Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health; Notice of Meeting

Pursuant to section 10(a) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2), notice is hereby given of a meeting of the Director's Council of Public Representatives.

The meeting will be open to the public, with attendance limited to space available. Individuals who plan to attend and need special assistance, such as sign language interpretation or other reasonable accommodations, should notify the Contact Person listed below in advance of the meeting.

Name of Committee: Director's Council of Public Representatives.

Date: April 29, 2004.

Time: 8:30 a.m. to adjournment.

Agenda: Among the topics proposed for discussion are: (1) The role of public trust in building communities of research; (2) COPR public trust efforts; (3) NIH public trust initiative; (4) Presentation of COPR Report on Enhancing Public Input and Transparency in the Research Priority Setting Process at the NIH; and (5) Public comment.

Place: National Institutes of Health, Building 31, Conference Room 6, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20852.

Contact Person: Jennifer E. Gorman Vetter, NIH Public Liaison/COPR Coordinator, Office of Communications and Public Liaison, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Building 1, Room 344, Bethesda, MD 20892. (301) 435-4448; gorman@od.nih.gov.

Any member of the public interested in presenting oral comments to the committee may notify the Contact Person listed on this notice at least 10 days in advance of the meeting. Interested individuals and representatives of organizations may submit a letter of intent, a brief description of the organization represented, and a short description of the oral presentation. Only one representative of an organization may be allowed to present oral comments and if accepted by the committee, presentations may be limited to five minutes. Both printed and electronic copies are requested for the record. In addition, any interested person may file written comments with the committee by forwarding their statement to the Contact Person listed on this notice. The statement should include the name, address, telephone number and when applicable, the business or professional affiliation of the interested persons.

In the interest of security, NIH has instituted stringent procedures for entrance into the building by non-government employees. Persons without a government I.D. will need to show a photo I.D. and sign-in at the security desk upon entering the building.

Information is also available on the Institute's/Center's home page: www.nih.gov/about/publicliaison/index.html,, where an agenda and any additional information for the meeting will be posted when available.