Highlights: 2006 Office of Communications Achievements

Summary of 2006 Office of Communications Activities

Awards and Honors

Publications and Presentations

Did You Know?

How to Reach the Office of Communications (OC)

Office of Communications (OC) Director's Message

Dear Colleagues:

Thirty-five years after the signing of the National Cancer Act of 1971, OC continues to take great pride in guiding and shaping the cancer-related information that reaches an increasingly diverse American public. In 2006, our dynamic team of communications professionals created more than 75 press releases and fact sheets, fielded more than 1,000 media inquiries, answered more than 130,000 public inquiries, shipped nearly 5 million NCI publications, and reached millions of health professionals, researchers, cancer patients, and the general public through the NCI Web site, scholarly publications and presentations, exhibits at large conferences, and other nationally known cancer information programs and channels.

We enhanced our services by focusing on three critical areas: communication leadership, well-planned collaboration, and active coordination of the core services we provide to NCI's Divisions, Offices, and Centers. Achieving excellence in these areas was driven by:

Communication – In January 2006, NCI delivered its ambitious Strategic Plan for Leading the Nation, which set forth a framework for the Institute to address the greatest challenges of cancer. Ensuring that the plan's objectives were effectively communicated and skillfully integrated into NCI's communications products and services required a strong commitment by OC staff to enhanced leadership and planning across OC and the Institute.

Collaboration – At a time when team efforts are producing extraordinary advancements in NCI's cancer research labs, collaboration took on new urgency for OC as well. With budgetary resources stretched, it was imperative that OC look for even more opportunities to collaborate with internal and external partners and to cross-promote the work of Divisions, Offices, and Centers to achieve greater communications impact and cost savings.

Coordination – OC has an increasingly complex job of providing media relations, publications support, Web development, and other core communications services to a public that demands faster and more sophisticated tools and products. This past year called for intensified coordination and delivery of the high volume of core services we provide to NCI and the broader cancer community.

This annual report describes OC's 2006 accomplishments and how they support the Institute's mission. It is intended to familiarize our NCI colleagues with our work and the opportunities that exist for collaboration with our office. As we prepare for NCI's 70th anniversary in 2007, we look forward to continuing to lead the Institute's communications activities and to delivering timely cancer information to patients, professionals, and the public.

Sincerely,


Nelvis Castro
Acting Director, Office of Communications

Back to Top Highlights: 2006 Office of Communications Achievements

OC's major initiatives in 2006 are highlighted in three critical areas of support to the National Cancer Institute.

In August 2006, OC coordinated with CBS-TV and other networks to interview Steven Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., on gene therapy for melanoma.

Communication: Providing Communications Leadership

OC serves as the focal point for communications within NCI, directing the communications agenda and developing messages that support key scientific breakthroughs. We provide communications advice and support to the NCI Office of the Director and others across the Institute to ensure that those messages accurately represent NCI and its strategic objectives. In doing so, we position NCI as the nation's trusted and valued source of credible and up-to-date cancer information. In 2006, we:

• Developed the NCI Intranet, myNCI, a major online communications tool that enables efficient collaboration and information sharing among NCI leadership and staff
  
  
• Supported the Office of the Director through the development of speeches, talking points, and articles
  
  
• Provided NCI leadership and scientists with media and presentation training and audiovisual materials necessary to clearly communicate cancer research results
  
  
• Increased understanding of the research conducted at NCI and extended the NCI brand through the weekly publication of the NCI Cancer Bulletin—winner of the 2006 Award for Excellence from the Print Media Communicator Awards Competition
  
  
• Coordinated the media announcement of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) approval of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine—the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer—and provided exceptional communications support to other high profile initiatives, including NCI's Translational Research Working Group, cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG™), the SPORE program, The Cancer Genome Atlas, and clinical trial recruitment
  
  
• Orchestrated several major media efforts to address cancer health disparities, including radio and television interviews and public service announcements to reach minority households; expanded our portfolio of Spanish-language materials; and implemented a program to train cancer control leaders in the use of evidence-based outreach materials
  
  
• Strengthened planning, research, and evaluation of communications activities by launching OC's ComPASS (Communications Planning and Strategy System) pilot program

Collaboration: Establishing Linkages across the Cancer Community

Communication that encourages information sharing helps link and integrate the cancer community, resulting in collaboration critical to achieving progress in cancer research. Over the past year, OC jointly managed a number of information technology systems that provide biomedical and administrative reference material to cancer researchers worldwide. We also stepped up efforts to integrate messages and activities among diverse groups both inside and outside of NCI to broaden the impact of their communication initiatives. In 2006, we:

• Received the 2006 NIH Director's Award for implementing the National Network of Tobacco Cessation Quitlines (1-800-QUIT-NOW), a collaborative effort with Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and state tobacco control programs to provide toll-free assistance to smokers and other tobacco users across the U.S.
  
  
• Collaborated with the Office of Science Policy and Assessment to launch the Physician Data Query (PDQ®) Clinical Trials Indicator within NCI's Enterprise System for Performance Results and Information (ESPRI) to provide NCI's Executive Committee and other NCI staff with information about NCI's clinical trials profile drawn from the PDQ Cancer Clinical Trial Registry maintained by OC
  
  
• Launched a new drug information resource on the NCI Web site (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/druginfo/alphalist) directed toward cancer patients, their caregivers, and their families; this resource provides links to information developed by the FDA, the National Library of Medicine, and OC on the approval and use of these drugs, as well as summaries of the latest published research and ongoing clinical trials
  
  
• Maintained and updated the NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms and the NCI Drug Dictionary; the NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms is currently being translated into Spanish
  
  
• Managed NCI's PDQ cancer information database to provide anyone visiting NCI's Cancer.gov Web site with comprehensive, credible, and accurate cancer information
  
  
• Collaborated with the Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) to plan and implement a major communications strategy to announce results of the national Study of Tamoxifen & Raloxifene (STAR) for the prevention of breast cancer
  
  
• Coordinated communications activities associated with NCI's clinical announcement about the advantage of intraperitoneal chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer
  
  
• Enhanced outreach activities to NCI-designated cancer centers for clinical trial registration in PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials registry to increase registration; continued collaboration with the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) and DCP to ensure timely registration of all sponsored trials in PDQ; collaborated with the World Health Organization's International Clinical Trial Registry Platform in the activities of the Registries Working Group; and continued leadership of the Clinical Data Standards Consortium Subgroup on Clinical Trial Registration to develop a standard clinical trial registration data format
  
  
• Collaborated with CTEP to create a Web resource that provides information to patients and physicians about expanded coverage for experimental and routine services provided to Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in nine specific clinical trials sponsored by NCI

In 2006, OC developed and launched myNCI, a versatile, content-rich Intranet that enhances communication throughout the Institute.

Coordination: Providing a Foundation for Communications Support

Communications at NCI depend on a sophisticated core of services provided by OC. We coordinate the Institute's communications to ensure that evidence-based cancer information is delivered to diverse audiences through credible vehicles using language that resonates and prompts action. We collaborate with both internal and external partners to deliver cutting-edge communications tools, products, and services. In 2006, OC:

• Initiated the design and development of a new Content Management System to provide OC staff with resources to draft text in a more standardized, structured, and modular format that facilitates reuse of cleared information, ensures consistency, and enables delivery through multiple channels
  
  
• Wrote and/or designed and printed more than 64 publications, including The NCI International Portfolio: Addressing the Global Challenge of Cancer; The Nation's Investment in Cancer Research: A Plan and Budget Proposal for FY 2008; The Nation's Progress in Cancer Research: An Annual Report for 2004; The NCI Strategic Plan for Leading the Nation; 3 booklets in the What You Need To Know About Cancer series; and 22 additional patient education booklets
  
  
• Responded to more than 7,500 public inquiries about NCI programs and activities, and averaged over 1.7 million visitors and 13.7 million page views per month to the Institute's multiple-award-winning Web site, Cancer.gov
  
  
• Implemented a strategic plan for the NCI Exhibit Program to better enable the NCI Divisions, Offices, and Centers to showcase their initiatives to a wide range of audiences at meetings and conferences across the country
  
  
• Enhanced internal communication among our own OC staff through the inauguration of the OC Communication Activities Report; the OCUpdate; Notes from Nelvis; and our new NCI Calendar at a Glance; also became the first NCI office to create and implement a shelter-in-place plan that prepares us for Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) activities during an emergency

NCI International Portfolio was one of the many publications that OC wrote and produced in 2006.

Back to Top Summary of 2006 Office of Communications Activities

Each week, OC reaches more than 27,000 subscribers with the NCI Cancer Bulletin, winner of the 2006 Award of Excellence in the Print Media Communicators Awards.

I. Communication: Providing Communications Leadership

myNCI: Enhancing Communication Throughout the Institute
OC was charged with designing a new NCI Intranet to improve the way leadership and staff communicate with their more than 6,000 colleagues. The result was myNCI, a versatile, content-rich, online work environment that enables more effective and efficient information sharing and communication. NCI staff use myNCI on a daily basis to check internal news, information, and policies.

Director's Communications: Delivering High-Level NCI Messages
OC developed several critical speeches and talking points for the NCI Director's Office, ensuring the delivery of essential messages that demonstrate NCI's mission and direction. Our speech writing and editorial teams produced articles, Congressional testimony, and responses to Congressional inquiries for the Office of the Director.

NCI Cancer Bulletin: Increasing Understanding of NCI Research
The NCI Cancer Bulletin was launched by OC in 2004 to meet the increasing demand for useful, authoritative information about important NCI programs and initiatives. By late 2006, subscribership to this electronic publication had increased threefold, currently reaching more than 27,000 researchers, advocates, health officials, NCI staff, and members of the general public.

Media and Presentation Training: Preparing Scientists to Communicate Results
OC provided professional media training for NCI leadership and scientists to help them to clearly communicate cancer research results. Through workshops conducted on campus, OC held practice interviews and provided on-the-spot feedback to scientists preparing for the HPV vaccine announcement and other media events, conferences, and presentations delivered throughout the year.

Media Outreach and Response: Communicating Important Developments in Cancer Research
OC works closely with the NCI Director's Office and the Divisions, Offices, and Centers to coordinate NCI's media outreach. OC also works closely with NCI-designated Cancer Centers to inform them of NCI activities and to coordinate local and regional outreach of important information. In 2006, OC proactively implemented several media-related programs:

• Crisis Communications: OC's Rapid Response Team, involving staff from OC, Office of Policy Analysis and Response (OPAR), and Office of Liaison Activities (OLA), enabled NCI to respond quickly to breaking news stories by immediately posting information on Cancer.gov and providing CIS and the press office with up-to-the-minute facts to respond to inquiries.
  
  
• Media Inquiries: OC handles an average of 80 to 100 calls and e-mails from the media each month, including inquiries from major news sources such as ABC, CBS, NBC, The New York Times, CNN, and USA Today; trade press, including Oncology Times; and foreign publications and other outlets. In 2006, we responded to more than 1,000 media inquiries.
  
  
• Press Materials: OC created and disseminated more than 75 press releases and fact sheets, including a major press release and in-depth Q&A on results of the STAR trial, and coordinated press and communications materials related to lung cancer screening results.
  
  
• Breaking News Announcements: OC coordinates media outreach for major cancer news events involving NCI and its partners. In 2006, major news stories that garnered substantial media attention included the approval of the HPV vaccine — for which NCI scientists developed the technology — as well as NCI's use of gene therapy to treat melanoma, among other important advances.
  
  
• Science Writers' Seminars: OC offers journalists opportunities to dialogue with experts from NCI and NCI-designated Cancer Centers on key developments in cancer research and the delivery of care. In 2006, OC hosted seven seminars averaging from 25 to 50 reporters in attendance and another 200 who watched each seminar via live or archived webcast.
  
  
• Media Tools: OC procures the services of NewsMarket to market and distribute video via the Internet to more than 7,500 media outlets in 140 countries; Critical Mention, a Web-based television search and broadcast monitoring service that tracked 4,585 stories in almost every major TV market for the release of the STAR trial results; and Vocus to track reporter calls and disseminate press releases to targeted reporters.
  
  
• Hollywood, Health & Society: OC collaborates with the CDC and other Federal agencies to provide entertainment industry professionals with accurate and timely information for health storylines. In 2006, OC coordinated consultations by NCI experts to Hollywood- and New York-based TV writers and worked closely with CBS's As the World Turns to provide information for storylines on breast cancer and smoking during pregnancy.

Addressing Health Disparities: Advancing a Major Institute Priority
In 2006, OC addressed health disparities by disseminating NCI's cancer messages through media that target minority groups and medically underserved populations, by forming cancer control partnerships to reach those most in need, and by increasing our portfolio of Spanish-language materials.

• OC coordinated over 100 syndicated radio and television interviews featuring minority spokespersons. We also partnered with the nation's largest bilingual newspaper group, as well as Univision and major radio networks that reach Hispanic, African American, and Native Americans to deliver timely, culturally appropriate cancer information.

OC partnered with the National Association of Hispanic Publications, whose newspapers reach over 14 million people in the United States and Puerto Rico – over 50 percent of the Hispanic households in the United States, as well as with radio and television networks to reach minorities with timely, culturally appropriate cancer information.

• NCI's 15 regional Cancer Information Service (CIS) contracts disseminated evidence-based cancer information to underserved populations and provided training to partners in states, tribes, and territories on the use of NCI's Cancer Control PLANET and other tools. In 2006, the Comprehensive Cancer Control Team consisting of staff from OC and the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) received the NIH Director's Award for leadership in the 2005 Cancer Control Tribal Leadership Institute.
  
  
• OC has partnered with the Office of Education and Special Initiatives (OESI) to develop a Spanish-language Web site to offer Spanish-speaking individuals easier access to NCI cancer information. The new Cancer.gov Español Web site is expected to launch in 2007. As part of this effort, OC and OESI have established an editorial group to develop a standard approach for the translation of new materials for the Web site and for all other Spanish-language content that NCI produces.

ComPASS Pilot: Strengthening Communications Planning, Integration, and Evaluation
This new pilot program is introducing an enhanced, systematic approach to the way OC plans, coordinates, and evaluates communications strategies across the Institute. Using a formalized process, OC staff are developing communications strategies that cut across Divisions, Offices, and Centers to promote the collective work of NCI in several areas of critical importance to the Institute. Expected results of the 1-year pilot are increased integration, cost savings, and greater communications impact.

II. Collaboration: Establishing Linkages across the Cancer Community

Enterprise Vocabulary Services: Linking Researchers through Shared Information Technology
OC and the NCI Center for Bioinformatics (NCICB) co-manage NCI's Enterprise Vocabulary Service (EVS), encompassing the NCI Thesaurus, NCI Metathesaurus, and the NCI Drug Dictionary, which are made available to the public on Cancer.gov. EVS is designed to meet the needs of NCI and its partners for controlled terminology and to facilitate the standardization of terminology and information systems across the Institute and the larger biomedical community. EVS's terminology resources form the foundation for NCI's Cancer Common Ontologic Reference Environment (caCORE) and caBIG™systems.

On behalf of EVS, OC also works with other Federal agencies, such as the FDA and the Veterans Health Administration, to create terminology and information exchange standards. In addition, OC works with major standards organizations, such as the Health Level 7 Regulated Clinical Research Information Management (HL7 RCRIM) Technical Committee, Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) International, and the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC).

In 2006, the Cancer Information Service (CIS) responded to more than 110,000 telephone inquiries, 8,000 LiveHelp instant messages, and 5,800 e-mail requests.

• NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms: Co-developed in-house by OC and OESI, this lay-oriented dictionary, which contains more than 4,500 medical and scientific terms, is available on Cancer.gov. Approximately 60 new terms and definitions are added to the dictionary each month. The terms and definitions are also used to provide glossary support for PDQ and other NCI patient-oriented information products. OC is currently translating the dictionary into Spanish. The NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms is one of the most frequently used resources on Cancer.gov, with more than 475,000 page views each month.
  
  
• NCI Drug Dictionary: The drug dictionary, which contains scientific and technical definitions for drugs and agents used in oncology, received more than 70,000 page views each month in 2006. Also in 2006, OC added approximately 800 new drugs and agents to the resource. The NCI Drug Dictionary is the result of collaboration between EVS and PDQ. The dictionary also provides links to ongoing and completed clinical trials in the PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry.

NCI's CIS and CDC, together with state and other partners, established the National Network of Tobacco Cessation Quitlines, which delivers nationwide cessation services via 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

Physician Data Query: A Wealth of Cancer Information in One Database
OC maintains PDQ, NCI's international cancer research data bank, which includes evidence-based, peer-reviewed cancer information summaries in English and Spanish; an international cancer clinical trials registry; directories of persons and organizations involved in cancer care; and biomedical and drug terminology. The PDQ cancer information summaries received more than 550,000 page views each month in 2006 on Cancer.gov. Terminology in PDQ, which is developed in conjunction with EVS, is used to support the PDQ health professional summaries and to index the clinical trials for search and retrieval on Cancer.gov.

The PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry added more than 900 trials in 2006. PDQ also expanded its scope to include cancer-related behavioral, observational, and correlative studies. The PDQ registry continued to support the registration of NCI-sponsored clinical trials in NIH's ClinicalTrials.gov database, which is operated by the National Library of Medicine. PDQ also established a collaborative relationship with the newly established Institut National du Cancer (INCa), including the provision of expert consultation on the development of a French national cancer clinical trials registry.

Cancer.gov Taxonomy: Enhancing Web Searching Capabilities
OC is developing a taxonomy for Cancer.gov – a classification system that allows concepts to be named, distinguished, and ordered to enhance information search and retrieval on the site, as well as on the myNCI Intranet. OC is integrating the taxonomy with the NCI Thesaurus and PDQ database system. Taxonomy development will greatly enhance users' ability to find the information they want by organizing results by major subject and content categories, e.g., cancer types, grants, or clinical trials.

Cancer Information Service: Providing Information and Support to the American Public
OC is home to the Cancer Information Service (CIS), NCI's popular public support service for cancer information. Our CIS Contact Centers provide access to the latest cancer information via a toll-free telephone service (1-800-4-CANCER in English and Spanish), LiveHelp instant messaging, and an e-mail response service. The Contact Centers also help smokers quit through NCI's Smoking Quitline (1-877-44U-QUIT). In 2006, the Contact Centers responded to approximately 110,000 telephone inquiries; 8,000 instant messages; and 5,800 e-mail requests from the Cancer.gov online contact form.

DHHS Tobacco Initiative: Helping People Quit Smoking
At the request of the Secretary of the DHHS, OC's CIS and CDC collaborated with states and other partners to implement the National Network of Tobacco Cessation Quitlines. Through this initiative, CIS provides the telecommunications infrastructure for routing calls to state-based cessation services. Since its 2004 launch, NCI and CDC have been successful in establishing a viable national network that delivers effective cessation services to all Americans in need of a quitline via 1-800-QUIT-NOW and have responded to more than a half million calls.

Geodemographic Market Segmentation: Targeting the Right Audiences with the Right Messages
OC licenses a comprehensive database of health behavior, demographic, lifestyle, and geographic data used to develop targeted message placement, media outreach, clinical trial recruitment, and other outreach activities. Through the Consumer Health Profiles (CHP) project, CIS regional offices target messages and programs to populations in particular need of cancer screening and education. During the first three months of 2006, OC generated more than 1,700 maps and reports for more than 30 partners including the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and NCI's Community Networks Program grantees. In 2006, OC used the database to plan cervical cancer materials dissemination for OESI, and worked with DCCPS on projects examining tobacco use trends and survivorship issues.

During the first three months of 2006, OC generated more than 1,700 maps and reports for more than 30 partners using the Geodemographic Market Segmentation database.

Strategy Implementation: Leading the Communications Planning Effort for the Institute
In 2006, OC worked with staffs from the Divisions, Offices, and Centers to plan and implement communications strategies for the STAR and NLST clinical trials, and provided support to the Translational Research Working Group, caBIG™, the Cancer Genome Atlas, the HPV Vaccine approval announcement, and the SPORE program. Critical to the success of these cross-cutting activities has been the linkages and partnerships that OC developed within NCI and with other government, academic, advocacy, and industry groups.

We are also currently working with the Operations Research Office (ORO) and OESI to better develop program plans using a consumer-based, social marketing model and conduct outcome/impact evaluation studies to help the Institute assess whether its communications efforts have achieved the desired outcome.

CIS Research Program: Building Capacity for Developing and Evaluating Communications Initiatives
OC has implemented several investigator-initiated, collaborative health communications research studies in the CIS. We are also executing a CIS national research agenda, which includes six new R21 grants in collaboration with DCCPS, to discover and test effective communications approaches to educating the public about cancer.

III. Coordination: Providing a Foundation for Communications Support

Communications Technology: Providing Essential Tools for Information Dissemination
OC is the hub for the design and maintenance of the major communication vehicles for NCI, including Cancer.gov and many of the Web sites of the Divisions, Offices, and Centers. This centralized effort ensures a consistent NCI brand throughout the Institute's range of online information products. OC also creates and maintains NCI Web standards and style guides to unify and strengthen NCI's online brand globally. In 2006, OC developed and maintained the following communications technology projects:

• Cancer.gov: NCI's multiple-award-winning Web site averaged approximately 1.7 million visitors and 13.7 million page views per month in 2006, a 25% increase over 2005. In addition, Cancer.gov has consistently received outstanding ratings from its users: In the independent American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) surveys, the site repeatedly received the impressive overall user satisfaction score of 81, compared with an average score of 74.1 for the private sector and 74.0 for other major government Web sites.
  
  
• Divisional Web Sites and Intranets: OC develops and maintains Web sites for many Divisions, Offices, and Centers and for several trans-NCI programs, including the NCI Intranet (myNCI).
  
  
• Custom Online Applications: OC develops custom application systems tailored to the needs of specific NCI programs, including NCI Listens and Learns, NCI Expert Finder and Tracker, and the NCI Calendar at a Glance. In 2006, OC initiated the design and development of a new Content Management System that will enable OC and OESI staff and contractors to create content in a standardized, structured, and modular format that facilitates reuse and ensures consistency.
  
  
• Major Information Products: OC is responsible for the development, maintenance, and operation of the software systems for NCI's PDQ database, and for the design and production of the HTML version of the weekly NCI Cancer Bulletin. OC also produces the new NCI Calendar at a Glance, a Web-based calendar of Institute-wide events and scientific lectures and meetings that serves as a valuable and convenient scheduling tool for NCI staff, as well as NCI Event-Cal, a brief e-mail reminder of selected upcoming events sent to all staff each week.
  
  
• NewsCenter: OC maintains the NCI NewsCenter, an online resource for reporters, and produces the Webzine BenchMarks, containing facts and information to help journalists report cancer news.

Warehousing, Publication Distribution, and Mailing Services: Storing and Organizing Information for the Entire Institute
OC provides the Institute with a 53,000-square-foot warehouse for storage and distribution of more than 28 million NCI materials. In 2006, the OC distributed nearly 5 million NCI publications, and initiated a system to reduce labor costs by integrating ordering interfaces with distribution systems. These functions require an extensive telecommunications, information technology, materials handling, and fulfillment infrastructure using wireless technology, such as barcodes and handheld scanners.

OC developed and maintains the Cancer.gov Web site, which averaged over 1.7 million visitors and 13.7 million page views per month, as well as Web sites for many Divisions, Offices, Centers, and trans-NCI programs.

Written Materials: Tailoring Messages to a Variety of Audiences
OC develops, produces, maintains, and updates a variety of written materials, including NCI special reports and patient education materials, such as the What You Need to Know (WYNTK) series of booklets on cancer. OC also manages NCI, NIH, and DHHS clearance of these materials, serves as the NCI point of contact for peer review of disseminated materials that fall under OMB requirements, and manages the printing procurement process. Some of OC's major written materials include:

• WYNTK booklets: OC has published this series of booklets about specific cancer types since 1978. Even without promotion or advertising, more than 1 million printed copies are requested each year by cancer patients, doctors' offices, hospitals, cancer centers, and other organizations and individuals worldwide. In 2006, the number of average monthly page views for the booklets exceeded 360,000 on Cancer.gov.
  
  
• NCI Fact Sheet Collection: OC develops lay-oriented NCI Fact Sheets in response to Institute priorities, topics of public interest, and calls to CIS. Currently, the fact sheet collection consists of more than 260 documents, distributed in both print and electronic formats, and in English and Spanish. The average monthly number of fact sheet page views on NCI's Web site exceeds 400,000.

Other written materials developed in 2006 include, the NCI International Portfolio: Addressing the Global Challenge of Cancer, and summaries of important clinical trials and other research studies for the Cancer.gov Web site.

NCI Exhibit Program: Showcasing NCI Programs Around the United States
The NCI Exhibit Program consists of multi-sized exhibits used to announce research findings, disseminate NCI materials, communicate NCI's mission, and educate audiences both at large conferences and at smaller, local meetings. In 2006, OC implemented a strategic plan to better meet the needs of the Divisions, Offices, and Centers that utilize the exhibit program and to further strengthen NCI's branding efforts. We also orchestrated several "Meet the Expert" sessions to make NCI scientists and medical experts available to conference attendees for questions. This year, NCI exhibited at 15 large national conferences, distributing more than 73,000 NCI publications. The Loaner Program increases NCI's presence around the country and decreases the costs of sending the exhibit to certain meetings and conferences. In 2006, the Loaner Program provided portable exhibits for 46 meetings represented by staffs of the Divisions, Offices, and Centers and CIS regional offices.

Graphic and Audiovisual Services: Ensuring Accurate Depictions of Cancer Research
OC provides graphic design and audiovisual services to the Institute to support and promote NCI publications, products, services, and programs. OC maintains prescribed graphics standards across all NCI information products and provides policy guidance on proper use of the NCI logo. In 2006, OC managed the design of more than 80 publications, 14 exhibits, and other products.

• Report Design: In 2006, OC designed and produced The Nation's Investment in Cancer Research: A Plan and Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2008; The NCI Strategic Plan for Leading the Nation; The Nation's Progress in Cancer Research: An Annual Report for 2004; NCI International Portfolio: Addressing the Global Challenge of Cancer; and the 2005 Fact Book.
  
  
• Graphics Standards: OC conducted seminars to train all design firms that provide graphics services for NCI on the Institute's new logo and graphics standards and made presentations to NCI staff in key divisions that frequently use the logo to familiarize them with the graphics standards.

This year, NCI exhibited at 15 large national conferences and provided portable exhibits for 75 meetings through the Exhibit Loaner Program.

• Visuals Online: OC manages NCI's Visuals Online database, a collection of biomedical, scientific, and patient-related images for use in print and Web-based publications and media resources. The online system has storage for over 9,000 image files and a database for storing metadata about the images.

NCI Library Online (LION) and Library Services: Providing NCI Staff with Information and Resources
OC manages LION, a repository and alerting service for NCI staff of electronic resources, books, journals, NCI archival materials, and Internet links and content. LION collects and organizes information resources and makes those resources easily accessible to NCI staff. In 2006, OC managed 62,031 cataloged items, 10,618 of which are available as full-text files, and added more than 3,500 new documents to the collection.

Event and Meeting Planning Services: Bringing NCI and Its Partners Together
OC provides event planning services for many of the numerous meetings and conferences that NCI hosts each year. Our services include planning, promotion, and materials dissemination; advising on DHHS rules and regulations; and coordinating logistics with the Administrative Resource Center. In 2006, OC planned or consulted on 21 NCI events and two NIH events, including the Cancer Center Directors Retreat, the NCI All-Hands Meeting, the NCI Director's Awards Ceremony and Swearing-In Ceremony, and the CIS National Meeting.

Administrative Contribution to NCI: Performing a Valuable Service for the Institute
OC performs several functions for NCI that help to unify the Institute and contribute to the community:

• Combined Federal Campaign: OC led NCI's contribution to the Combined Federal Campaign, helping NCI raise more than our goal of $280,000 and resulting in NIH surpassing its $2 million campaign goal in 2006.
  
  
• NCI Representation at NIH Events: OC partially funds several NIH events to ensure that NCI is represented at select health fairs. We also videocast important cancer-related research events that are sponsored by NIH, such as "Genomics and Cancer" at the GM Cancer Research Awards.
  
  
• Gift Acknowledgment and Tracking System: OC helps NCI acknowledge the thousands of unsolicited donations to support cancer research that the Institute receives each year. Through the Web-based Gift Fund Acknowledgment and Tracking System database, OC generated about 2,800 letters acknowledging the generosity of contributors in 2006.

Public Inquiries: Serving as NCI's Public Information Office
OC responds to inquiries about NCI programs and activities, relieving NCI staff of the burden of individually responding to information requests, and ensuring that consistent information is provided to the public. OC also prepares Presidential Proclamations and responds to patient-related correspondence for White House, DHHS, NIH, and OD inquiries. In 2006, OC responded to more than 7,500 written, e-mail, and telephone inquiries, and responded to 14,400 e-mails from the "Contact Us" link on Cancer.gov.

NCI Health Communications Internship Program: Advancing Career Development in Communications
In 2006, NCI accepted 14 interns into this six-month paid internship program in health communications and science writing. The internship provides students who are completing their Master's or Doctorate degrees with an opportunity to be a part of vital health and science communications projects in the NCI Divisions, Offices, and Centers.

The Swearing-In Ceremony for NCI Director Dr. John E. Niederhuber was one of 21 events OC planned or consulted on in 2006.

Back to Top Awards and Honors

OC employee Amy Bulman (pictured third from left) was part of the team recognized with the NCI Director's Award for innovation, leadership, and teamwork in planning and implementing the NCI-NHGRI Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project.

2006 NIH Director's Awards:

• Katrina Relief Team
  
  
• The National Network of Tobacco Cessation Quitlines Implementation Team
  
  
• Comprehensive Cancer Control Team

2006 NCI Director's Award:

• NCI-NHGRI Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project

2006 HHS Honor Award:

• Katrina Relief Team

2006 NIH Plain Language Awards:

• Graphic Standards for Use of NCI Logo and Graphic Identity Elements
  
  
• NCI Office of Communications Orientation Resources

2006 Award for Excellence in the Print Media Communicator Awards:

• NCI Cancer Bulletin

Back to Top Publications and Presentations

Publications

Finney Rutten, L.J.; Squiers, L.; and Hesse, B. Cancer-related information needs: Hints from the 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). Journal of Health Communication, 11 (Supplement 1):147-156, 2006.

Finney Rutten, L.J.; Squiers, L.; and Hesse, B. Cancer-related information sought by the general public: Evidence from the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service, 2002-2003. Journal of Cancer Education, 2006 (accepted for publication).

Finney Rutten, L.J.; Squiers, L.B; and Treiman, K. Requests for information by family and friends of cancer patients calling the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service. Journal of Psycho-Oncology, 15:664-672, 2006.

Locke, J.; Rudd, R.E.; Doak, L.G.; Stableford, S.; Riffenburgh, A.; Baker, C.; Prokop, L; Farrell, M.M.; and Draff, J. Health Literacy: The Importance of Clear Communication for Better Health, AMWA Journal, 21(1):30-32, 2006.

Squiers, L.; Bright, M.A.; Finney Rutten, L.; Atienza, A.; Treiman, K.; Moser, R.; and Hesse, B. Awareness of the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service: Results from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). Journal of Health Communication, 11 (Supplement 1):117-133, 2006.

Tobias, J.; Chilukuri, R; Komatsoulis, G.A.; Mohanty, S.; Sioutos, N.; Warzel, D.B.; Wright, L.W.; and Crowley, R.S. The CAP cancer protocols - A case study of caCORE based data standards implementation to integrate with the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG™). BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 6(1):25, 2006.

The Journal of Health Communication is just one of the many journals in which OC staff were published during 2006.

Presentations

NCI Minority Media Outreach
Steering Committee of the Public Affairs Network
Bethesda, MD
January 2006

National Network of Tobacco Cessation Quitlines
Consumer Demand Roundtable Meeting
Washington, D.C.
February 2006

NCI Reporters Survey
Association of Health Care Journalists Annual Meeting
Houston, TX
March 2006

When Science Makes News: Media Tips for Clinical Trial Findings
SCORE Workshop (Site Coordinators' Opportunity for Research Excellence)
Bethesda, MD
March 2006

Theory at a Glance: Application to Health Promotion and Health Behavior (Second Edition): Reaching the Next Generation of Public Health Practitioners
Citation Paper
Society for Behavioral Medicine, Annual Meeting and Scientific Session
San Francisco, CA
March 2006

Addressing Health Disparities: NCI/CIS Resources at Work
10th Biennial Symposium on Minorities, the Medically Underserved and Cancer
Bethesda, MD
April 2006

Health Communication and Health Education Planning
CIS Partnership Program Training
Kansas City, MO
April 2006

NCI Cancer Information Research Program (Poster)
Intercultural Cancer Council 10th Biennial Symposium on Minorities, the Medically Underserved and Cancer
Washington D.C.
April 2006

NCI Cancer Information Service Research Program
Cancer Survivorship: Embracing the Future Third Biennial Cancer Survivorship Research Conference
Bethesda, MD
April 2006

Introduction to Logic Models
CIS Partnership Program Training
Miami, FL
May 2006

NCI Minority Media Outreach
Public Affairs Network Conference
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, CAN
May 2006

NCI Minority Media Outreach
NCI Advocacy Summit
Bethesda, MD
June 2006

NCI Cancer Information Service: A Key Outreach Component of the NCI
Director's Consumer Liaison Group Summit
Bethesda, MD
June 2006

Collaborative Research in Health Communications: The Cancer Information Service Model
UICC World Cancer Congress
Washington, D.C.
July 2006

Health Disparities Initiatives within OC
NCI Cancer Health Disparities Summit 2006
Bethesda, MD
July 2006

How to Start a Cancer Information Service
UICC World Cancer Congress
Washington, D.C.
July 2006

Addressing the Needs of Multilingual Information Seekers
11th World Congress on Internet in Medicine
Toronto, Ontario, CAN
October 2006

NCI Reporters Survey
American Public Health Association
Boston, MA
November 2006

Back to Top Did You Know?

In 2006, the NCI Office of Communications...

• Fielded more than 1,000 media inquiries
  
  
• Answered more than 130,000 inquiries from the public on cancer-related issues
  
  
• Responded to more than 110,000 telephone inquiries to the CIS, 8,000 LiveHelp instant messages, and 5,800 e-mail requests
  
  
• Responded to more than 7,500 written, e-mail, and telephone inquiries to the NCI Office of Public Inquiries
  
  
• Coordinated the major media announcement of the breakthrough HPV vaccine approval
  
  
• Averaged over 1.7 million visitors and 13.7 million page views per month to Cancer.gov
  
  
• Enhanced communications for the entire Institute by developing myNCI
  
  
• Increased subscribership for the NCI Cancer Bulletin to more than 27,000
  
  
• Prepared scientists for news appearances through media training
  
  
• Developed a Rapid Response Team for immediate response to breaking news stories
  
  
• Provided Hollywood writers with accurate cancer information for health storylines on As the World Turns and other programs
  
  
• Designed (16), hosted (23), and maintained (26) Web sites for Divisions, Offices, and Centers
  
  
• Provided warehouse space for more than 28 million NCI materials
  
  
• Managed the NCI Exhibit Program at 15 major U.S. cancer conferences
  
  
• Expanded Visuals Online, a database of biomedical, scientific, and patient-related images created in 2005
  
  
• Issued timely alerts to the NCI community on important cancer-related events through the NCI Event-Cal
  
  
• Disseminated promotional materials for meetings, conferences, and clinical trials as requested by NCI Divisions, Offices, and Centers
  
  
• Planned, coordinated, or consulted on more than 25 NCI and NIH events
  
  
• Added more than 900 trials to the PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry
  
  
• Coordinated NCI-wide communications for the DHHS COOP drills
  
  
• Raised awareness of new NCI initiatives, such as the NCI Smokefree Meeting Policy
  
  
• Worked with NIH to ensure NCI research was represented in NIH podcasts
  
  
• Paid the postage bill for the entire Institute: $177,120
  
  
• Defined approximately 700 terms for NCI's Dictionary of Cancer Terms

Back to Top How to Reach the Office of Communications (OC)

Phone: (301) 451-6879
Fax: (301) 480-0518
E-mail: ncioc@mail.nih.gov

For more information about OC, please visit http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/office-of-communications.

NCI staff can learn more about OC and its services by visiting the OC Intranet at myNCI.

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