The Nation's Investment in Cancer Research
A Plan and Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2008
Prepared by the Director, National Cancer Institute as mandated by The National Cancer Act (P.L. 92-218)
NCI Strategic Objectives and Progress
Introduction
In January 2006, the National Cancer Institute issued a pivotal planning document to advance cancer research and outcomes: The NCI Strategic Plan for Leading the Nation. Expert and wide-ranging teams from NCI staff and the cancer research community contributed to the plan, and also agreed that it would be a living document for the coming years. This Plan and Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2008 marks NCI's first opportunity to describe the proposed implementation of the Strategic Plan's stated goals and objectives.
To lessen the burden of cancer, NCI conducts and leads intensive work to advance cancer research progress in knowledge discovery, patient-centered translation of discovery, and bench-to-bedside delivery. Our partners are critical to this complex set of endeavors.
NCI's Strategic Objectives are central to the focus of these efforts:
To Preempt Cancer at Every Opportunity
- Understand the causes and mechanisms of cancer
- Accelerate progress in cancer prevention
- Improve early detection and diagnosis
- Develop effective and efficient treatments
To Ensure the Best Outcomes for All
- Understand the factors that influence cancer outcomes
- Improve the quality of cancer care
- Improve the quality of life for cancer patients, survivors, and their families
- Overcome cancer health disparities
The following pages provide background for each of these strategic objectives. The section titled Today's Research lists components of NCI's current portfolio of funded research. The section titled Tomorrow's Strategies outlines next steps for achieving the objectives. The Moving Research Forward section provides a glimpse of the many emerging research results for each objective.
