NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

NIDR Conference and Analytical Support
The National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR) serves the scientific, educational, clinical, and lay communities through the support and dissemination of research seminal to the prevention and treatment of oral diseases. Through the research it sponsors, NIDR has contributed to advances in public dental health. Its mission is to support studies which establish the causes of oral disease so that better treatments may be developed. The Institute's researchers focus on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention as vehicles to prevent or substantially lower the risk of developing oral diseases.

Conwal provides NIDR with a variety of management support skills and resources in a number of areas including: conference and meeting management, documentation support, and analytical support. Publications produced by Conwal include the NIDR Annual Report, NIDR Programs Report, and the Report of the Blue Ribbon Panel for the NIDR Intramural Research Program.

NIH Conference Support
The program for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Conference on Current Topics in Biostatistics included a broad range of topics covering methodological approaches to the diverse design and analysis issues encountered in NIH sponsored and intramural research. Attendees learned state of the art techniques for the design and analysis of experiments used in different areas of medical research. These approaches were presented from the perspectives of a variety of similarity and dissimilarity approaches to the different disorders. The participants gained knowledge to aid not only in the design and analysis of their own research projects but were also better able to review the research reports of others.

Conwal provided logistical support for the conference including: the preparation and mailing of conference invitations, registration forms and conference programs; and a second mailing of final logistical details about the conference and a final program and specifications for talks and posters. Conwal also collected and edited the Abstracts Book and provided 300 copies for distribution to participants. Conwal provided editorial assistance to complete the "NIH Historical Perspective: Statistics at NIH" and disseminated 300 copies. At the conference, 20 poster exhibit boards were provided for the poster session and conference participants were provided with conference kits and badges. Conference support provided for a message board, local arrangements, conference questions, audio/visual arrangements and banquet registration.

NIH Women’s Health Initiative
The Women's Health Initiative (WHI), funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was a major study of women's health and consisted of three components: a Clinical Trial of tested, yet unproven, approaches to prevention that involve hormone replacement therapy, low fat dietary patterns, and calcium and vitamin D supplementation; an Observational Study that examined risk factors and predictors of disease as well as the identification of new markers for disease; and the Community Prevention Study which examined approaches to the adoption of healthful behaviors in women. This study was the first of its kind to examine the health of a very large number of women over a long period of time. About 160,000 women aged 50-70 of different races and backgrounds in 45 communities across the United States participated.

Conwal facilitated a panel presentation by invited speakers and a discussion on hormone replacement therapy. The subcommittee meeting consisted of 30 attendees. The advisory committee was made up of 30 members as well as an additional 70 attendees. Specifically, Conwal provided logistical services including: handling invitations, hotel reservations and meeting facilities, along with developing, reproducing, assembling and mailing logistical information to committee members. The work also included securing any equipment or audiotaping needed for the meeting, and coordinating logistics to ensure attendees' comfort. Conwal also provided sign language interpretation for open meetings, designed and produced information and materials for meeting books, produced name badges, tent cards and sign in sheets, and provided on-site support for the meeting, including set-up, registration, message/information center, equipment operation and overall management of logistical concerns.