U.S. names new NCI chief

Deputy director of the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) John Niederhuber was appointed to the director's role by President George Bush this week (August 15). The appointment was welcomed by Cancer Research UK, that country's leading funder of cancer research. "Cancer Research UK welcomes the appointment of Professor Niederhuber to this vital role leading the world's fight against cancer," Cancer Research UK head Alex Markham told The Scientist in an Email. "We look forward to building and extending the work we do together to tackle the global cancer agenda."Before joining NCI, Niederhuber spent many years as a prominent cancer surgeon and researcher, and still runs an NIH lab investigating the role of adult stem cells in cancer. The lab also focuses on the relationship between tumor cells and their microenvironment, with an eye for manipulating the environment to prevent tumors.Niederhuber takes the helm of NCI during a period of tightening budgets, which have raised concerns among the research community. After years of increases, the NCI budget has undergone a series of slight decreases since fiscal year 2005, and the FY2007 budget falls at close to $4.75 billion, $40 million less than the previous year.At the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in April, then-deputy director Niederhuber acknowledged the challenges facing the institute, but reminded scientists they have faced budget cuts before and survived. "We must simply become leaner and better at what we do," he said. "While we might argue that we could use more -- and certainly we could -- $4.8 billion dollars is a considerable amount of money, by any measure."Still, the cost of doing research has risen, and Niederhuber recommended that scientists weather the situation by forming partnerships with other funding sources, such as private industry, other government agencies, and philanthropic organizations. "I vividly recall single-digit paylines as I struggled to maintain my own laboratory," he said. "I can tell you there wasn't a foundation in the country and a few outside the country that escaped a grant application from my lab."Niederhuber noted that, despite a reduced budget, the Institute's priorities include funding first-time investigators, stabilizing the number of funded grants, and maintaining the R01 payline. In FY2006, the NCI set aside a bigger reserve for funding certain competing grants that are beyond the payline but "of high programmatic interest and opportunity."Niederhuber was unable to respond to questions from The Scientist before deadline.According to an NCI official who requested anonymity, in order to fund the same number of grants each year, NCI decision-makers have been forced to implement "significant" overall cuts -- such as cutting funding requests in each new application by approximately 29%, reducing the funding provided to competing renewal grants, and cutting ongoing grants. In 2005, the payline was approximately the 16th percentile for R01 grants, the success rate fell at roughly 20%, and the institute funded approximately 1300 competing grants.Given the decrease in the FY2007 budget, the institute may have to fund slightly fewer competing grants -- although the size of the decline is still unclear, the official told The Scientist.He noted that Niederhuber "got stuck" with this situation. Every director has his own agenda, but all have a high commitment to R01 grants. "They are smart guys, they know that" basic research is crucial, he added.Niederhuber fills a role vacated by Andrew von Eschenbach, now the president's nominee to head the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Niederhuber has voiced his support for von Eschenbach, noting that the cancer community will have a leg up with a former Texas urologist at the helm of the FDA. Niederhuber began his academic career at the University of Michigan, holding appointments in the departments of both surgery and microbiology and immunology. He has also held professorships at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, where he was the director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, and has chaired the Department of Surgery at Stanford. His wife died of breast cancer a few years ago.Prior to accepting the position of NCI's 13th director, which does not require Senate confirmation, Niederhuber was the institute's chief operating officer and deputy director for translational and clinical sciences, and chair of the National Cancer Advisory Board, which oversees the NCI's operations. He assumed the role of acting director in May, 2006.Alison McCook amccook@the-scientist.comLinks within this article:"President Bush announces his intention to appoint John E. Niederhuber the 13th director of the National Cancer Institute," NCI, August 15, 2006. http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/NiederhuberAppointedDirectorAlex Markham http://science.cancerresearchuk.org/JE Niederhuber, "Treatment of metastatic disease in patients with neuroendocrine tumors," Surg Oncol Clin N Am, July 2006. PM_ID: 16882495YH Lin, "Treatment of metastatic disease in patients with neuroendocrine tumors," J Biol Chem, October 27, 1995. PM_ID: 7592787T Agres, "The NCI budget will increase, but how much?" The Scientist, April 1, 2002. http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/12962/NCI 2015 goal, basic research http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/2015/Understand-the-Causes-and-Mechanisms-of-CancerL. Newman, "Andrew von Eschenbach," The Scientist, April 1, 2006. http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/12978/

U.S. names new NCI chief

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