Just one month after Andrew von Eschenbach was sworn in as National Cancer Institute director, he was called to a US Senate hearing as the government's lead witness that day. The topic was one that he had grappled with before during his tenure at the American Cancer Society—and one that his predecessor and other physicians had not endured well: the pitched debate over the effectiveness of mammography screening for women in their 40s. The hearing was triggered by a systematic review1 that c

Cancer leaders embraced President George W. Bush's appointment Dec. 6 of Texas urologist Andrew von Eschenbach to head the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In no uncertain terms, they praised von Eschenbach's political know-how, consensus-building skills, and openness to promoting all facets of a nationwide cancer agenda. Trish Strangmeyer PhotographyAndrew von Eschenbach A urologic surgeon, von Eschenbach directed the Genitourinary Cancer Center and Prostate Cancer Research Center at the Univer

Thirty-five years after mammography screening demonstrated a 30 percent mortality reduction,1 researchers are still searching for an ideal breast cancer screening tool. At the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in San Francisco, members of an Institute of Medicine panel described their recommendations to spur development of such a test. Earlier this year, the panel issued a report titled Mammography and Beyond: Developing New Technologies for the Early Detection of Breas