01/27/2009 - Prelude to a New Chapter in the National Cancer Program
One week ago today the country inaugurated Barack Obama as our new president, an occasion accompanied by the excitement associated with such a historic election. This election and this transition in government will one day generate many books, in part because of the economic crisis that in many ways rivals that of the 1930s and the fighting of two wars. With the election of the first African American president, it's impossible not to draw the connection between President Lincoln's second inauguration and this inauguration and the tremendous progress our democracy has made possible. For many of us, there were certainly memories of the 1961 inauguration of the young and energetic President Kennedy as well.
01/13/2009 - Resource Digs Deep into NCI's Research Funding
It is critically important that scientific investments made by NCI be transparent, ensuring accountability of the Institute and providing essential information to the entire cancer community who tirelessly advocate on behalf of patients. Since its creation in 1937, NCI has been tracking its research portfolio and over time has developed a robust system for coding each research project the Institute supports. NCI uses highly trained, experienced indexers who carefully review each grant to ensure that a given project's contributions are adequately captured, allowing the dollars associated with the project to be assigned to specific categories.