The Institute of Medicine was chartered in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to enlist distinguished members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. In this, the Institute acts under both the Academy’s 1863 Congressional charter responsibility to be an advisor to the federal government, and its own initiative in identifying issues of medical care, research, and education.
Research briefings are an important part of the agreement between the Institute of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to initiate a program of studies that is intended to facilitate the translation of discoveries in basic science into advances for health. Of specific interest in the research briefings are the assessment of current knowledge in a particular field of study, identification of promising areas within that field, and recommendations about future research needs in terms of scientific issues. Although occasional recommendations are made regarding research policy, it is not the purpose of these briefings to advocate increases or decreases in current funding levels or to undertake a prioritization or comparative evaluation of other areas of scientific inquiry. The audience for research briefings is quite broad and includes grant administrators and project officers (government and nongovernment), physicians, science policy analysts, congressional staff, scientists, science journalists, and the interested lay public. Research briefing topics are selected by the Institute of Medicine in consultation with its membership, the IOM Council, and the Board on Health Sciences Policy.
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PANEL FOR THE RESEARCH BRIEFING ON ADVANCES IN UNDERSTANDING GENETIC CHANGES IN CANCER: IMPACT ON DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT DECISIONS IN THE 1990s
JANET D. ROWLEY (Co-Chair),
Department of Medicine and of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
JEFFREY L. SKLAR (Co-Chair),
Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
GARRETT M. BRODEUR,
Division of Hematology/Oncology, St. Louis Children's Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri
WEBSTER K. CAVENEE,
Ludwig Institute-Montreal Branch, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
BEVERLY F. EMANUEL,
Division of Human Genetics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
STANLEY J. KORSMEYER,
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, St. Louis, Missouri
DANIEL PINKEL,
Division of Molecular Cytometry, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California
DENNIS J. SLAMON,
Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
SANFORD A. STASS,
Division of Laboratory Medicine, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
LOUIS C. STRONG,
Division of Pediatrics, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Rapporteur
JON C. ASTER,
Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
Institute of Medicine Staff
DAVID M. TURNER, Project Director,
Research Briefing
RUTH ELLEN BULGER, Director,
Division of Health Sciences Policy
SARAH A. ZIELINSKI, Project Assistant
RITA T. GIBSON, Administrative Assistant
Statement of Purpose
Committee for the Research Briefing on Advances in Understanding Genetic Changes in Cancer: Impact on Diagnosis and Treatment Decisions in the 1990s
The purpose of this committee was to conduct a research briefing to examine the utilization of genetic techniques for the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer and the impact of this utilization on diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment decisions. Research briefings are sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and address three purposes: (1) to highlight a promising and exciting field of medical science; (2) to examine the current status of that field; and (3) to make scientific recommendations about future needs in the field. This research briefing is directed largely toward informing physicians of the rapid advances being made in this field.