October 11, 2006
Media contact: Jeff Schrade (202)224-9093

(Washington, DC) U.S. Senator Larry Craig announced today that he has hired a scientific researcher to assist him in his duties as Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

"Suma Muralidhar is an outstanding woman who has sterling academic credentials. I have asked her to join my staff in order to bolster the committee's examination of important health issues which face America's veterans," Craig said.

While working in the laboratory as a researcher, Muralidhar focused on viruses which may cause cancer. She has published and contributed to over 25 academic articles.

For the past five years Muralidhar has worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, where she managed and administered research programs for the Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development Service. While there, she developed the guidelines for the successful creation of the Veterans Health Administration's Multiple Sclerosis Centers of Excellence and the Office of Research and Development's Research Centers on AIDS and HIV Infection.

Prior to that, she was an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Georgetown University Medical Center, located in the nation's capital. From 1986 through 1997, she was a researcher at the National Institutes of Health.

She received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1986.

Muralidhar grew up in India and came to the United States in 1980. She has a 22 year old son who is working to complete a degree in psychology.

"I'm happy to be working for veterans again ? albeit in a very new venue for me. I'm hopeful the experiences I've had will help Chairman Craig and other Senators, and most importantly, help America's veterans," Muralidhar said.

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