On June 27, the White House announced the appointment of seven individuals to the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB) for 6-year terms that will expire March 9, 2012. The appointees are: Mr. Robert A. Ingram and Drs. Anthony Atala, Bruce A. Chabner, Donald S. Coffey, Lloyd K. Everson, Judah Folkman, and Karen Dow Meneses.

NCAB, an advisory board mandated as part of the Public Health Service Act, advises the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the NCI director about the institute's activities, including reviewing and recommending cooperative agreements following technical and scientific peer review.

NCAB consists of 18 members appointed by the President of the United States and includes leading representatives of the health and scientific disciplines; the general public, including leaders in fields of public policy, law, health policy, economics, and management; and experts in environmental carcinogenesis. Leaders of several federal health agencies also participate as nonvoting members.

Mr. Ingram is the vice chairman of pharmaceuticals for GlaxoSmithKline and previous president and chief executive officer of Glaxo Wellcome. He has also served on the Board of Advisors for the Forum for Corporate Conscience, which advocates socially, economically, and environmentally responsible, values-based business leadership.

Dr. Atala is the director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and chair of the Department of Urology at Wake Forest University. His current research focuses on growing new human tissues and organs to repair or replace those damaged by age, cancer, trauma, or abnormal development.

Dr. Chabner is the clinical director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, a professor in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and former director of NCI's Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis from 1982 to 1995. He has a specialty interest in the treatment of lymphoma, with a focus on experimental new drugs, particularly natural products and signal-transduction inhibitors, and on clinical trial design.

Dr. Coffey is director of research at the Johns Hopkins University James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, the Catherine Iola and J. Smith Michael distinguished professor of urology, and professor of oncology and pharmacology at Johns Hopkins University. His current research involves exploring the role of the nuclear matrix in oncogenesis.

Dr. Everson is vice chairman of US Oncology, the nation's largest health care services network devoted exclusively to cancer treatment and research. He previously served as a member of NCI's Board of Scientific Counselors.

Dr. Folkman is the Julia Dyckman Andrus professor of pediatric surgery and professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School, and scientific director of the Vascular Anomalies Center at Children's Hospital Boston. His research was instrumental in the discovery that tumor growth is dependent on angiogenesis.

Dr. Meneses is the Beat M. and Jill L. Kahli endowed chair in oncology nursing at the University of Central Florida. Her main research interests are breast cancer, quality of life, cancer survivorship, screening and early detection of cancer, and skin cancer prevention for adolescents.

The President also intends to designate current NCAB member Dr. Carolyn D. Runowicz, director of the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center, as chairman of the NCAB for a 2-year term.

"I am truly honored to assume this position," said Dr. Runowicz, who is also president of the American Cancer Society. "I have enjoyed being a member of the board for the past 2 years, and I look forward to working with Dr. John Niederhuber, NCI's acting director. The advisory board will have an important role in addressing the challenges that confront the institute in this current funding climate," she added.

"I am very pleased with the President's choices of new members and chairperson of the NCAB," stated Dr. Niederhuber. "These individuals provide a wealth of knowledge in tissue interactions, the tumor microenvironment, drug development, signal transduction, angiogenesis, and quality of life and survivorship studies, which will significantly enhance the current expertise on the board. They are great replacements for the outstanding members who just completed their service. I look forward to the NCAB's guidance as we continue to make progress battling this dreaded disease."

By Sharon Reynolds