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Summaries of Meetings
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National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council's February Meeting |
Dr. Nabel welcomed Council members to the 229th meeting and recognized Dr. Andrew Marks, a member attending his first meeting. Dr. Marks is Professor and Chair of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics and Medicine and Director of the Center for Molecular Cardiology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. Dr. Nabel also recognized Dr. Marvin Konstam, who officially joined the Institute in January as Senior Advisor to the NHLBI Director in Cardiovascular Diseases and announced that Dr. Gail Weinmann has been selected as Deputy Director of the Division of Lung Diseases.
Dr. Nabel updated the Council on The Heart Truth ? the Institute's successful heart health awareness campaign for women ? and on the Institute?s role in this year?s Combined Federal Campaign.
Dr. Nabel reviewed the Institute's budget. The FY 2009 President's Budget includes $2,924,942,000 for the Institute, an increase of $2.8 million (0.1 percent) over the FY 2008 Enacted Budget.
Dr. Francis Collins, Director, National Human Genome Research Institute, presented Dr. Nabel with the "NHGRI Special Recognition Award" for her leadership in areas important to the NHGRI, such as integrating genomics into research about heart, lung, and blood diseases and developing a trans-NIH policy for sharing data obtained in NIH-supported or NIH-conducted genome-wide association studies.
Dr. Christopher O'Donnell, Senior Advisor to the NHLBI Director for Genome Research and Associate Director of the Framingham Heart Study, discussed the Framingham Heart Study SNP Health Association Resource (Framingham SHARe). Framingham SHARe examined 550,000 genetic variants in over 9,000 study participants across three generations. The linked genotype-phenotype data are now stored in a database and are available, with appropriate safeguards for participant confidentiality, to authorized investigators around the world. Since October 2007, twelve applications for Framingham SHARe data have been approved. The NHLBI plans to add data from several of its other large cohorts to SHARe.
Ms. Linda Avey, co-Founder and President of 23andMe, Inc., a privately held personal genetics company, discussed the objectives and services of her company. Customers provide a saliva sample using an at-home kit and can then use web-based interactive tools to learn more about their distant ancestors and family inheritance, and receive an individual risk assessment for various diseases.
Dr. Sonia Skarlatos, Deputy Director, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, explained the Institute's plan to partner with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to expand the NCI RAID (Rapid Access to Interventional Development) program for use by NHLBI-supported investigators. The goal of the RAID program is to remove common barriers between laboratory discoveries and clinical trials of new molecular entities.
Dr. Denise Simons-Morton, Chief of the Clinical Applications and Prevention Branch, Division of Prevention and Population Sciences, and ACCORD Project Officer, described the ACCORD trial and summarized the recently reported findings that led to the decision to discontinue the intensive glycemic treatment arm of the study.
Dr. Katherine High, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania and Chair of the Council Subcommittee for Review of the NHLBI Sickle Cell Disease Program, presented the Subcommittee's findings and recommendations for future directions. Dr. Nabel and Council members commended the Subcommittee for its valuable contribution and assured that the resulting recommendations will be considered carefully by the Institute.
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 9-10, 2008
Contact: Dr. Thomas Croxton
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Date: July 2008
Contact: Dr. Sandra Colombini-Hatch
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Date: August/September 2008
Contact: Dr. Susan Banks-Schlegel
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Date: September 25-26, 2008
Contact: Dr. Antonello Punturieri
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Date: September 2008
Contact: Dr. Carol Blaisdell
Date: May 9-11
Location: Washington, DC
Date: May 14-17
Location: New Orleans, LA
Date: May 16-21
Location: Toronto, Canada
Date: May 24-28
Location: Hartford, CT
Date: June 11
Location: Bethesda, MD
Date: June 20-22
Location: Houston, TX
Date: June 20-22
Location: Lombard, IL
Date: July 21-26
Location: Clearwater, FL
Date: July 26
Location: Washington, DC
Date: July 27-29
Location: Washington, DC
Date: August 27-31
Location: San Diego, CA
Date: September 19-21
Location: Bethesda, MD