Director's Message

Excitement continues to build across the cancer community about the progress we are making toward our Challenge Goal to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer by 2015! Continued advances in high throughput computing, bioinformatics, imaging technology, nanotechnology, genomics, proteomics, and computational modeling are paving the way for new discovery and accelerated intervention development and delivery. Collaborative efforts are streamlining the availability of tissue specimens, microarrays, image libraries, and epidemiological data. Newly established partnerships with other agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, with other Federal and state agencies, and with the private sector are helping us all to leverage limited resources and to join together to ensure timely delivery of new cancer interventions to patients and people at risk. We have enormous responsibility in a time when resources are more precious than ever.

NCI staff are working daily to facilitate new opportunities for both individual and interdisciplinary team research to flourish. We are working to carry out the recommendations of the Clinical Trials Working Group and supporting a similar effort on Translational Research, both supported by the National Cancer Advisory Board. We are implementing more robust and integrative programs in cancer imaging, bioinformatics, and health disparities. We are working with internal and external stakeholders to identify needs and plan strategies related to specific diseases like lung cancer and groups of cancers, such as those that disproportionately affect our adolescent and young adult population.

In this budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2007, we describe five high impact areas requiring an infusion of resources in order to maximize our ability to move forward. Each is essential for us to not only accelerate our progress against cancer but to also contribute to the overall health of our Nation. Our investments in health information system technology, for example, can serve as a model and pilot for broader application to the national effort. Our leadership in bridging technology and science and in facilitating interdisciplinary research will help to strengthen a new integrative science paradigm across the entire biomedical community.

We as a Nation will succeed when everyone works in close harmony to relay cancer information and ensure the adoption of evidence-based interventions. We must help all of our citizens maintain healthy lifestyles, get screened regularly, obtain prompt treatment when cancer is diagnosed, and have access to quality follow-up care. Researchers across many disciplines, technology experts, public health specialists, healthcare providers, patients, people at risk, and healthy people must work to define and do their part. People all over the world demonstrate their ability to overcome the odds every day. Cancer will be no exception.

Andrew C. von Eschenbach
October 2005