| Founder(s) | Diana Zuckerman |
|---|---|
| Type | think tank |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Key people | Diana Zuckerman, President |
| Focus | Promote the health and safety of women and families |
| Website | http://www.center4research.org |
The National Research Center (NRC) for Women & Families is a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization founded in 1999. It uses objective, research-based information to encourage new, more effective programs and policies that promote the health and safety of women, children, and families. The President of the NRC for Women and Families is Diana Zuckerman. The primary program is the Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund, which has an online health hotline and provides free, research-based information and services to patients and their families.
In February 2011, Center staff published a study in the peer-reviewed journal Archives of Internal Medicine, which evaluated the FDA’s recalls of devices that the agency considered potentially deadly or otherwise very high risk.[1] Using FDA data, the authors determined that most of the devices that were high-risk recalls had never been studied in clinical trials prior to FDA approval, and that the FDA needed to use more stringent criteria for implanted medical devices and those used to diagnose serious illnesses, and an editorial in the same issue agreed.[2] The study resulted in a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives four days later and major U.S. newspapers and network news programs, where device industry representatives argued that clinical trials were not needed and the cost of doing the studies would interfere with job growth and innovation.[3]
In April 2011, Center president Diana Zuckerman testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Aging about the study findings.[4]