Insurance does not equal quality health care. Asked by Dr. William Brody, president of Johns Hopkins University, how financially distressed academic health centers around the country can solve their problems, Shalala embarked on a frank discussion of political values and economic realities. A working group on NIH oversight of clinical gene transfer research issued an interim report on review of gene transfer protocols. The group proposes two pathways for review, depending on whether the protocol presents novel scientific, ethical or safety issues, or not. Dr. David Lipman, director of the National Center for Biotechnology Information at NLM, which hosts GenBank, said GenBank gets 175,000 visits per day, in addition to hundreds of daily emails and calls.
Gene products are what most scientists are interested in, then genomic structure.
Mostly, scientists want as complete and accurate information as possible on gene products. Dr. Yvonne Maddox, acting NIH deputy director, reviewed the agency's health disparities initiative, which by 2010 aims to eliminate disparities in six major health areas. A formal Center for Health Disparities can be established administratively by Kirschstein, said Maddox. She forecast that such a center might be up and running by the end of the fiscal year in order to help meet the initiative's six goals. Some 40 percent of Americans, and perhaps 2 of 3 people worldwide, practice CAM, he said.