by John Howard, M.D., Director

A TV program in the early 1960s had the catchy title of "That Was the Week That Was." As we enter the last few weeks of 2007, I am gratified that in looking back over the year that was we can point to many important NIOSH accomplishments. A few that stand out particularly in my mind include:

• We achieved significant progress in our series of program evaluations under the auspices of the National Academies—having now completed evidence packages and presentations in all eight of the program areas that are under evaluation by the National Academies' expert review committees (www.cdc.gov/niosh/nas). This initiative, which is unprecedented for a public health agency, has demanded a great deal of thoughtful, intensive work for all involved, both inside and outside of NIOSH. We will carefully assess the findings and recommendations of each committee, and the success of the initiative as a whole.
• Our draft document, "Asbestos and Other Mineral Fibers: A Roadmap for Scientific Research," stimulated valuable dialogue with our diverse stakeholders on this challenging but critically important national research need. We are reviewing all of the peer review comments that were submitted on the draft for incorporation into a final document next year (www.cdc.gov/niosh/review/public/09).
• NIOSH took significant steps forward toward the development of new technologies to prevent catastrophic disasters in underground coal mining and to increase miners' chances of survival in the event that an emergency does occur (www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/mineract/mineract.htm). The Crandall Canyon disaster in August underscored the imperative behind our mission. In mining, NIOSH also maintained its national leadership in research and health surveillance to prevent coal workers' pneumoconiosis.
• NIOSH's Prevention through Design (PtD) workshop in July drew an eminent group of more than 200 partners from diverse interests to launch an innovative national initiative for eliminating occupational hazards as early as possible in the life cycle of work environments and equipment (www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/PtD). Along with the WorkLife Initiative, which was highlighted by a national symposium in September (www.worklife2007.com/home.asp), PtD reflects a new way of thinking outside traditional boxes to come up with solutions for the fundamental health and safety challenges of the 21st century.
• The NIOSH report "Progress Toward Safe Nanotechnology in the Workplace" detailed the astonishing progress that NIOSH and its partners have made since 2004, when we established our high-priority program of research on the occupational safety and health implications and applications of nanotechnology (www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/nanotech). NIOSH continues to be a national and international leader in this field of cutting-edge research.

Things promise to be equally busy in 2008 as many of the initiatives that we started over the past five years begin to reach maturity, and as we identify steps that need to be taken now to prepare our professional communities for the challenges that we are all sure to face over the next 10 to 20 years.

In particular, two large-scale initiatives promise to drive much of NIOSH's work in 2008:

• We will continue to work closely with our partners to align our research with the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). The eight NORA Sector Councils, which are now fully formed, represent an amazing array of talent. The NORA Symposium 2008, scheduled for July 29, 2008, in Denver, will showcase the excellent research that has begun to emerge from the second decade of NORA.
• The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006, popularly known as the MINER Act, set ambitious goals for research needed to improve disaster preparedness and response in the mining industry. I am proud that our mining research laboratories stepped up vigorously to carry out Congress' mandates. Look for further progress in the coming months in critical research with our mining partners on communication and tracking systems, refuge chambers, air supply, and other needs specified in the Act. As required by the Act, we have realigned our mining research program under the new NIOSH Office of Mine Safety and Health, which was announced on November 28. This realignment will help us better coordinate and streamline our activities.

I look forward to other actions that will position NIOSH and our partners to protect the safety and health of today's generation of workers, and those to follow, in the changing landscape of the 21st century. We will remain vigilant for ways to incorporate the latest scientific advancements into our research and, where possible, to drive advancements. We will continue to monitor trends in the nature of work and the demographics of the U.S. workforce, and to align our research planning with high-priority needs arising from those trends. The coming year will offer many opportunities to address those goals. For example, the ability to identify and control work-related hazards will depend on increasingly precise, increasingly timely sampling and analysis. Last month, NIOSH convened a national meeting to consider needs for keeping NIOSH's seminal "Occupational Exposure Sampling Strategies Manual" relevant to the 21st century workplace. The results of that meeting, combined with ongoing stakeholder input over the coming year, will help shape the future of occupational exposure assessment (www.cdc.gov/niosh/programs/expa/oessmeeting/). Also in 2008, we will hold a historic symposium on new technologies for direct-reading, real-time exposure assessment; please watch future issues of NIOSH eNews for date and location.

As the nature of work changes, the role of work organization as a critical factor in occupational safety and health looms increasingly larger. On March 6-8, 2008, the Seventh International Conference on Work, Safety, and Health will showcase the latest research in this area (www.apa.org/pi/work/wsh.html).

Changes in technology and new industrial trends will bring the potential for exposures to new chemicals and agents, to new and more complex combinations of agents, and even to materials that do not yet exist in traditional industrial processes. What will those changes mean for the traditional approach of setting quantitative limits for occupational exposures to specific materials? NIOSH has begun to address those complex issues in looking at the revolutionary field of nanotechnology, among other emerging aspects of work in 2008 and beyond. I look forward to engaging our partners in discussions on these challenges in the next year.

Now, as 2007 draws to an end, I want to express my appreciation for the hard work that our employees and their external partners have contributed over the past 12 months. Please continue to read NIOSH eNews to stay current with our research programs in the next 12 months.