The National Commission on Digestive Diseases^†

In September 2005, the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, announced the establishment of a National Commission on Digestive Diseases. The National Commission was charged with assessing the current burden of digestive diseases in the United States, reviewing the current research portfolio at the NIH, and preparing a long-range research plan in digestive diseases, with a view towards identifying areas of greatest opportunity and challenge. The final product of the Commission will be a report to the NIH Director and to the Congress on the state-of-the-science in digestive diseases along with specific recommendations for guiding future research. The idea for a National Commission arose from academic and lay organizations and was supported by congressional report language that encouraged the NIH to establish such a chartered group. A call for nominations to the Commission was made, and the final membership announced in April 2006. The Commission will hold its first meeting on June 12, 2006, at the Crystal City Marriott Hotel near the Washington DC National Airport. The meeting is open to the public and details of the agenda have been posted on the National Commission website: http://www.niddk.nih.gov/federal/ncdd. Regular updates will be provided on the website.

A previous National Commission on Digestive Diseases was established in 1976, met for several years, and made a final report to the NIH Director and Congress in 1979. This first Commission report contributed to important changes in the direction of digestive disease research, including the creation of the Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition in NIDDK, establishment of a Digestive Diseases Core Centers Program, re-invigoration of digestive disease research training, and creation of a National Digestive Diseases Clearinghouse. The first National Commission was led by Dr. Eugene Jacobson (then at the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH) and included several members with expertise and interest in liver disease, including Drs. Harold J. Fallon, (then at the Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, VA), Carroll M. Leevy (College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ), Hans Popper (Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY), and Ms Thelma King Thiel (formerly of the Dean Thiel Foundation, now of the Hepatitis Foundation International).

The call for a new National Commission was stimulated by the recognition that a comprehensive plan would aid in synergizing and enhancing research in digestive diseases across the NIH institutes and centers. This Commission has been established at a time that liver disease research has gone through a similar, although more limited, planning process with the creation of a Liver Disease Research Branch in NIDDK and preparation of a Trans-NIH Action Plan for Liver Disease Research. Indeed, an important priority for the Commission will be to review the Action Plan, its genesis, process of development, structure, focus and plans for implementation. The Action Plan for Liver Disease Research will serve as a model approach for developing a plan for gastrointestinal and pancreatic disease research.

The membership of the Commission reflects the importance of representing the broad range and multiple areas of digestive disease research among its 16 members, including expertise in basic and clinical research, clinical gastroenterology, patient advocacy, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, functional bowel disease, pancreatic disease, digestive disease cancers, motility, pediatrics, nursing, endoscopy and surgery. Of the 16 members of the Commission, 12 were appointed from academic medicine and research and 4 from public advocacy groups. The chairman of the Commission is Dr. Stephen P. James who is the Director of the Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). The executive director is Dr. Robert D. Hammond, formerly the Director of Extramural Affairs for NIDDK. Ex officio members will include the NIDDK Director, the Director of the Liver Diseases Research Branch, other program staff from NIDDK and staff from other NIH Institutes involved in digestive disease research, as well as representatives from other agencies of the federal government such as the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Department of Agriculture, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Liver disease experts on the Commission include Dr. Bruce R. Bacon (St. Louis University, St Louis, MO) and Maurice A. Cerulli (New York Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn, NY). The full roster of members and their affiliations are given on the National Commission web site.

The chartered National Commission will meet several times per year in public meetings, but it is anticipated that the major work of developing the Commission report will be accomplished by working groups on specific areas of research, which will include liver and biliary disease topics. Members of the academic, research and lay community with interest in liver disease will be asked to volunteer to help with the work of the Commission, aimed at bringing new vitality and an increase in focus to future research efforts to combat digestive diseases.