Lynn King Named Director of NIDCR’s Division of Extramural Activities

NIDCR Update: This page is for archival purposes. Dr. King retired in January 2025. 

Lynn Mertens King, PhD, has been chosen as the director of NIDCR’s Division of Extramural Activities (DEA). A long-serving leader within NIDCR, she began her new role on January 3, 2022, after having worked in DEA since 2001.

“I am excited about the opportunity to lead the DEA. I have worked in the division in different roles, along with an accomplished and dedicated team of individuals in the division and across NIDCR. I welcome the opportunity to apply my experience and expertise in scientific administration to new challenges serving as the DEA director and continuing to support NIDCR’s mission to improve dental, oral, and craniofacial health through research and training,” said King.

Before becoming division director, King was chief of the Research Training and Career Development Branch within DEA, where she served as the principal advisor to the NIDCR Director on the administrative and fiscal management of the extramural research training portfolio. Prior to that role, King was chief of DEA’s Scientific Review Branch, a role she held after serving for five years as a scientific review officer. While with DEA, she developed an NIDCR dental specialty and PhD program funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to support career development of dentist-scientists, along with a new mentoring network program to enhance research career advancement of underrepresented postdoctoral and early-career faculty investigators.

“DEA has been doing great work, and Lynn has played a major role in the stories of several successful programs over the years,” said Dr. Rena D’Souza, director of NIDCR. “Her experience and dedication bode well for her success in this expanded role. I am confident that under Lynn’s guidance and leadership, DEA will help advance NIDCR’s strategic priorities in significant ways.”

A former assistant professor at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, King earned her PhD in population biology from Washington University in St. Louis. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University in population genetics and molecular evolution.

King has won numerous awards for her contributions to NIDCR and led efforts to enhance the research careers of dentist scientists and promoted diversity in dental, oral, and craniofacial research.