General Information on IOM Roundtables and Forums
Some issues are best considered in a forum or roundtable format, where individuals from industry, government, and academia can convene to examine new scientific findings and issues, and their ramifications for health policy. Such activities provide a neutral convening ground for debate and analysis that is meant to inform, illuminate, and advance mutual understanding of emerging issues.

The forum or roundtable membership is usually large, 20-25 scientists and executives from the interested communities (e.g., government scientists and regulators, industry, academia, foundations). Examples of such activities are the Forum on Drug Development; the Forum on Emerging Infections; the Roundtable on AIDS Vaccine and Drug Development; the Food Safety Forum; and the Forum on the Future of Children and Their Families.

Often workshops or conferences are conducted in conjunction with a forum or roundtable activity to consider specific scientific or policy developments in greater depth. Summaries of the workshops and conferences are prepared and disseminated to a wide audience, as appropriate.

Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine
The IOM Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine will provide a structured opportunity for the discussion of emerging issues and the identification of mutual concerns among interested parties in a nonadversarial setting. In so doing, the Roundtable will help identify opportunities and problems that are current and likely to be ongoing, and those that might arise within the next few years, and develop approaches to exploiting opportunities for solving problems. The Roundtable is sponsored by NIEHS, CDC, EPA, American Chemistry Council, Exxon-Mobil Corporation, and Brita Water Research Institute.
 

The general objectives are:

• to provide a neutral setting for the exchange of information about issues related to environmental health sciences, research, and medicine;
• to identify and discuss priority issues in the general areas of medicine, health, and the environment; and
• to conduct problem-solving and issue-identification activities such as workshops that would address specific issues in greater depth.

Although roundtable activities are not intended as a mechanism for dealing with acute "crisis" situations, the expertise of the roundtable members could facilitate rapid responses by IOM through ad hoc study and advisory activities.

The Roundtable will provide a convening mechanism for interested parties from the academic, regulatory, industrial, and other perspectives to meet and discuss sensitive and difficult issues in a neutral setting. The Roundtable will not provide formal advice or recommendations. The unofficial nature of the deliberations and the neutrality of the IOM setting will facilitate fresh thinking about new challenges as well as long-standing problems.

Membership and Meetings
The Roundtable membership will be limited to 20–25; members will be chosen for their professional perspective as well as their scientific credentials, and will include, for example, federal researchers, regulators, industry representatives, and academicians. Expertise will include environmental sciences, clinical medicine, health policy, and industrial and product development as they pertain to health and the environment. Representatives of federal research and regulatory agencies will be appointed by virtue of the position they hold. The Roundtable will convene in Washington, D.C., under the neutral auspices of IOM.

Topics and Areas of Emphasis
The Roundtable agenda topics will be identified by the membership, weighing the interests of all parties, and include issues of interest to the entire membership. Two areas of emphasis are: improving the science base for policy and regulatory decision-making, and enhancing health professional education (getting scientific information about health effects of environmental exposures to health care practitioners) are two general areas of interest and potential emphasis. Topics for consideration by the Roundtable include:
 

• Global Climate Change
• Clean Air
• Clean Water
• Workforce Issues
• Child Health
• Biodiversity
• Community Health
• Environmental Exposure and Causes of Illness
• At-Risk Populations
• Xenoestrogens & Fertility
• Communications Network
• Environmental Justice
• Noise Pollution

Workshops
The need for more in-depth and detailed discussions on specific topics is likely to emerge during the course of Roundtable meetings. In order to appropriately address these topics, the Roundtable will sponsor at least one workshop a year on a topic agreed to by the Roundtable membership. In selecting workshop topics, the Roundtable will consider the timeliness of the issues, the amount of information already available on the topic, and whether or not the Roundtable can offer additional information or perspectives that would be useful to the discussion of the topic. Speakers would be recruited on the basis of their credentials for the specific topic as well as to provide a geographic and scientific perspective balance for the overall workshop.

Suggesting Other Activities
The Roundtable may identify and suggest topics for other, separate studies within the NAS complex. Any such activity of this nature would be conducted by a separate group within the NAS complex in accordance with the policies and procedures of the NRC.

Product and Dissemination Plan
The Roundtable will meet at least twice a year and sponsor at least one workshop each year on topics to be determined by the Roundtable members. The workshops will provide an opportunity to draw in a wider group of additional experts and interested parties than will be normally present at Roundtable meetings. No reports will be written from the Roundtable meetings. Workshop summaries will be prepared and distributed, but will not contain recommendations.

The Roundtable will not provide recommendations on any specific issue or policy pending before any government agency. To allow full and candid participation by all members, the Roundtable identifies approaches, but does not make specific recommendations or endorse specific courses of action.