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Dr. Kington served as the Principal Deputy Director of NIH from February 9 2003, to October 2008 and again from August 17, 2009 to August 20, 2010. He served as Acting Â鶹´«Ã½ Director from October 31, 2008, until the appointment of Dr. Francis S. Collins on August 17, 2009. During his tenure as Acting Â鶹´«Ã½ Director, Dr. Kington led the agency through the development of NIH’s plan for the use of the $10.4 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act resources designed to accelerate biomedical science and the economy. In July 2009, NIH published the final “NIH Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research" under his directorship. Dr. Kington resumed his role as Principal Deputy Director on August 17, 2009. Prior to his present appointment, Dr. Kington was Director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (2000-2003). In addition to this role, from January 2002 to November 2002, he served as Acting Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Before coming to NIH, Dr. Kington was Director of the Division of Health Examination Statistics at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As Division Director, he also served as Director of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), one of the nation's largest studies to assess the health of the American people. Prior to coming to NCHS, he was a Senior Scientist in the Health Program at the RAND Corporation. While at RAND, Dr.Kington was a Co-Director of the Drew/RAND Center on Health and Aging, a National Institute on Aging Exploratory Minority Aging Center.

Dr. Kington attended the University of Michigan, where he received his B.S. with distinction and his M.D. He subsequently completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Michael Reese Medical Center in Chicago. He was then appointed a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. While at the University of Pennsylvania, he completed his M.B.A. with distinction and his Ph.D. with a concentration in Health Policy and Economics at the Wharton School and was awarded a Fontaine Fellowship. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine. In 2006, Dr. Kington was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Kington's research has focused on the role of social factors, especially socioeconomic status, as determinants of health. His research has included studies of the health and socioeconomic status of black immigrants, demographic correlates of the willingness to participate in genetic research, the relationship between wealth and health status, the health status of U.S. Hispanic populations, and the determinants of health care services utilization.