Posted by Robin Harrison on January 09, 1998 at 10:44:56:
In Reply to: What the Issues Are & Who To Address posted by Robin Harrison on January 09, 1998 at 09:55:24:
Top Layer:
President- To implement the policies and laws of the nation, the president presides over a vast organization of departments and agencies which were never enumerated in the Constitution, but developed over the course of American history.
Congress (Senate and House of Representatives)- raises and spends national revenue, drafts laws. It is commonly said that Congress influences American policy by exercising the "power of the purse strings."
Mid Layer:
Federal Agencies- 14 in all, one of which is the Department
of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The heads of the departments are chosen by the president and form the council commonly referred to as the president's "Cabinet."
Federal Agencies are created with the consent of Congress to deal with specific areas of national (and international) interest. These executive departments are charged with the day-to-day enforcement and administration of federal laws (and spending the money Congress budgets to them, of course). Any number of smaller organizations may operate under the umbrella of a given Federal Agency (and so on, and so forth).
The DHHS is one of these 14 Federal Agencies and the one whose sub-agency(s) we're primarily concerned with. There are two major operating divisions of the DHHS- 1) public health 2) human services.
DHHS Public Health Service Layers
The U.S. Public Health Service Agencies (PHS)- This division of DHHS consists of eight agencies. For the purpose of this discussion, the PHS agencies include (but are not limited to) the NIH and FDA.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)- this agency officially hands down any rulings regarding the safety and use of xenotranplanted products. They are essentially a wholly separate agency from the NIH and NIDDK, but their rulings can have a crucial impact on what the NIH and its sub-agencies may do (and research). This is likely why the Jan. 21/22 meeting is jointly hosted by the FDA and NIH (as well as the CDC, and HRSA).
National Institutes of Health (NIH)- The stated goal of the NIH "is to uncover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone." The stated "goal of NIH research is to acquire new knowledge to help prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and disability, from the rarest genetic disorder to the common cold." The Director is Harold Varmus.
Hope this helps!
Robin