If Memory Serves...

The first advisory group involved with NCI's leadership was the National Advisory Cancer Council, which included Dr. James Ewing of Memorial Hospital in New York, Dr. C.C. Little of the American Society for the Control of Cancer, Dr. Francis Carter Wood of Columbia University, Dr. Ludvig Hektoen of the Institute of Medicine in Chicago, Dr. Arthur Compton of the University of Chicago, and Dr. James B. Conant of Harvard University. Dr. Thomas Parran, then the U.S. Surgeon General, was a member ex officio and the council's first chairman. (Read more)

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

President's Cancer Panel Examines Tobacco
The President's Cancer Panel will hold the final meeting for the 2006-2007 series, "Promoting Healthy Lifestyles to Reduce the Risk of Cancer," on February 12 in Jackson, MS. Panel members will hear expert testimony about the effects of tobacco and environmental tobacco smoke on cancer risk, as well as testimony about community programs and policies related to tobacco prevention, control, and cessation.

Meetings of the President's Cancer Panel are free, open to the public, and require no registration. For more information on these meetings, visit http://pcp.cancer.gov or contact Karen Parker at 301-451-9462 or klparker@mail.nih.gov.

NCAB Meeting Held
The National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB) held its first meeting of 2007 on February 6 on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. NCI Director Dr. John E. Niederhuber updated the Board on the NCI budget, the restructuring of the Office of the NCI Director, and the NIH Reauthorization Act. The archived videocast of the meeting can be viewed at http://videocast.nih.gov/.