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Health Behaviors, Translational Issues Raised During Zerhouni
Confirmation Hearings
During the relatively short confirmation process that made Dr. Elias
Zerhouni the 15th director of the National Institutes of Health, questions
about stem cells and clones took their predicted place -- but so did
questions about health behaviors and how they will figure into Zerhouni's
future plans, according to the Consortium of Social Science Associations.
Confirmation Committee Chairman Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) noted that "no
less important than basic genetic studies are the recent findings from NIH
scientists that structured lifestyle change can significantly reduce the
risk of diabetes, sparing millions of Americans from this deadly disease."
(Go to www.cfah.org in the HABIT archives for
more about this important research.)
After expressing personal disappointment that NIH has placed relatively
little emphasis on disease prevention relative to its investigations into
diagnosis and treatment, Kennedy described disease prevention as "an
enormously important area" and noted the committee's desire to work with the
prospective NIH director in this area.
Zerhouni, in turn, acknowledged that "we need to do a lot more than what
we're doing" regarding preventable diseases. After describing many of the
diseases affecting Americans as almost self-inflicted because of lifestyle
choices such as diet, Zerhouni noted that "how we do the research to address
... behavioral modification" will impact our ability to prevent these
diseases.
In identifying the "bottlenecks for science" that he hopes to address, COSSA
reports that Zerhouni acknowledged another deficiency of central importance
to the biobehavioral research community: the need to step up efforts to
translate research into clinical reality.
As NIH faces pressure to apply its increased funding to acquiring new
knowledge instead of translating what its investigators have learned into
improved public health, only time will tell if Zerhouni's stated intentions
become guiding principles.
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