NCI Listens and Learns NCI would like to know: What can NCI do to encourage those people who want cancer information to contact its free Cancer Information Service (CIS) at 1-800-4-CANCER or http://www.cancer.gov? For people looking for credible cancer information that meets their needs, NCI's CIS is a unique resource. This free service has friendly, fully trained information specialists who can answer questions about cancer by telephone, TTY, instant messaging, and e-mail. They can also provide callers with printed and electronic NCI materials. Go to http://ncilistens. cancer.gov to register and post your comments.

Hooven Named Deputy Director for Management
Thomas Hooven has been named NCI Deputy Director for Management, effective January 9, pending final approval by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Mr. Hooven was previously the associate director for administration at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for 6 years and served in a leadership capacity in many trans-NIH activities. Mr. Hooven previously served in a variety of positions at NCI over a 7-year period, including budget analyst, administrative officer, and management analyst. Before returning to NIH in 1999, he served as deputy director of the Office of Program Management and Operations at the Environmental Protection Agency.

FY 2006 NCI Budget Update
On December 30, President Bush signed the appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor/HHS and Related Agencies for fiscal year 2006. The bill includes $28.6 billion for NIH and $4.842 billion for NCI. However, there is a 1 percent across-the-board reduction that reduces the NIH and NCI budget amounts by $286 million and $48 million, respectively. The revised amount for NCI is $4.793 billion, which is $32 million less than what NCI obligated last year.

In a message to NCI staff, NCI Deputy Director Dr. John Niederhuber noted that "Over the past few years, we have become accustomed to adjusting to budget constraints and the current year is no different. It remains critical that we continue to engage in careful planning, monitoring, and reporting of progress made towards NCI's challenge goal to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. NCI's Strategic Priorities are a clear signal of where we will be focusing our valuable resources in the year ahead and beyond."

TRWG Seeks Input
NCI's Translational Research Working Group (TRWG) is seeking input on key areas from a wide range of individuals and organizations. This public comment period will end on Friday, January 20. Anyone wishing to post a comment can do so at http://www.cancer.gov/trwg.

Nanotech Seminar Set for January 24
NCI's Nanotechnology Seminar Series will resume on January 24 at 3:00 p.m. in Balcony B of the Natcher Conference Center on the NIH campus. The featured speaker is Dr. Michael Hawkins, chief medical officer of American BioScience, Inc., developers of a nanoparticle albumin-bound delivery platform most recently applied with paclitaxel (Abraxane). The presentation will be webcast at http://videocast.nih.gov.