Relocation of the CDC Office of Genomics and
Disease Prevention

I am very pleased to announce that effective June 30, 2003, the Office of Genomics and Disease Prevention (OGDP) will be relocated to the Office of the Director, CDC, under the direction of the Deputy Director for Public Health Science. This action is being taken to demonstrate CDC's continued commitment to strengthen the integration of genomic advances into agency-wide research strategies, policy development, and public health practice. During the past year, I have identified genomics as one of the driving forces that will shape public health in the twenty-first century. The opportunities and challenges posed by genomics were highlighted on May 5 at the CDC Symposium on Genomics and the Future of Public Health. The elevation of OGDP into the Office of the Director will enable us to take advantage of these opportunities and meet these challenges.

For the past 6 years, OGDP has provided valuable leadership in the development of genomics-related capacity within CDC programs and in building awareness among national, state, and local public health leaders about the relevance of genomics to core public health priorities. I wish to thank Dr. Muin Khoury and Mr. Tim Baker who have served as the Director and Deputy Director of OGDP since its inception in 1997. They will continue to lead the office in the Office of the Director. I also want to thank Dr. Richard Jackson, Director of the National Center for Environmental Health, for hosting OGDP during its formative years and for providing developmental support. His commitment to this activity is greatly appreciated.

OGDP will be a key participant in CDC's strategic planning and priority setting and will reinitiate routine meetings with CIO leadership. OGDP will continue to stimulate all of us to take ownership of genomics as a public health issue. One of the pivotal roles of OGDP will be to expand collaborations with the National Institutes of Health and to strengthen other public and private partnerships. As I outlined in my presentation at the May 5 symposium, my vision for the successful incorporation of genomics into CDC's programs is a balance between expanded public health research and the practical development of public health policy and programs. As in other areas of public health, this endeavor is a long-term challenge that CDC will seriously address in the coming years.