Director's Note
Last month, I was fortunate to spend five days in India, along with other representatives from NCI's Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology. We traveled around the country to meet with colleagues in oncology, healthcare informatics, and advanced computing, from government agencies and leading biomedical research organizations. Our goal was to explore opportunities to leverage and extend caBIG® tools and technology leveraging the Indian biomedical environment.
Interestingly, cancer has not traditionally been a leading cause of mortality in India. However, as healthcare capabilities have improved, the relative incidence of cancer as a cause of death is expected to increase to levels seen in most of the western world. Recognizing this trend, the Indian medical community is very interested in caBIG® capabilities that may help address the growing need for sophisticated cancer treatments and streamlined management of clinical data.
On the basic research front, it was impressive to meet with investigators from several of the most prestigious biomedical research organizations in the world, who enthusiastically embrace the value of interoperable, standardized technology to answer scientific questions and enable more powerful research tools.
Our meetings were overwhelmingly positive. I expect the short-term result of this trip to be collaborations with our colleagues abroad, several of which have already gotten underway. Longer-term, it is my great hope that expanded adoption and expansionof caBIG®-compatible tools and infrastructure will result in new discoveries from many places around the globe as well as improved care delivery in cancer and beyond. We will continue to update you as these international relationships evolve.
We're also pleased to announce the dates for the 2009 caBIG® Annual Meeting. Solving Basic and Clinical Research Challenges in Cancer and Beyond will be held July 20-July 22, 2009, in Washington, DC. I look forward to welcoming you and your colleagues there for a wide spectrum of topics and discussion.
Sincerely,
Ken
Director, NCI Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology NCI CBIIT
