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The Cancer Genome Atlas Reports Brain Tumors Study

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The Nation's Investment in Cancer Research FY 2009

NCI Strategic Plan for Leading the Nation

NCI Training and Career Development Inventory

Cancer Trends Progress Report: 2007 Update

NCI Participation in the NIH Roadmap

Past Highlights

Director's Update Archive



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    View 2006 Archive of Director's Updates
    View 2005 Archive of Director's Updates
    View 2004 Archive of Director's Updates
    View 2003 Archive of Director's Updates


2008
  • 09/09/2008 - Expanding the "Power of Palliation" Through Research
    Many people assume that palliative care is for the elderly or those on the brink of death, people who have so little time left that they should not be made to suffer discomfort from an illness or receive any more treatment. In truth, palliative care aims to minimize the harmful effects of a person's illness as well as the harmful effects of treatments from the point of diagnosis throughout the treatment process and beyond. These harmful effects can be physical (pain, dry mouth, heart weakness), mental (loss of memory, mental acuity), social (living without caretakers, lack of insurance), and emotional (depression, anxiety).
  • 08/19/2008 - The Dawn of Personalized Oncology
    Wherever I go, someone invariably asks, "Have we really made any progress against cancer?" My answer is, We definitely have - we have made tremendous progress.
  • 08/05/2008 - Personalized Medicine - BIG Health
    Excitement has been building around the concept of personalized medicine for several years. The promise is a new era in which medicine is personalized, preemptive, predictive, and focused on patient participation.
  • 07/22/2008 - Developing a Clinical Trials System for 21st Century Science
    One of the resounding successes of cancer research over the last several decades has been the productivity of our clinical trials system. NCI-supported clinical trials have brought important new interventions to patients, including a cervical cancer vaccine, new targeted therapies for treating advanced colorectal and kidney cancer, and adjuvant therapies for the treatment of breast cancer, to name just a few.
  • 07/08/2008 - Enhancing the Training Experience at NCI
    The importance of nurturing and developing the next generation of cancer researchers simply cannot be overstated. It is a priority that has universal support in the cancer community. The need, I believe, goes beyond replacing or maintaining the current oncology workforce; rather, there must be a very real emphasis placed on doubling this workforce over the next decade. These researchers are needed to translate and deliver on the promise of personalized oncology, working in cross-disciplinary teams and focusing on cancer as part of a biological system, rather than as a disease specific to a particular organ.
  • 06/24/2008 - Cancer Survivorship Research Conference Maps New Challenges
    It was very exciting and professionally gratifying for me to join the nearly 500 researchers, patient advocates, cancer care specialists, public health officials, and others at this year's fourth biennial cancer survivorship research conference held June 18-20 in Atlanta, GA. I remember attending the first such meeting in 2002, which was co-sponsored by NCI's Office of Cancer Survivorship in collaboration with the American Cancer Society's Behavioral Research Program. In 2006, the Lance Armstrong Foundation became a full partner as the meeting steadily expanded in scope.
  • 06/10/2008 - Dr. Niederhuber's Remarks at the ASCO Opening Session
    Good morning and thank you for asking me to appear before you today. … We are extremely fortunate to have such outstanding leaders of [ASCO] - individuals who so clearly understand the times we live in and the challenges and opportunities that lie before us - as we lead a transformation of science and medicine in the post-human-genome era. Among our many challenges, there is none, I believe, greater than the necessity that we more rapidly translate our discoveries, our new interventions, to patients.
  • 05/27/2008 - TCGA Moving Molecular Oncology Forward
    The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a collaborative project between NCI and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), is at the mid-point of its 3-year pilot phase. The TCGA pilot is a truly integrative, multidisciplinary effort to develop and assess a framework for systematically identifying and characterizing the genomic changes associated with three cancer types: brain cancer (glioblastoma multiforme, or GBM), lung cancer (squamous cell carcinoma of the lung), and ovarian cancer (serous cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary).
  • 05/13/2008 - The Future of Cancer Research: What's at Stake
    When we speak about the future of cancer research, it's important to understand what's at stake, particularly given everything we have achieved over the past several decades.
  • 04/29/2008 - Accelerating Translational Research at NCI: The Next Steps
    On November 7-9, 2008, NCI will hold a first-of-its-kind, institute-wide translational science meeting in Washington, DC. The meeting marks a significant steptoward implementing recommendations made by the Translational Research Working Group (TRWG) in its June 2007 report.
  • 04/15/2008 - At AACR, New Science and an Important Dialogue
    Each annual meeting of the large U.S. and international cancer research organizations has its own unique aspects, its own atmosphere. Over the past several years, the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting has begun to feature more clinical and translational research, while maintaining its focus on the basic sciences. It is this "bench to bedside and back" approach that makes it such an important meeting.
  • 04/01/2008 - Expanding the Role of Advocates in Shaping, Enhancing Cancer Research
    Everything we do at NCI begins and ends with the cancer patient in mind. In our ongoing quest to maintain that focus, NCI is fortunate to receive expert outside advice and recommendations from four federal advisory committees, each offering a unique perspective on how we can best serve patients.
  • 03/18/2008 - Pediatric Oncology Partnerships Are Models for Success
    In this special issue of the Bulletin, we pay tribute to pediatric oncology, focusing on the wide-reaching partnerships that have led to exemplary progress in treating children with cancer. As you will see, these partnerships have markedly reduced pediatric cancer mortality and will most certainly hasten our progress against other cancers, such as osteosarcoma and brain tumors, for which prognosis remains poor.
  • 03/04/2008 - Keeping Recent Mortality Figures in Perspective
    The headlines varied, but when the Cancer Facts & Figures 2008 data were released late last month, the dominant message that many TV, print, and electronic news stories carried was that the decline in the number of actual cancer deaths had come to an end.
  • 02/19/2008 - SPOREs Move To Strengthen Program, Vision
    Since their creation in 1992, NCI's Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs) have been a cornerstone of the Institute's efforts to promote interdisciplinary cancer research focused on a specific organ site. The SPORE program was designed to enable the rapid and efficient movement of basic scientific findings into clinical settings. Now a flourishing program, there are 62 SPOREs, studying 14 organ sites, based almost exclusively at NCI-designated Cancer Centers, where they comprise an important part of the centers' research programs.
  • 02/05/2008 - Budget Proposal Highlights Cancer Research Progress, Priorities
    Among the most valuable communication tools created as a result of the National Cancer Act of 1971 is the NCI's annual report on The Nation's Investment in Cancer Research, which was released this week. Often referred to as the "bypass budget," this report is intended to directly inform the President and guide the administration's budget request to Congress for NCI funding.
  • 01/22/2008 - Addressing Cancer Health Disparities with Science and Hope
    Yesterday marked the national observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, and with it an opportunity to reflect on his work to raise awareness of inequality and injustice in our country.
  • 01/08/2008 - Coding System Requires Cooperation
    One of the truly unique aspects of NCI is its close relationship to the cancer community, a relationship made possible by the special authorities granted by the National Cancer Act of 1971. Those authorities include the mandate for robust and frequent communication about the Institute's research priorities and activities, including its support of research grants pertaining to organ sites.

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