The Institute of Medicine (IOM) established a National Cancer Policy Forum (the Forum), effective May 1, 2005, to succeed the National Cancer Policy Board (1997-2005, the Board).  IOM forums are designed to allow government, industry, academic, and other representatives to meet, confer, and plan on subject areas of mutual interest. This Forum is the successor to the Board in providing a focus within the National Academies for the consideration of issues in science, clinical medicine, public health, and public policy relevant to the goals of preventing, palliating, and curing cancer.  During the eight years of its life, the Board brought together leaders from the cancer community to identify and conduct studies and other activities contributing to cancer research, prevention, treatment, and public awareness.  The Board enjoyed an unusual flexibility in its grants of unrestricted funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The combination of multi-disciplinary expertise (basic, clinical, and public health scientists, consumers, and advocates) and resources to realize their ideas produced a remarkably original and diverse body of work contributing to improvements in knowledge and public policy.  

The National Cancer Policy Forum builds upon the work of the Board and enjoys a closer working relationship with its federal and non-federal sponsors. As a forum rather than a board, sponsors are full members with the academic, consumer, and policy community members. They bring ideas and requests to the deliberations and have the advantage of playing an active part in the discussions. Governmental sponsors represented on the Forum include the NCI, CDC, FDA and non-governmental sponsors include ACS, ASCO, C-Change, and AACI. Additional members appointed from distinguished members of the cancer community similar to those who were members of the Board serve three year terms. 

The Forum, like the Board identifies emerging policy issues in the nation’s effort to combat cancer and explores them through convening activities that enable all members to be full participants in identifying and debating critical issues and examining potential actions. To accomplish these results, the Forum holds workshops and symposia on topics identified by the membership. These may result in published reports, may be for the purpose of informing the Forum members about critical issues, or may provide input to planning formal IOM committee studies. Ideas for committee studies that emerge from the Forum’s deliberations are handed off to appropriate IOM boards (usually the Board on Health Care Services) for action, but the Forum continues with an interest in these projects and follows them through reports back. The Forum reports to the Director of the Board on Health Care Services (who is also the Director of the Forum). The chair of the Forum is Dr. Harold Moses, Director Emeritus and Professor of Medicine, Cancer Biology and Pathology of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Forum has funding commitments from its sponsors for years four and five ending October 7, 2010.

Forum reports currently underway:

• Multi-center Clinical Trials and the NCI Cooperative Group Program (initiated, 2008/9)      
• Ensuring Quality Cancer Care through the Oncology Workforce: Sustaining Research and Care in the 21st Century (in press, 2009)
• Assessing and Improving Value in Cancer Care (in press, 2009)
• Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing: What are the Policy Issues that Society Must Address? (in collaboration with the NRC, planned for 2009)
• Profiling Patients for Response (or non-response) to Treatment (scheduled, 2009)        

For additional information on the National Cancer Policy Forum, please contact:

Roger Herdman, M.D., Director
Phone: (202) 334-3562
Email: ncpf@nas.edu

Michael Park, Senior Program Assistant
Phone: 202-334-1233
Email: mpark@nas.edu

Mailing Address:
Institute of Medicine
National Cancer Policy Forum
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, D.C., 20001