Last week President Bush nominated current NCI Director Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach to be the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. von Eschenbach has served as the interim FDA commissioner since late last September, after Dr. Lester Crawford resigned from the position.

"I am deeply honored to be nominated to head the FDA, and I look forward to continuing to serve our great nation in this capacity," Dr. von Eschenbach said. "As a result of this nomination, I intend to resign my position as NCI director.

"I cannot overstate how much I've enjoyed working at NCI," he said. "The staff at NCI, from the senior leadership on down, are among the most highly talented and dedicated group of people I've ever worked with. NCI is a very special organization, and I will miss my interactions with staff and the committed members of the research and advocacy communities very much."  Read more  

Last week, President Bush nominated me to be the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). I have enjoyed serving as interim FDA commissioner, a post I have held since last September, and am honored by the President's decision to nominate me for this important public health leadership position.

I look forward to sharing with members of Congress and the medical community my aspirations for this critical agency, and how I believe we can take advantage of the numerous opportunities afforded by advances in science and technology to protect and improve our nation's health.  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.