could serve as the ideal antihypertensive drug. But efforts in this 

 direction remain unsuccessful, and this disease remains a serious 

 health problem. By analogy, if there is some parallel alteration in the 

 chemical life of the cancerous cell, the way might be opened to an 

 equivalent rational therapeutic approach. The need to look elsewhere 

 for a persuasive example of a promising current approach to therapy 

 underscores the current state of ignorance regarding the essential 

 nature of cancer. 



The broad sweep of the National Cancer Program Plan for 

 advancing basic understanding requires contributions from many 

 scientific fields. The biological sciences, of course, constitute the core 

 disciplines, with a central role for biochemistry, cell biology, molecular 

 biology, immunology, and oncology. Chemistry is also a key field of 

 research ranging from the detection and analysis of air-borne 

 carcinogens to the synthesis of new drugs. Mathematics will become 

 increasingly important in "modeling" cancer which, in turn, means 

 new uses of computers and perhaps the design of special purpose 

 computers and associated languages. In addition to these individual 

 disciplinary efforts, increasing numbers of engineers, statisticians, 

 and epidemiologists are needed to work with biomedical research 

 teams. 



The involvement of a large part of the total spectrum of scientific 

 disciplines is necessitated by the complexity of the cancer problem, the 

 large gaps in essential knowledge, and the broad scope of the plan of 

 attack. Comprehensive and concerted efforts to deal with any of the 

 problems discussed previously in this report would require the 

 contributions of a similarly large array of scientific disciplines. The 

 only difference would lie in the relative mix of disciplines which must 

 be marshaled. 



Scientific Manpower Requirements 



The National Cancer Program Plan calls for an operating level of 

 approximately 13,500 professional research scientists,^ with some 

 11,000 of these needed for the component of the National Program to 

 be supported by the National Cancer Institute. This operating level is 

 to be reached by fiscal year 1982, building from an estimated level of 

 5,500 scientists in fiscal year 1972. 



The available scientific manpower (along with associated facilities 

 and supporting resources) is a major constraint on the more rapid 



' A research scientist is defined as one holding an M.D. or Ph.D., or equivalent 

 degree, who is responsible for the conduct and/or direction of particular research tasks. 



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