The EGAPP Steering Committee, established in October 2004, is comprised of representatives from CDC and other U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies (e.g., Agency for Healthcare Quality Research, National Institute of Health, Health Resources and Services Administration, Food and Drug Administration, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services). Early roles of the Steering Committee were to provide interagency perspective and guidance to CDC on EGAPP project planning and implementation, and to oversee the recruitment and selection of the independent EGAPP Working Group. The Steering Committee’s efforts in selecting the Working Group members produced the desired result of a qualified, productive, and collegial group.

Recently, the EGAPP Steering Committee was expanded to an 18-member panel comprised of 16 representatives of CDC and other HHS agencies, as well as liaisons from the HHS Secretary’s Advisory Committees on Genetics, Health and Society and Heritable Disorders and Genetic Diseases in Newborns and Children. The roles of this advisory panel include:

• Representing a broader CDC and HHS departmental perspective for planning and decision making
• Identifying potential topics for review
• Assisting in the identification of stakeholder groups
• Recommending content experts
• Advising the project and the Working Group in the following areas:
• Approaches and methods
• Dissemination of EGAPP products
• Evaluation of EGAPP process and products
• Coordination and collaboration with other evidence-based review processes
• Mechanisms for sustainability of a systematic and practical evaluation process for genomic tests

More information on EGAPP as well as links to EGAPP-sponsored evidence-based reviews and recommendations can be found on the independent EGAPP website: http://www.egappreviews.org.