Page One Page Two Page Three Page Four Back to Newsletters |
|
Volume V, Issue 5 | October 2004 |
News from NCI Strategic Plan for NIH Obesity Research
NIH Director Elias M. Zerhouni, M.D. announced on Tuesday, August 24,
the release of the final version of the Strategic Plan for NIH Obesity
Research, a multi-dimensional research agenda to enhance both the development
of new research in areas of greatest scientific opportunity and the coordination
of obesity research across NIH. The Plan calls for intensifying efforts
along several fronts: behavioral and environmental approaches to modifying
lifestyle to prevent or treat obesity; pharmacologic, surgical and other
medical approaches to effectively and safely prevent or treat obesity;
breaking the link between obesity and diseases such as type 2 diabetes,
heart disease, and certain cancers research on special populations at
high risk for obesity, including children, ethnic minorities, women and
older adults; translating basic science results into clinical research
and then into community intervention studies; and disseminating research
results to the public and health professionals. The report is available on the web at http://obesityresearch.nih.gov. - Martin Brown, NCI Ed's Corner of the World One of the original goals in our first CRN proposal was to increase
our capacity by adding new members. Our first step in this direction was
to add Kaiser Georgia. I am pleased to announce that the Lovelace Clinic
Foundation (LCF) will join the CRN as an Associate Member, a temporary
status allowing Lovelace to collaborate until funding is secured. Lovelace
serves a highly diverse population based in New Mexico. We welcome the
participation of Dr. Maggie Gunter, LCF Executive Director, and her research
team.
CRN has had an unexpected windfall. It turns out that more money will
be available to support pilot studies. As a result, we are again soliciting
proposals for pilot projects. Details are available on the CRN website.
As before, the primary goal of these funds is to enable CRN investigators
to generate pilot data and experience to support the submission of a larger
grant proposal.
A major advantage of the CRN, and integrated system research in general,
is the opportunity to study the impact of centralized policies and programs
on cancer care quality and outcomes. These studies require us to assess
whether and how our organizations make decisions about various aspects
of cancer care. In this vein, we very much appreciate the efforts of many
of you in responding to our request for data about decision-making about
drugs to prevent or treat cancer. These data will be crucial in interpreting
variations in drug use across the CRN, an interest of many of us.resources
to us all.
|
|