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.  Read more  

Traditionally, much of laboratory-based cancer research has focused on the inner workings of the cancer cell or a specific cancer gene. As a result, we have generated a formidable - although still incomplete - understanding of cancer cell biology.

We also now know that, although this "reductionist" approach has proven to be extremely valuable and led to important advances, we also must develop a more cohesive understanding of how cancer cells interact with, and are influenced by, their molecular and cellular environments.  Read more  

The NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI, which was established in 1937, leads the national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. Through basic, clinical, and population-based biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can identify the environmental and genetic causes of cancer, prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases. For more information on cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov. NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.