NIH Director Elias M. Zerhouni, M.D. announced on Tuesday, August 24, the release of the final version of the Strategic Plan for NIH Obesity Research, a multi-dimensional research agenda to enhance both the development of new research in areas of greatest scientific opportunity and the coordination of obesity research across NIH. The Plan calls for intensifying efforts along several fronts: behavioral and environmental approaches to modifying lifestyle to prevent or treat obesity; pharmacologic, surgical and other medical approaches to effectively and safely prevent or treat obesity; breaking the link between obesity and diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers research on special populations at high risk for obesity, including children, ethnic minorities, women and older adults; translating basic science results into clinical research and then into community intervention studies; and disseminating research results to the public and health professionals.

Ed's Corner of the World
News from the CRN PI

One of the original goals in our first CRN proposal was to increase our capacity by adding new members. Our first step in this direction was to add Kaiser Georgia. I am pleased to announce that the Lovelace Clinic Foundation (LCF) will join the CRN as an Associate Member, a temporary status allowing Lovelace to collaborate until funding is secured. Lovelace serves a highly diverse population based in New Mexico. We welcome the participation of Dr. Maggie Gunter, LCF Executive Director, and her research team.

CRN has had an unexpected windfall. It turns out that more money will be available to support pilot studies. As a result, we are again soliciting proposals for pilot projects. Details are available on the CRN website. As before, the primary goal of these funds is to enable CRN investigators to generate pilot data and experience to support the submission of a larger grant proposal.

A major advantage of the CRN, and integrated system research in general, is the opportunity to study the impact of centralized policies and programs on cancer care quality and outcomes. These studies require us to assess whether and how our organizations make decisions about various aspects of cancer care. In this vein, we very much appreciate the efforts of many of you in responding to our request for data about decision-making about drugs to prevent or treat cancer. These data will be crucial in interpreting variations in drug use across the CRN, an interest of many of us.resources to us all.

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