If Memory Serves...

The year before the National Cancer Institute Act of 1937, Marjorie G. Illig of the American Society for the Control of Cancer (predecessor of the American Cancer Society) suggested the creation of a legion of female volunteers. The goal of the Women's Field Army was to raise money for cancer research and to educate the public about cancer. Her recruits wore khaki uniforms with insignia for rank and achievement. In less than 3 years, they helped increase the number of volunteers who were active in cancer control by tenfold. Read more)

For more information about the birth of NCI, go to http://www.cancer.gov/
aboutnci/ncia.

OWH Updates Web Site
The NCI Office of Women's Health (OWH) recently added new content to their Research on Cancers in Women Web site.

The site highlights NCI-supported research to understand, prevent, diagnose, and treat cancers that affect women only or cancers with a high impact on women. In addition to disease-specific sections, the site features special topics on AIDS-associated malignancies, cancer health disparities, tobacco prevention and control, and a new section addressing cancer survivorship.

Users can subscribe online to the NCI Women's Cancers listserv to receive notices when new content is posted on the site at http://women.cancer.gov/subscribe.shtml. Users can also help improve the site by providing comments at http://women.cancer.gov/survey.cfm.

Vitamin D Conference Held
On May 7 and 8, more than 100 researchers from around the world attended the meeting "Vitamin D and Cancer: Current Dilemmas/Future Needs." The goal of the conference was to evaluate the scientific evidence related to vitamin D and cancer risk and to identify the research needed to make recommendations for vitamin D intake and/or exposure for cancer prevention. A publication summarizing the proceedings is planned, and a follow-up conference on vitamin D will take place on the NIH campus in September.

LCBG Announces Availability of Samples to Validate Lung Cancer Biomarkers
The Lung Cancer Biomarkers Group (LCBG) has developed a requisite sample resource to validate blood-based biomarkers for the early diagnosis of lung cancer. The LCBG consists of scientists from NCI, the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN), the Lung Cancer Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs), and several other lung cancer research programs.

When complete, four reference sets will be available. Two sets will contain retrospectively collected blood samples with clinical annotation, and the other two will contain prospectively collected samples.

The reference sets will be assembled and stored at the NCI facility in Frederick, MD. Any investigator studying promising lung cancer biomarkers can submit an application to the internal LCBG review committee for consideration. The detailed protocol for requesting access to these samples is available at http://edrn.nci.nih.gov/resources/sample-reference-sets.

May is Melanoma Awareness Month
May has been designated as Melanoma/Skin Cancer Awareness Month. An NCI podcast on sun safety and skin cancer is available at http://www.nih.gov/news/radio/index.htm. For information about melanoma risk, prevention, and treatment, go to http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/melanoma. For information about other types of skin cancer, go to http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/skin.