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Washington Update
*January and February have been busy months for new HHS personnel. CAROLYN
M. CLANCY, M.D. was named director for the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality on Feb. 5, after serving as acting director since
March 2002. Prior to serving as acting director, Clancy was the director
of AHRQ’s Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and the
director of the Center for Primary Care Research.
MARGARET A. CHESNEY, Ph.D., was named the
first deputy director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine on Jan. 27. Prior to joining NCCAM, Chesney was professor of
medicine and epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco
School of Medicine.
NORA D. VOLKOW, M.D., will take the helm as
the new director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse on April 15,
replacing acting director Glen R. Hanson, D.D.S., Ph.D.
Volkow is an associate director of life sciences and director of nuclear
medicine at Brookhaven National Laboratory, as well as professor and associate
dean for the medical school at SUNY-Stony Brook.
EVE SLATER, M.D., resigned her position as
HHS assistant secretary for health on Feb. 5. Surgeon General RICHARD
CARMONA will be the acting assistant secretary for health
until Slater is replaced.
*HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson is the new chair of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Thompson was elected by the Global Fund’s board, which consists of donor and recipient governments, NGOs, foundations and private sector companies, on Jan. 31. Thompson’s new role was announced after President Bush pledged $1 billion for the Global Fund in his State of the Union speech. To read more about the Global Fund’s activities, visit http://www.globalfundatm.org/. *Preventive care and health promotion will “bring us closer to a revolution” in health care, Sen. Edward Kennedy told a National Press Club audience in a Jan. 21 speech. Kennedy supported the IOM’s recent recommendations for improving health care quality, noting that “many steps that can improve the quality of care the most are often not reimbursed at all, such as home visits by nurse practitioners and training in self-care for patients with chronic conditions.” To read the full text of Sen. Kennedy’s speech, go to http://kennedy.senate.gov/index_high.html. *The HHS Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health has approved a plan to raise the federal cigarette tax from 39 cents to $2. HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson says that he has not made up his mind about whether to support such an increase, but is intrigued by the idea that half the money raised by the tax increase would go to support smoking cessation programs. *Rep. Mark Sweeney (R.-N.Y.) says that he will introduce legislation to change the current legal classification of ephedra, making it a drug and not a dietary supplement. This classification change would give the FDA greater latitude in restricting its use and sale. Sweeney’s announcement came after ephedra was cited as a possible cause in the death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler. *The CDC has launched a new Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Series on Public Health and Aging. The series will contain scientific information and discuss the public policy implications of the 21st century’s aging boom. You can read the first report in the series at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5206a2.htm.
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