Due to extreme weather conditions portions of this workshop were rescheduled for a third workshop held on March 25, 2003.
This workshop is one of several different approaches the Committee on New Approaches to Early Detection and Diagnosis of Breast Cancer will use to identify effective strategies for accelerating the flow of medical innovations from the discovery stage to clinically useful applications; improving the outlook for breast cancer patients.
This public workshop will address the impact of federal regulations and economic factors in the development of medical technology and on the roles of public and private organizations.
Although opinions may be stated, no conclusions are being drawn at this time; no recommendations will be made. In fact, the Committee will deliberate thoroughly before writing its draft report. Moreover, once the draft report is written, it must go through rigorous review by experts who are anonymous to the committee who must respond to this review with appropriate revisions that adequately satisfy the National Academy's Report Review Committee before it is considered an Academy report. Therefore, observers who draw conclusions about the Committee's work based on today's discussions will be doing so prematurely.
Committee members often engage in discussion and questioning for the specific purpose of probing an issue and sharpening an argument. The comments of the Committee members do not necessarily reflect the position they actually hold on the subject under discussion, to say nothing of their future position as it may evolve in the course of the project. Any inferences about a Committee member's position regarding findings or recommendations in the final report are, therefore, also premature.