Public health institutions and systems

Translational oncology is a term that is commonly used to encompass everything associated with a cure for cancer. However, there is a microcosm and macrocosm of systems in place with well-defined objectives, by-laws, and structure underneath this term in the United States. The microcosm range from a doctoral student designing experiments to study a new protein to the boardrooms of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which may or may not approve a new drug for public use. The macrocosm represents the larger institutions ranging from the National institutes of health (NIH) to the multibillion-dollar US pharmaceutical industry. Success in translational oncology thus is an art of identifying one's objectives within one's microcosm and integrating them into the larger macrocosm in an efficient and effective way. The purpose of this short chapter is to guide the reader on key public resources available for the successful conduction of translational research in oncology.