and Places Center for Health, People – författare

The National Academies' National Cancer Policy Forum convened a workshop in May 2025 to explore the emerging field of cancer engineering and its potential to improve patient outcomes through the convergence of engineering with cancer research, care, and policy. Participants - including experts from academia, government, industry, and patients - discussed how engineering innovations can accelerate cancer research, advance early detection and diagnosis methods, and improve access and affordability of cancer care for all. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions of the workshop.

As the polar regions undergo rapid change, planning for the Fifth International Polar Year (IPY5) offers a pivotal opportunity to shape global polar research and advance understanding. Exploring Key Research Topics for the Fifth International Polar Year: Proceedings of a Workshop captures expert dialogue on the scientific priorities, operational needs, and collaborative frameworks that could define this ambitious international effort.The workshop convened leaders across disciplines to identify transformative research questions and monitoring strategies aligned with U.S. and international engagement in IPY5. Participants examined advances since the last IPY, including developments in remote sensing, autonomous observing systems, modeling, and machine learning. Discussions emphasized critical topics such as sea-level rise and grounding-zone processes, permafrost carbon feedbacks, ocean–ice interactions, marine ecosystems, space weather, wildfire, and the integration of atmosphere, ocean, ice, and land systems.Beyond scientific priorities, the proceedings highlight the human and institutional capacity required for success. Contributors explored international coordination models, data interoperability, Indigenous leadership and data sovereignty, community-based observing networks, and pathways for early-career researchers to lead IPY-scale efforts. The result is a forward-looking roadmap that connects polar science to societal outcomes, from coastal risk management and infrastructure planning to environmental services, forecasting, and decision supporting the groundwork for a bold and collaborative IPY5 vision.

Small businesses play a critical role in developing innovative technologies that support national defense and strengthen the U.S. industrial base. For more than four decades, the Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs have helped connect entrepreneurial firms with defense needs, advancing new capabilities while expanding opportunities for participation in the defense innovation ecosystem.Review of the SBBR and STTR Programs at the Department of Defense presents a comprehensive, congressionally mandated assessment of how these programs operate and the impacts they deliver. The report finds that the Department of Defense's SBIR and STTR programs are effective tools for stimulating technological innovation, engaging small businesses, and broadening the defense industrial base, while identifying opportunities to improve data systems, technology transition, program visibility, and administrative efficiency. Drawing on extensive quantitative and qualitative evidence, the report offers targeted recommendations to strengthen program management, enhance flexibility, and ensure that promising innovations can move more effectively from research to operational and acquisition use.

Recent advances in pediatric health, such as declines in child mortality, would never have happened without significant and consistent federal investment - supported by Congress and led by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Despite these advances, there is broad consensus among experts that child health is in crisis as children in the United States are experiencing rising rates of chronic diseases and poor mental, emotional, and behavioral health. NIH tasked the National Academies with convening a committee to examine NIH's pediatric research portfolio and structure and to provide recommendations focused on improving NIH's overall support of pediatric health research. The resulting report provides evidence and eight recommendations to guide NIH's integration of a pediatric and life-course focus throughout its research and funding priorities.

What approaches can ensure that personal protective equipment (PPE) is designed and implemented in ways that effectively protect farmworkers and mitigate the risk of Influenza A (H5N1) transmission from animals to humans?In September 2025, the National Academies convened a workshop to examine the role of personal protective equipment in high-risk farm settings, bringing together public health officials, academic researchers, PPE innovators, producers, veterinarians, occupational health and safety experts, and farmworker advocates, among many others, to assess current evidence and on-the-ground realities surrounding risk and exposure. Discussions explored what is known - and what remains uncertain - about H5N1 transmission, practical and systemic barriers to PPE access and use, the implications for PPE use in diverse agricultural settings, and the ways in which risk perception, training, trust, and working conditions shape adoption. Participants shared lessons from recent outbreak responses and highlighted the importance of tailoring protective strategies to task-specific risks, environmental conditions, and farm-level operations. This Proceedings of a Workshop summarizes presentations and discussions that took place during the event.

Building on decades of National Academies' work addressing biological threats domestically and internationally, Biological Threats in the Age of Emerging Biotechnology: A Workshop Series captures critical international dialogue on how to safeguard innovation with rapidly evolving advances in biotechnology. Although biotechnologies are developed for and used in research for many different issues, much of the current biosecurity and biosafety policies and risk assessment frameworks focus on applications of biotechnologies with pathogens and toxins. This workshop series sought to understand relevance of these and related security policies and frameworks for assessing applications of biotechnologies that do not involve pathogens and toxins, and additional information that may be needed to assess risks and benefits of these biotechnology applications.Through four workshops convening experts from India, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and the United States, this proceeding explores how current policies can be adapted to assess and mitigate dual use risks while preserving the benefits of emerging biotechnology. Using case studies in human health multi-omics, crop improvement, and DNA synthesis screening, participants examined regulatory gaps, data governance challenges, and opportunities for international coordination and responsible innovation.The discussions highlight the importance of balancing risk reduction with scientific progress, strengthening global norms, improving data security and oversight, and fostering collaboration among researchers, industry, and policymakers. The proceedings also offers a timely global perspective on enabling biotechnology to advance safely, securely, and for peaceful purposes while supporting health, sustainability, and economic development worldwide.