Gomez Honored by Avon Foundation
Dr. Jorge Gomez, chief of NCI's Organ Systems Branch in the Office of Centers, Training, and Resources, received the 2006 Medical Advancement in Breast Cancer Award from the Avon Foundation on October 30. Dr. Gomez was honored for his work on the Avon-NCI Progress for Patients program, a 5-year, $30 million partnership that currently encompasses 42 clinical trials that seek to expedite the application of new discoveries to benefit breast cancer patient treatment and care.

Dr. Gomez referred to the program as "a flexible granting mechanism approach with fast decisions and an invaluable partnership with tremendous insight into the challenges of breast cancer research."

Niederhuber Addresses Cancer Center Directors
On October 24, NCI Director Dr. John Niederhuber addressed the leadership of many of the nation's cancer centers at the 2006 Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) annual meeting in Chicago. Dr. Niederhuber discussed a variety of topics of interest to the cancer centers, including the effect of flattening budgets on the nation's cancer centers.

Barbara Duffy Stewart, AACI executive director, commented, "We are fortunate to have Dr. Niederhuber address our membership in his new role as NCI Director. We look forward to continuing our relationship with him and facilitating communication between NCI and the cancer centers in these fiscally challenging times."

SPN Monograph Available
The Special Populations Networks: Achievements and Lessons Learned 2000-2005, a monograph developed by NCI's Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities, was recently published by Cancer.

This monograph highlights the activities and accomplishments of the Special Populations Networks program (SPN), a 5-year, nationwide NCI-funded program to reduce cancer health disparities in minority and medically underserved populations. The monograph is available online at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jissue/113386997.

CCR Grand Rounds November 7: Oncology Nursing Lecture. Dr. Christine Miaskowski, Professor, Department of Physiological Nursing, University of California, San Francisco. "Symptom Clusters: The New Frontier in Symptom Management Research." November 14: No lecture CCR Grand Rounds are held 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., in the Clinical Center's Lipsett Amphitheater.

John Venditti Dies at 79
Dr. John M. Venditti, 79, who spent 26 years as chief of NCI's Drug Evaluation Branch during a 39-year career at the NIH, died on October 21 at his home in Bethesda, Md.

During the early 1950s, Dr. Venditti's laboratory work was instrumental in developing a number of anticancer drugs. He was considered one of the world's leading experts on drug interactions and for many years was a member of NCI's Acute Leukemia Task Force. From 1966 to 1986, he directed the NCI anticancer drug screening program, a worldwide network of research and development projects for the discovery of improved chemotherapy. In 1983, he established National Cooperative Drug Discovery Groups, and directed the program until his retirement from government service in 1987.

Dr. Venditti received his undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland, and his doctorate in pharmacology from George Washington University. Dr. Venditti was an author on more than 160 scientific publications and several book chapters, and had been scientific editor of Cancer Chemotherapy Reports.

Survivors include his wife Nancy, three children, and three grandchildren.