Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program
Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences
July 2, 2004
EGRP NEWS FLASH
From the Office of
Edward Trapido, Sc.D., Associate Director
Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program
Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences
National Cancer Institute
This News Flash from the Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program (EGRP) updates you with information about:
- New EGRP Staff Appointments
- Program Director Assignment Changes
- New PA Cosponsored on Exfoliated
Cells, Bioactive Food Components, and Cancer
- Direct Cost Limits Change for Certain
Applications
- NIH Establishes High Priority,
Short-Term Project Award
- Latest Annual Report on Cancer Statistics
Released
- Booklet for the Public on Cancer and the Environment
New EGRP Staff Appointments
EGRP is pleased to announce four appointments:
Deborah
(Debbie) Winn, Ph.D., has been appointed Chief of EGRP's Clinical and
Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch (CGERB). She had been Acting Chief
of CGERB and was Senior Epidemiologist for Tobacco and Cancer Control
in EGRP. She also served as Acting Associate Director of EGRP prior
to Ed Trapido's appointment. Winn has been instrumental in guiding the
EGRP-funded Cancer Genetics Network and has been very involved in helping
CGERB to develop initiatives in gene-gene and gene-environment interactions.
She is especially well known nationally and internationally for her
work and writings on smokeless tobacco and the etiology of oral cancer.
She is NCI Program Coordinator for the Long Island Breast Cancer Study
Project, and a key member of the Division of Cancer Control and Population
Sciences' (DCCPS) Health Disparities Research Coordinating Committee.
Before joining EGRP in 2000, Winn was a Senior Investigator and Branch Chief for oral epidemiology for eight years at the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). Prior to that, she worked at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For five of her seven years there, she was the Deputy Director of the Division of Health Interview Statistics, with broad responsibilities for planning, implementing, and analyzing the National Health Interview Survey.
Isis
Mikhail, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H., has joined CGERB as a Program Director.
She will oversee genetic epidemiology grants in the Small Grants Program
in Cancer Epidemiology and explore opportunities to disseminate results
of cancer epidemiology research to the public. Mikhail had been with
NCI's Office of Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, and prior to
this at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she held positions
as a research director and coordinator in the areas of health behavior,
immunology, epidemiology, and genetics. 
Mukesh
Verma, Ph.D., has joined the Analytic Epidemiology Research Branch (AERB)
as a Program Director. Among his responsibilities, Verma will oversee
the Small Grants Program in Cancer Epidemiology and continue his work
in epigenetics. He previously was with NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention
(DCP), where he was a Program Director providing direction in the areas
of biomarkers, early detection, risk assessment, and prevention of cancer.
H.
Mac Stiles, D.D.S., Ph.D., M.P.H., is working part time under contract
with EGRP to help evaluate large initiatives, such as the research project
launched by a subgroup of the Consortium of Cohorts in which data and
biospecimens are being pooled from large cohorts to study hormone-related
gene variants and environmental factors involved in development of breast
and prostate cancer. He also is helping EGRP establish relationships
with other federal government sponsors of cancer epidemiology. Stiles
is retired from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he was
Scientific Review Administrator of the Epidemiology and Disease Control-2
Study Section and helped establish another epidemiology study section.
Since then, he has been a consultant with the Department of Defense
(DOD) in its research review activities and with the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Program Director Assignment Changes
There are two changes to Program Director assignments:
- The Program Director for the Program Announcement (PA) on Cohort Studies in Cancer Epidemiology (PAR-04-011) is now A.R. (Joe) Patel, Ph.D., AERB, telephone: 301-435-4910; e-mail: patelap@mail.nih.gov. NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, NOT-CA-04-021
- The Program Director for the Small Grants Program in Cancer Epidemiology
(PAR-04-011) is now Mukesh Verma, Ph.D., telephone: 301-594-7344; e-mail:
vermam@mail.nih.gov. NIH
Guide, NOT-CA-04-020
New PA on Exfoliated Cells, Bioactive Food Components, and Cancer
EGRP is participating in a PA on Exfoliated Cells, Bioactive Food Components, and Cancer. The PA is to encourage R01, R21, and R03 grants that focus on research to critically evaluate the use of exfoliated cells to monitor the physiological effects of dietary bioactive food components thought to be involved with cancer prevention. The objective is to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations between scientists engaged in research using exfoliated cells and those conducting nutrition research related to cancer prevention. This research will help determine the utility of exfoliated cells as a model system to monitor both the absorption and retention of bioactive food components and the concomitant alterations in genomic and epigenetic events that occur in intact cells.
Inquiries about scientific issues relevant to EGRP may be directed to:
Virginia (Ginny) Hartmuller, Ph.D., R.D., AERB, telephone: 301-594-3402;
e-mail: hartmulv@mail.nih.gov.
For further information, see the NIH Guide, PA-04-114.
Direct Cost Limits Change for Certain Applications
NIH has revised its policy on direct cost limitations on solicited applications. Applications in response to PAs and RFAs that include a limitation on direct costs are to exclude from that limit the facilities and administrative (F&A) costs requested by consortium participants. The F&A costs requested by the consortium will be reflected in the PHS 398 application according to current instructions, and F&A costs awarded under these programs will continue to be awarded under the current practice. However, these consortium F&A costs will not be counted as a direct cost when determining if an applicant is in compliance with a direct cost limitation on a solicited application. This change applies to applications submitted on or after April 30, 2004. Direct questions to the Grants Management Specialist listed in the RFA/PA or to the NIH Division of Grants Policy, telephone: 301-435-0949.
This revision does not change the NIH policy on acceptance of applications requesting direct costs of $500,000 or more for any one year. NIH requires grant applicants with a requested budget over $500,000 direct costs in any year to contact the appropriate program staff before submitting applications to the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) for peer review. The NIH Guide Notice stipulates that if the requested dollar amount is more than $1.5 million in direct costs in any year, approval must be sought 6 weeks prior to submitting the grant to CSR. However, approval for NCI epidemiology applications must be sought at least 8 weeks prior to submission to CSR to complete the necessary internal processing by the deadline. CSR no longer accepts amended budgets for submissions over $500,000.
For further information, see the NIH Guide, NOT-OD-04-040.
NIH Establishes High Priority, Short-Term Project Award
NIH recently announced the new High Priority, Short-Term Project Award (R56) to fund for one or two years, high-priority new or competing renewal R01 applications that fall just outside the funding limits of participating NIH Institutes and Centers. Grants will be awarded beginning in Fiscal Year 2005. Investigators may not apply for R56 awards. Award recipients will be selected by Institute and Center staff from R01 applications.
This award will provide limited, interim research support based on the merit of a pending application. It will enable an investigator to gather additional data for revision of a new or competing application. Funding will end after one or two years, or when the applicant succeeds in obtaining traditional project funding.
For futher information, see the NIH Guide, NOT-OD-04-047.
Latest Annual Report on Cancer Statistics Released
The
nation's leading cancer organizations report that Americans' risk of getting
and dying from cancer continues to decline and survival rates for many
cancers continue to improve. The "Annual Report to the Nation on
the Status of Cancer, 1975-2001" finds overall observed cancer incidence
rates dropped 0.5 percent per year from 1991 to 2001, while death rates
from all cancers combined dropped 1.1 percent per year from 1993 to 2001.
According to the authors, the new data reflect progress in prevention,
early detection, and treatment; however, not all segments of the U.S.
population have benefited equally from the advances.
The report is a collaboration among NCI, the American Cancer Society (ACS), CDC, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR). It is published in the July 1 issue of Cancer 2004 July 1;101(1):3-27.
"This new report clearly shows we've made considerable gains in reducing the burden of cancer in the United States," said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society. "The first ever drop in lung cancer incidence rates in women is remarkable proof that we are making a difference in the number one cancer killer, and is powerful evidence that our successful efforts must continue."
The percentage of patients who have survived more than five years after being diagnosed with cancer has increased over the past two decades. According to NCI Director Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., "these survival statistics are a reason for optimism, as they show us that we are on the right track to reaching the NCI Challenge Goal to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. We are committed to even greater advances in survivorship research at NCI. We are directing and conducting research on long-term follow-up of childhood cancer survivors, healthy behaviors for all survivors, and unique issues faced by cancer survivors from underserved populations."
Death rates from all cancers combined have been decreasing since the early 1990s. Death rates decreased for 11 of the top 15 cancers in men, and eight of the top 15 cancers in women. Lung cancer deaths rates among women leveled off for the first time between 1995 and 2001, after continuously increasing for many decades.
View the report and accompanying press materials on the Surveillance,
Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program Web site. (Choose "1975-2001
Report to the Nation" on
left side.)
New Booklet for the Public on Cancer and the Environment
Cancer
and the Environment: What You Need to Know What You Can Do focuses
on the agents in the environment that cause cancer and what we can do
to lower our cancer risk. The booklet, which was prepared by scientists
from NCI and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS),
also explains how substances that are likely to cause cancer are discovered.
Order the document from NCI's
Online Publications Locator or the Cancer Information Service (CIS)
1-800-422-6237. Or access the PDF
version of the booklet.
