Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine since July 2002, will deliver the 7th annual James A. Shannon Lecture at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 1, in Masur Auditorium, Bldg. 10. His talk is titled, "The National Academies Advice on the Organization of the NIH."

Fineberg served as provost of Harvard University from 1997 to 2001, following 13 years as dean of the Harvard School of Public Health. He has devoted most of his academic career to the fields of health policy and medical decision-making. His past research has focused on the process of policy development and implementation, assessment of medical technology, evaluation and use of vaccines and dissemination of medical innovations.

Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg Fineberg helped found and served as president of the Society for Medical Decision Making and also served as consultant to the World Health Organization. Before heading the IOM, he had a long affiliation with it, chairing and serving on a number of panels dealing with health policy issues ranging from AIDS to new medical technology. The IOM advises the government on issues such as vaccine safety, health care delivery and quality, nutrition standards, cancer prevention and management and military and veterans health. Fineberg also served as a member of the Public Health Council of Massachusetts from 1976 to 1979, as chairman of the health care technology study section of the National Center for Health Services Research (1982-1985) and as president of the Association of Schools of Public Health (1995-1996).

The Shannon Lecture was established in 1997 by the NIH Alumni Association in honor of the NIH director who served from 1955 to 1968; the lecture promotes public discussion of issues affecting the NIH mission.