Notes

Understanding NCI Teleconference: Cancer as a Model for Research

NCI’s Office of Advocacy Relations’ (OAR) next “Understanding NCI” toll-free teleconference, “Cancer as a Model for Research,” will take place December 9 from 1:00–2:00 p.m., ET.

This teleconference will illustrate how cancer research impacts research as a whole, leading to advances in HIV/AIDS, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer disease. In addition, participants will learn how NCI works with partners to accomplish research goals.

The featured speakers are Dr. Lee Helman, scientific director for clinical research at NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR), and Steve Wakefield, associate director of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

To join the teleconference toll-free within the United States, dial 1-877-918-9240; the passcode is “CCR.” Toll-free playback will be available through January 10, 2010 at 1-866-435-1319.

Childhood Cancer Survivors Art Exhibit Opens in Israel

The Tracy’s Kids International art exhibition, “The Art of Healing,” opened on November 11 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The collection of drawings by children with cancer was on display at NIH in February and in Ireland at St. James’s Hospital and Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, in May.

Created during 2007 and 2008 in response to the theme, “The day I will never forget,” the more than 200 thought-provoking drawings were made while the children were being treated for cancer in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and the United States. The art was produced through Tracy’s Kids, the art therapy program affiliated with Georgetown University Medical Center’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. The exhibit in Israel was sponsored by NCI’s Office of International Affairs and the Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC).

The opening ceremony took place at the Tel Aviv Opera House under the patronage of U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham. In addition to representatives of the Israeli Ministry of Health, the opening ceremony was attended by Ambassadors to Israel of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and the Republic of Cyprus, along with representatives from the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv. All major cancer hospitals in Israel were represented, and a delegation from the West Bank, Palestinian Authority, also attended.

The exhibit will move to the Sheba Medical Center (the largest in Israel). In January, it will move to the Schneider Children's Hospital, Beilinson Medical Center, and thereafter, to Haifa at the Museum of Arts. In 2010, the art show will travel to other sites within the MECC membership. Examples of the children's art can be viewed online.

New State Cancer Legislative Database Newsletter and Fact Sheet Now Available

NCI’s State Cancer Legislative Database (SCLD) Web site has been updated. A fact sheet on out-of-package sales of cigarettes and the summer 2009 issue of the SCLD Update have been added to the site. This latest issue of the SCLD Update includes a summary of enacted legislation and adopted resolutions between April and June 2009, as well as a legislative data “byte” highlighting the number of states with laws addressing youth access to tobacco products through vending machines.

The SCLD program contains information synthesized from state laws. SCLD does not contain state-level regulations; measures implemented by counties, cities, or other localities; case law; Attorneys General opinions; or data addressing the implementation of state laws—all of which may vary significantly from the laws reported by the SCLD.