratory, she supervised the operation and maintenance of the lab while conducting a research project focusing on developing a RT-PCR assay for the rapid, sensitive detection of blueberry scorch virus (BBSCV) and mapping and sequencing the viral dsRNA from a hypovirulent strain of the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica. Her research is chronicled in several peer-reviewed scientific journals. During her graduate studies in plant pathology, Ms. Halpern also took some business courses and shifted her career toward management. For the past ten years she has been the Research Program Administrator in Dr. Ilya Raskin's laboratory at the Biotech Center of Cook College, Rutgers University, where she manages a large, multi-project plant biochemistry research laboratory, oversees the expenditure of all funding; coordinates all personnel actions; and prepares grant proposals, status reports and fiscal budgets.