[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 191 (Tuesday, October 3, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58396-58397]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-8416]



[[Page 58396]]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry


Statement of Organization, Functions, and Delegations of 
Authority

    Part J (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) of the 
Statement of Organization, Functions, and Delegations of Authority of 
the Department of Health and Human Services (50 FR 25129-25130, dated 
June 17, 1985, as amended most recently at 71 FR 44297, dated August 4, 
2006) is amended to reflect the reorganization of the Division of 
Health Assessment and Consultation, Agency for Toxic Substances and 
Disease Registry.
    Section J-B, Organization and Functions, is hereby amended as 
follows:
    Delete in its entirety the functional statements for the Division 
of Health Assessment and Consultation (JAAC), Office of the Director 
(JAA), Office of the Administrator (JA), and insert the following:
    Division of Health Assessment and Consultation (JAAC). (1) Conducts 
public health assessments, health consultations, and other related 
public health activities, to determine the health implications of 
releases or threatened releases of toxic substances into the 
environment; in particular, such activities are conducted for 
Superfund, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), petition 
requests, and other sites or instances where communities have been or 
may have been exposed to toxic substances in the environment; (2) 
conducts and evaluates exposure pathways analyses and other exposure 
screening analyses to identify impacted communities, to include 
exposure investigations (biologic sampling, personal monitoring, etc.), 
exposure-dose reconstruction, and related environmental assessments, as 
appropriate; (3) identifies appropriate interventions for impacted 
communities to prevent exposures and/or adverse health effects; (4) 
issues public health advisories when a release or threatened release of 
a toxic substances pose an imminent health hazard; (5) plans, prepares, 
and executes appropriate health communications and health educational 
strategies/activities/programs for communities affected or potentially 
affected by toxic substances released into the environment; (6) manages 
the ATSDR-mandated program for conducting site-specific activities at 
petitioned sites; (7) manages and implements ATSDR's Site-Specific 
Cooperative Agreement Program and the ATSDR tribal programs for 
external partners; (8) coordinates the agency's environmental public 
health training program; and (9) provides technical support and 
resources for National public health emergencies and disaster response 
as appropriate.
    Office of the Director (JAAC1). (1) Provides overall leadership in 
directing, coordinating, evaluating, and managing all programmatic and 
administrative operations of the Division of Health Assessment and 
Consultation (DHAC); (2) develops programmatic goals and objectives and 
provides leadership, policy formation, and guidance in program planning 
and development; (3) provides program management, administrative, 
logistical support services for the division; (4) coordinates division 
activities with other components of ATSDR and other federal, state and 
local agencies and tribal governments; (5) initiates specific research 
and medical activities as appropriate to further DHAC's mission and 
program needs; (6) provides overall leadership and management of DHAC 
resources for disaster response activities to public health 
emergencies; and (7) assesses the need and develops training for public 
health professionals conducting site-specific activities, and 
coordinates the delivery of these courses for the training of federal 
staff, tribal members, and state partners.
    Health Promotion and Community Involvement Branch (JAACB). (1) 
Plans, coordinates, implements, and evaluates ATSDR's health promotion 
and community involvement site-specific programs; (2) communicates the 
agency's roles, responsibilities, and public health information to 
public and professional audiences to mitigate health effects from 
potential and actual exposures to toxic substances; (3) monitors the 
progress of work plan activities, and reviews and evaluates the 
accuracy and clarity of community outreach and health education 
materials; (4) uses best practices and evidence-based approaches from 
community involvement and public health promotion; (5) develops and 
delivers environmental public health information for public and 
professional audiences including translating scientific documents into 
plain language; (6) advocates for the public health needs of 
communities affected by environmental hazards; links members of the 
public in communities affected by hazardous waste with technical and 
scientific staff and resources, where appropriate; (7) develops, 
manages, and evaluates the health education and promotion component of 
ATSDR's state-based cooperative agreement program with external 
partners to ensure that the technical and administrative requirements 
of the program are met; (8) provides technical assistance and 
leadership on community involvement and environmental health promotion 
to ATSDR and ATSDR partners; (9) advocates for advances in 
environmental public health promotion to address community concerns and 
support community needs; and, (10) collaborates with other ATSDR 
program areas and partners to ensure cultural awareness and respect are 
observed and practiced in all activities that involve communities, 
tribes, tribal governments and tribal organizations.
    Exposure Investigations and Site Assessment Branch (JAACC). (1) 
Manages a wide range of public health assessment requests, including 
private-sector petitions and regional-lead activities, that are 
assigned based on branch staff expertise; (2) monitors the progress of 
work plan activities, and reviews and evaluates the scientific accuracy 
and clarity of public health assessments, health consultations, and 
related materials; (3) serves as the lead branch for planning, 
directing, coordinating, evaluating, conducting, and managing DHAC's 
operations and activities for exposure investigations, exposure-dose 
reconstruction, and modeling; (4) serves as the lead branch for 
processing intake of regional requests for DHAC assistance; (5) 
coordinates within and across branch and divisional units to provide 
technical expertise for a wide-range of activities that support the 
division and agency's public health mandates and priorities; (6) issues 
public health assessments, health consultations, public health 
advisories, and provides technical assistance; and, (7) develops 
programmatic goals and objectives, and contributes to policy formation 
and guidance in program planning and development.
    Site and Radiological Assessment Branch (JAACD). (1) Manages a wide 
range of public health assessment requests, including private-sector 
petitions and regional-lead activities, that are assigned based on 
branch staff expertise; (2) monitors the progress of work plan 
activities, and reviews and evaluates the scientific accuracy and 
clarity of public health assessments, health consultations, and related 
materials; (3) serves as the lead branch for planning, directing, 
coordinating, evaluating, conducting, and managing DHAC's operations 
and activities at national priorities list sites, federal sites, and 
RCRA sites; (4) provides radiation

[[Page 58397]]

physics expertise for all division public health assessment activities, 
and serves as the division's liaison to radiation disaster response 
teams; (5) coordinates within and across branch and divisional units to 
provide technical expertise for a wide-range of activities that support 
the division and agency's public health mandates and priorities; (6) 
issues public health assessments, health consultations, public health 
advisories, and provides technical assistance; and (7) develops 
programmatic goals and objectives, and contributes to policy formation 
and guidance in program planning and development.
    Cooperative Agreement and Program Evaluation Branch (JAACE). (1) 
Plans, directs, coordinates, and manages ATSDR's Site-Specific 
Cooperative Agreement Program; (2) collaborates with other program 
areas within ATSDR to develop annual plans of work with each of the 
cooperative agreement partners; (3) monitors the progress of work plan 
activities and reviews and evaluates the scientific accuracy and 
clarity of public health assessments, health consultations, and 
community outreach and health education materials; (4) evaluates the 
integration of health assessment, health education, health study, and 
community involvement activities, the performance of cooperative 
agreement partners, and the public health impact of partner conducted 
activities; (5) advises cooperative agreement partners on scientific 
and procedural developments in the area of environmental public health; 
(6) directs and coordinates the DHAC's site-specific evaluation 
activities to identify the short-term and long-term benefit of site-
specific public health assessment, community health education, and 
community involvement activities; (7) develops and refines performance 
measures for reporting DHAC's products and intervention activities for 
Congressional Justification Reports and to meet OMB Performance 
Assessment and Rating Tool reporting requirements; (8) directs and 
coordinates the extraction of information from the division's products 
and entry of this information into ATSDR's HAZDAT; (9) conducts 
database queries to analyze and identify trends in site-related public 
health issues; and (10) develops programmatic goals and objectives and 
contributes to policy formation and guidance in program planning and 
development.
    The Chief Operating Officer, CDC, has been delegated the authority 
to sign general Federal Register notices for both the CDC and ATSDR.

    Dated: September 25, 2006.
William H. Gimson,
Chief Operating Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC).
[FR Doc. 06-8416 Filed 10-2-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-70-M