[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 176 (Friday, September 11, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 48741]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-24463]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Working Group on Public Participation in NIH Activities; Notice 
of Meeting

    The Office of the Director (OD), National Institutes of Health 
(NIH), announces a meeting on public participation in NIH activities. 
The meeting is scheduled for September 23, 1998, from 9:00 a.m. until 
4:00 p.m., Conference Room 10, Building 31C, Sixth Floor, 9000 
Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland. At the meeting, individual public 
participants invited by the NIH will discuss future activities and 
responsibilities of the proposed NIH Director's Council of Public 
Representatives, and the NIH Offices of Public Liaison. The NIH is the 
lead Federal agency that provides major support for medical research 
leading to the improvement of the nation's health. The NIH Director's 
Council of Public Representatives will serve as a forum for discussing 
issues and concerns and exchanging viewpoints that are important to NIH 
policies, programs, and research priorities. The NIH Offices of Public 
Liaison are expected to strengthen collaboration between the NIH and 
the public.
    Establishment of the Director's Council of Public Representatives 
and the Offices of Public Liaison were recommendations from the 
National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine's report--Scientific 
Opportunities and Public Needs: Improving Priority Setting and Public 
Input at the National Institutes of Health. The full text of the report 
is available on-line at the following site of the Institute of 
Medicine, National Academy of Sciences: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/
books/nih/. Future activities will follow from the NIH's Office of 
Public Liaison and the Director's Council of Public Representatives.
    The entire meeting is open to the public; however, seating is 
limited and will be on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be 
an overflow room available to listen to and view the proceedings of the 
meeting. Individuals who plan to attend and need special assistance, 
such as sign language interpretation or other reasonable 
accommodations, should notify the contact person listed below in 
advance of the meeting.
    Individual public participants invited by the NIH will be asked to 
express their views on matters related to the following:

Director's Council of Public Representatives

     What should be the responsibilities and activities of the 
Director's Council of Public Representatives?
     What is the role of this Director's Council of Public 
Representatives as compared to the role of other NIH Advisory Councils?
     Describe some activities that could be undertaken by the 
Director's Council of Public Representatives to encourage and improve 
public participation in NIH programs.
     What processes, mechanisms, and criteria should be used 
for identifying appropriate candidates to serve on the Director's 
Council of Public Representatives?

The NIH Offices of Public Liaison

     What should be the responsibilities and activities of the 
NIH Offices of Public Liaison?
     Should all of the Institute-level Offices of Public 
Liaison perform the same activities?
     How should the activities of the OD Office of Public 
Liaison differ from those of the Institute-level Offices of Public 
Liaison?
     How should NIH make the existence of the Offices of Public 
Liaison known and to whom?
     How should the Offices of Public Liaison reach out to draw 
the public into NIH activities?
     What programs and activities should the Offices of Public 
Liaison consider that have been particularly successful in providing 
public viewpoints to the NIH?

Additional Questions

     What should be the relationship between the Offices of 
Public Liaison and the Director's Council of Public Representatives?
     What programs from other research agencies or 
organizations could serve as models for either the Director's Council 
of Public Representatives or the Offices of Public Liaison in involving 
the public more effectively in NIH activities?
     What do various segments of the public need and want to 
know about the NIH's activities, research, and operations that could be 
imparted through the Director's Council of Public Representatives or 
the Offices of Public Liaison?
     How can the Director's Council of Public Representatives 
and/or the Offices of Public Liaison help in conveying this information 
to those segments of the public?
     Identify activities to disseminate information about and 
from the Offices of Public Liaison and the Director's Council of Public 
Representatives to the appropriate public audiences.
    Discussion of these questions will help NIH in identifying people 
to serve on the Director's Council of Representatives and will be used 
by the Director's Council of Public Representatives and the Offices of 
Public Liaison to identify activities and frame the issues for 
discussion at future public meetings.
    Public comments and requests for additional information should be 
mailed to Ms. Anne Thomas, Associate Director for Communications, 
National Institutes of Health, Building 1, Room 344, Bethesda, MD 
20892.

    Dated: September 2, 1998.
Anne Thomas,
Associate Director for Communications, NIH.
[FR Doc. 98-24463 Filed 9-10-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-M