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Summaries of Meetings
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National High Blood Pressure Education Month National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council's February Meeting |
May is National High Blood Pressure Education Month and marks the kickoff of high blood pressure prevention and control activities for the year. The 2006 theme is "Mission Possible: Prevent and Control High Blood Pressure." The NHLBI invites community groups, civic and faith-based organizations, hospital outreach programs, public health departments, and workplaces to join the "Mission" and renew activities to prevent and control high blood pressure.
The NHLBI has created a web site that provides information and tools to help you plan activities in your community. An electronic Planning Kit includes ideas for activities with various groups. The site also includes an activity registry where you can let others know what you are planning and get ideas from others. There are also links to NHLBI fact sheets and other publications. For more information, visit http://hin.nhlbi.nih.gov/nhbpep_kit/.
Dr. Nabel announced the selection of four new Council members: Victor J. Dzau, M.D., Duke University; Helen H. Hobbs, M.D., University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Joseph Loscalzo, M.D., Ph.D., Brigham and Women's Hospital; and Jennie R. Joe, Ph.D., M.P.H., University of Arizona.
Dr. Nabel also announced three new staff appointments: Dr. Christopher O'Donnell as Senior Advisor to the Director for Genome Research, Ms. Nancy O'Hanlon as Deputy Ethics Counselor, and Ms. Sheila Pohl as Chief of Staff.
Three additional staff appointments, pending administrative clearances, were announced: Dr. Susan Shurin as Deputy Director of the NHLBI; Dr. Alan Michelson as Associate Director for Basic Research; and Dr. Michael Twery as Acting Director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research (NCSDR), which is administered by the NHLBI. Dr. Nabel expressed her appreciation to Dr. Carl Roth for his service as Acting Deputy Director over the past year and to Dr. Carl Hunt for his leadership of the NCSDR.
Dr. Nabel noted that February is American Heart Month and encouraged everyone to wear a Red Dress pin on National Wear Red Day (Friday, February 3rd ) to show support for women's heart health awareness.
Dr. Nabel highlighted several recent Institute initiatives, including a solicitation for genome-wide association studies to identify genetic components that relate to heart, lung, and blood disorders; a Request for Proposals (RFP) for research to maximize the scientific value of the biologic specimens from the Women's Health Initiative research studies; and an RFP for large-scale genotyping of NHLBI cohorts.
The Institute has reviewed its policies for distribution of data from clinical trials and epidemiology studies, and released a Request for Information seeking comments on its proposed modifications.
The NHLBI working budget for FY 2006 is $2.896 million, about $27 million less than the comparable figure in FY 2005. Dr. Nabel explained in a recent letter to all NHLBI grantees that direct costs for noncompeting renewals of research project grants will be scaled back in FY 2006 to 97.65 percent of their committed levels. This is being implemented across NIH.
Dr. Gregory Morosco, Director, Office of Prevention, Education, and Control (OPEC) reviewed NHLBI efforts to coordinate the translation and dissemination of research findings to health professionals, patients, and the public in order to provide public health benefits to the nation.
Ms. Terry Long, of OPEC, updated the Council on the achievements of The Heart Truth Campaign.
Dr. Paolo Sebastiani, Associate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Bioinformatics Program in Boston University's School of Public Health, discussed her research about complex genetic diseases, which are caused by the interplay of several genes and which can be modulated by exposure to environmental factors. Dr. Nabel emphasized the need to have guidelines in place for the many genome-wide association studies that are on the immediate horizon. She said the first step is the development of data access policies.
Full minutes of Council meetings and summaries of the initiatives are available.
PIO representatives will be accommodated on a space-available basis and will be responsible for their own travel expenses.
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Date: June 2006
Contact: Dr. Jennie Larkin
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Date: July 11-12, 2006
Contact: Dr. Denise Simons-Morton
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Date: September 11-12, 2006
Contact: Dr. Susan Banks-Schlegel
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Date: September 14-15, 2006
Contact: Dr. Dennis Przywara
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Date: September 2006
Contact: Dr. Thomas Croxton
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Date: September 2006
Contact: Dr. Hannah Peavy
Date: May 24
Location: San Diego, CA
Date: June 1-3
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Date: June 7-10
Location: Aspen, CO
Date: June 10-11
Location: Winchester, VA
Date: June 10
Location: New York, NY
Date: June 13
Location: Bethesda, MD
Date: June 23-24
Location: Washington, DC
Date: June 23-25
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Date: July 28-29
Location: Rochester, MN
Date: September 12
Location: Bethesda, MD
Date: September 15-17
Location: San Franscisco, CA