Program Advisory Reviews

Cancer Prevention Review Group
The Review Group on Cancer Prevention Research was appointed in 1996 by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Director and the Chair of the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors. The Review Group was asked to consider how best to utilize the significant, albeit limited, resources and personnel of NCI in developing and sustaining a cancer prevention research program.

Cancer Control Review Group
The Cancer Control Review Group was established by former NCI Director Richard Klausner to review the Institute's program in cancer control. In 1998, the committee of experts from across the country provided two major recommendations related to cancer surveillance:

1. expand the SEER program to include additional populations, more data from patient's medical records and patients themselves, and population data from the SEER regions to monitor individual and societal mediators of cancer; and
2. use the SEER expanded data and expertise to produce a timely report card on the cancer burden for broad audiences. In response, the Surveillance Implementation Group was created to examine the Surveillance Research Program in detail.

Surveillance Implementation Group
The Cancer Surveillance Research Implementation Plan was reported in March 1999 by the Surveillance Implementation Group, 42 scientists from the NCI and extramural research communities. The group was established in response to one of several independent review groups that examined the Institute's research areas. The Plan expands the scope of surveillance research, calling for additional data collection activities and methods development as well as improvement in population representativeness for estimates of cancer rates. The plan called for evidence of implementation to be presented on a regular basis as a 'report card' on the national cancer burden. Also recommended are increased surveillance support for molecular and genetics research and development of a training strategy for cancer surveillance research. The priority areas identified in the Implementation Plan are being addressed by many of the activities summarized in this report.

Institute of Medicine Report
A 1999 report titled "The Unequal Burden of Cancer: An Assessment of NIH Research and Programs for Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved" resulted from a review by a panel convened by the Institute of Medicine and chaired by Dr. Alfred Haynes. The report recommended expansion of surveillance activities for collecting information on ethnic minority and medically underserved populations. These groups include lower-income or poverty-level whites, particularly those living in rural areas such as Appalachia; African Americans living in rural communities, particularly in the South; culturally diverse American Indian populations; and Hispanics of all national origins. The NCI has responded to the IOM report to clarify the Institute's involvement in activities related to these populations and to incorporate relevant recommendations into its planning process.