Digestive Diseases News
Fall 2006

Research News

National Commission on Digestive Diseases Hammers Out Research Agenda

Working Groups To Deliver Final Report in 2008

Thirteen working groups primarily consisting of scientists, physicians, and practitioners have begun hammering out a report that will set the 10-year agenda for digestive diseases research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

During its second official meeting on November 6, members of the Federally chartered National Commission on Digestive Diseases discussed the progress of the 13 working groups, each of which will produce a chapter for the report the Commission expects to complete in 2 years. The Commission’s inaugural meeting was on June 12.

The working groups will research and report on the following topics:

• overview of the digestive system

• functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders and motility disorders

• GI tract infections

• inflammatory bowel diseases

• intestinal failure and regeneration, nutritional disorders and support, surgically modified gut, and transplantation

• cancers of the digestive system

• diseases of the oropharynx and esophagus

• diseases of the stomach and small bowel

• diseases of the colon and rectum

• diseases of the pancreas

• diseases of the liver and biliary system

• multi-organ diseases and diseases of abdominal structures

• bioengineering, biotechnology, and imaging

The bulk of the final report will focus on the working groups’ recommendations for long-range digestive diseases research goals and major challenges to achieving those goals. Commission members will meet next year in June and in the fall.

Being Visionary

NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., who addressed Commission members at the November 6 meeting, pointed out the public benefits of digestive diseases research in recent years, such as the reduction in colon cancer that has resulted from better detection methods. Zerhouni encouraged working group members to be both visionary and practical in setting future research goals.

“We now have a better ability to predict disease than ever before. Hopefully, we soon will have the ability to preempt disease,” Zerhouni said.

“We need to identify high-impact, high-risk areas that we can’t ignore,” noted Zerhouni. “But we can’t just go for the obvious. The Commission needs to look at transdisciplinary research without losing vision.”

Please visit the Commission’s website at www2.niddk.nih.gov/AboutNIDDK/CommitteesAndWorkingGroups/NCDD/Default.htm for more information.

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NIH Publication No. 07–4552
November 2006