training at George Washington University, Washington, D.C., in 1986. Ms. Benjamin holds a B.A. in psychology from The University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, and a B.S. in biology, from George Washington University. In 1995 Ms. Benjamin received her MPH from the George Washington University, School of Public Health, with a concentration in health policy. Ms. Benjamin has had extensive experience both as a clinician and as a researcher. At the IOM since 1993, Ms. Benjamin has provided support for several studies including Xenograft Transplantation: Ethics and Public Policy, Military Nursing Research, the Future of Academic Health Centers, and Environmental Justice: Research, Education and Health Policy Needs.

Thelma L. Cox is Senior Project Assistant in the Division of Health Sciences Policy. During her eight years at the Institute of Medicine, she has also provided assistance to the Division of Health Care Services and the Division of Biobehavioral Sciences and Mental Disorders. Ms. Cox has worked on several IOM projects, including: Designing a Strategy for Quality Review and Assurance in Medicare; Evaluating the Artificial Heart Program of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; Advising the National Library of Medicine on Information Center Services in Technology Assessment and Health Services Research; Study of FDA Advisory Committees, Federal Regulation of Methadone Treatment; Legal and Ethical Issues Relating to the Inclusion of Women in Clinical Studies; Depressive Symptoms in Primary Care Patients: Implications for Prevention; Social and Behavioral Science Base for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Intervention; and Review of the Fialuridine (FIAU/FIAC) Clinical Trials. Ms. Cox has received the National Research Council Recognition Award and the IOM Staff Achievement Award.