January 29 - 30, 2009
Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Meeting
Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services
Washington, D.C.

At its first meeting, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee advised that a revision of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans is warranted. After a thorough review of the most current scientific and applied literature and open Committee deliberations, the Committee will provide its recommendations in the form of an advisory report to the Secretaries of both Departments. This meeting agenda includes Public Comments, presentations on the descriptive statistics on usual nutrient and food-group intakes in the U.S. population and MyPyramid research updates, and discussion of plans for future work of the Committee.

February 3 - 4, 2009
National Cancer Advisory Board Meeting
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD

The meeting will be open to the public and will be webcast at http://videocast.nih.gov. Topics to be discussed include program reports and presentations and other business of the Board. Any interested person may file written comments with Dr. Paulette S. Gray, Executive Secretary, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 6116 Executive Boulevard, 8th Floor, Room 8001, Bethesda, MD 20892-8327, (301) 496-5147. The statement should include the name, address, telephone number and when applicable, the business or professional affiliation of the interested person.

February 5 - 6, 2009
Meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee
Office of Public Health and Science
Washington, D.C.

Topics to be discussed at the meeting on Thursday, February 5, 2009 include vaccine financing, vaccine safety, vaccine stockpile, seasonal influenza and related issues, vaccine development, and the National Vaccine Plan. Updates will be given by the NVAC Financing, Adult Immunization, and Safety working groups. The meeting on Friday, February 6, 2009 is a full day stakeholders' meeting to discuss the draft strategic National Vaccine Plan.

February 6, 2009
National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Bethesda, MD

The agenda includes opening remarks by the Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, presentation of a new research initiative, and other business of the Council. The public comments session is scheduled from 3:30-4 p.m., but could change depending on the actual time spent on each agenda item.

February 9, 2009
Women's Health Dialogue
Food and Drug Administration
Washington, D.C.

The meeting is intended for directors of national organizations interested in discussing women's health research and educational outreach. There is no registration fee, but preregistration is required. Send registration information (including name, title, firm name, address, telephone, and fax number) to Deborah Kallgren. Seating is limited to 15 participants (1 person per organization).

February 18 - 20, 2009
National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
Health Resources and Services Administration
Washington, D.C.

The Committee provides advice and recommendations with respect to the delivery, research, development and administration of health and human services in rural areas. The agenda includes the 2009 Report to the Secretary and an introduction of the 2010 topics. Several sessions will follow: Health Provider Integration, HHS Role and Health, a panel on Primary Care, Key Provider Groups, Home-Based Options for Rural Seniors, and Partner Perspectives. Action items will be developed and the Committee will draft a letter to the Secretary and discuss the June meeting.

February 24, 2009
National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics Standards Subcommittee
Department of Health and Human Services
Washington, D.C.

The purpose of this meeting is to gather a better understanding of the issues, requirements, and plans to modify HIT standards processes to meet the needs of health care, personal health, and population health, as all of these health environments move rapidly into the information age. This meeting will be the first of several meetings on this topic that will be scheduled during 2009 by the Standards Subcommittee of the NCVHS.

February 25, 2009
Meeting of the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Baltimore, MD

This meeting will focus on the requirements for evidence to determine if diagnostic use of genomic testing in beneficiaries with signs or symptoms of disease improves health outcomes in Medicare beneficiaries. The meeting will also discuss the various kinds of evidence that are useful to support requests for Medicare coverage in this field.

This meeting is open to the public. The Committee will hear oral presentations from the public for approximately 45 minutes. The Committee will deliberate openly on the topics under consideration. Interested persons may observe the deliberations, but the Committee will not hear further comments during this time except at the request of the chairperson. The Committee will also allow a 15-minute unscheduled open public session for any attendee to address issues specific to the topics under consideration. At the conclusion of the day, the members will vote and the Committee will make its recommendation(s) to CMS.

February 25 - 26, 2009
National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics
Department of Health and Human Services
Washington, D.C.

The Committee will hear updates from the Department, the HHS Data Council, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as well as update on the transition to the new administration. There will also be an ONC update on the NHIN Conference. In the afternoon there will be a speaker on de-identification of health data from the Center for Democracy and Technology. On the morning of the second day there will be a briefing on international terminology and an update on Health Statistics for the 21st Century. There will also be an update from NCHS Board of Scientific Counselors and an overview of emerging and innovative sources of health data.

February 26 - 27, 2009
Risk Communication Advisory Committee Meeting
Food and Drug Administration
Washington, D.C.

There will be a discussion of different types of prescription drug information currently available to patients in the form of Medication Guides, Patient Package Inserts (PPIs), and Consumer Medication Information (CMI).

March 2 - 3, 2009
Board of Scientific Advisors
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD

The agenda includes an NCI Director's report, ongoing and new Business, reports of Program Review Group(s), budget presentations, reports of special initiatives; RFA and RFP concept reviews, and scientific presentations.

March 4, 2009
Clinical Trials Advisory Committee
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD

Update on the progress of the implementation of the Clinical Trials Working Group and the Translational Research Working Group reports.

March 12 - 13, 2009
Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society
Department of Health and Human Services
Washington, DC

At this meeting, the Committee will begin to explore issues related to genetics and the future of the health care system with the first in a series of roundtables focusing on perspectives of stakeholders in the payer community. Other agenda items include a session on developments related to informed consent for genomic data sharing, discussion of the Committee's next steps to address concerns related to consumer-initiated genomic services, and updates on Department of Health and Human Services and agency priorities.

March 18, 2009
Meeting of the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Baltimore, MD

This meeting will focus on the use of Bayesian statistics to interpret evidence in making coverage decisions. The meeting will introduce Bayesian concepts, contrast Bayesian approaches with frequentist approaches, and provide some examples of using Bayesian techniques for meta-analyses. Bayesian analysis is a statistical technique in which prior evidence is used to update or to newly infer the probability that a hypothesis may be true.

April 17, 2009
NIH Director’s Council of Public Representatives Meeting
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD

The NIH Director’s Council of Public Representatives (COPR) is a federal advisory committee made up of members of the public who advise the NIH Director on issues related to: Public input and participation in NIH research activities; Public input and participation in the NIH research priority-setting process; and NIH outreach programs and efforts.