The NIH Director, Dr. Elias Zerhouni, appointed the 16 members of the National Commission on Digestive Diseases in Spring 2006 (see press release here). The appointed members were selected from more than 100 nominations submitted during the Fall and Winter of 2005. The Commission's renewed charter extended the members' terms of service until September 20, 2009. Selection was based on scientific, professional, patient, or advocacy experience, as well as geographic distribution, gender, and race. In addition to appointed members, the Commission also included ex officio members representing several NIH Institutes and Centers, as well as other Federal health agencies committed to advancing digestive diseases research. The roster listing all of the Commission members is available here.
The Commission convened for meetings in June and November of 2006 and 2007, as well as in May 2008. These meetings were open to the public. Additional information on Commission meetings is available here.
As part of its effort to develop a Long-Range Research Plan for Digestive Diseases, the Commission decided to form Working Groups, each focused on a particular topic area within digestive diseases research. Information on the Working Groups is available here.
