On Jul. 23, 1997, Richard D. Klausner, M.D., director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced the creation of the Division of Cancer Prevention and the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences from the former Division of Cancer Prevention and Control and the extramural component of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.

Klausner said that creation of this new division continued the work at NCI to successfully separate the intramural and extramural divisions, a step recommended in 1995 by the Bishop-Calabresi Committee, a group of outside experts that reviewed NCI’s intramural program from top to bottom.