Workshop_in_brief
Family members and other caregivers are increasingly providing complex, long-term care for loved ones living with serious illnesses or disabilities. While caregiving can be deeply meaningful, it also can bring significant physical, emotional, and financial burdens. The National Academies convened a public workshop in June 2025 to examine strategies to reduce caregiver burden; practices to serve the unique needs of populations such as young and working caregivers; and opportunities to scale successful programs and advance supportive policies across health, social, and workplace settings. This Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief provides a summary of the workshop presentations and discussions, including perspectives from family caregivers, health care providers, researchers, and policy leaders.
21 pages
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8.5 x 11
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-59964-4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29237
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Strategies and Interventions to Strengthen Support for Family Caregivers for Individuals with Serious Illness or Disability: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Understanding of the relationship between chronic pain and disability - particularly different lived experiences of chronic pain - is critical to developing effective management strategies and improving quality of life for those affected. The Social Security Administration, which administers programs to monetarily compensate and supplement the incomes of people with disabilities, funded a National Academies workshop in April 2025 to explore the functional effects and disability determination implications of chronic pain. This Proceedings of a Workshop highlights the presentations and discussions that occurred at the workshop.
122 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99513-2
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99514-0
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29181
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Exploring the Treatment and Management of Chronic Pain and Implications for Disability Determinations: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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For over 60 years, public health newborn screening programs have served families in the United States by identifying babies at risk of serious but treatable conditions and connecting them to clinical care. Today, more than 98% of infants receive dried blood spot screening, which entails collecting a few drops of blood during the first days of life, applying them to a paper card, and sending the card to a lab to be tested for markers of specific health conditions like congenital hypothyroidism, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell disease. The public health impacts of newborn screening are vast, with over 7,000 infants identified annually for timely interventions. Despite these achievements, challenges in implementing newborn screening programs persist.
In response to a congressional request, the Office on Women's Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked the National Academies to convene an ad hoc committee of subject matter experts to examine the current landscape of newborn screening in the United States, recommend options to strengthen this public health service, and establish a vision for the future. Supplementary funding was provided by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to enable additional public engagement. The resulting report provides actionable recommendations for navigating the path ahead while preserving and enhancing what is already considered a valuable and effective public health achievement.
278 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99216-8
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99217-6
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29102
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Newborn Screening in the United States: A Vision for Sustaining and Advancing Excellence. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Visual field is the total area of space a person can see when the eyes are focused on a central point. Impairment of the visual field can have significant negative effects on well-being. Individuals with moderate to severe visual field loss may have difficulty performing routine tasks, such as reading, driving, and navigating environments, as well as engaging in social activities. More profound loss leads to greater disability and poorer quality of life. Nearly 8 million people in the U.S. indicate they have blindness or difficulty seeing even while wearing corrective lenses, and the prevalence of visual impairment among U.S. preschool-aged children may be as high as five percent.
Testing for visual field impairment involves a combination of hardware, stimuli, testing patterns, and algorithms. The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses the results of such testing to determine whether applicants for disability based on visual field loss qualify for benefits. In response to a request from SSA, the National Academies convened a committee of experts to review the research and science on methods for testing visual field impairment. The resulting report reviews current and emerging practices and known limitations in visual field testing and offers conclusions to inform disability evaluations.
160 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99252-4
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99253-2
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29124
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Visual Field Assessment and Disability Evaluation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop_in_brief
Diagnostic errors are a significant patient safety concern, impacting millions of people across the United States each year. Strengthening education and training for all health care professionals involved in the diagnostic process is essential to improving diagnostic accuracy, timeliness of treatment, and patient outcomes.
In April 2025, the National Academies Forum on Advancing Diagnostic Excellence hosted a public workshop to examine approaches to strengthening health care professional education and training in diagnosis. Speakers explored key topics such as improving diagnostic reasoning for trainees and educators, promoting the appropriate use of diagnostic tests and technologies, fostering patient-centered communication, and advancing interprofessional collaboration. This Proceedings of a Workshop-In Brief highlights the presentations and discussions that occurred at the workshop.
19 pages
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8.5 x 11
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99468-3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29203
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Advancing Health Care Professional Education and Training in Diagnostic Excellence: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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The development of minimally invasive approaches to screen for multiple tumor types at one time could potentially improve health outcomes; however, the clinical utility of multicancer detection (MCD) testing has yet to be established. The National Academies National Cancer Policy Forum held a workshop in October 2024 to explore the current scientific understanding and clinical use of MCD testing, as well as implications for cancer care and outcomes for all patients.
66 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99243-5
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99244-3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29114
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Opportunities and Challenges for the Development and Adoption of Multicancer Detection Tests: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop
Current policies on dual-use research of concern (DURC) and pathogens with enhanced pandemic potential (PEPP) typically focus on physical laboratory work. In light of the fast-evolving advances in artificial intelligence and computational modeling, these frameworks do not effectively inform risk and benefit evaluation and assessment related to the information and resources generated from computational studies.
To address these concerns, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation on April 3-4, 2025, to explore the benefits and biosecurity risks of communicating and publishing biological research using in silico modeling and computational approaches. The workshop brought together multi-sectoral experts to discuss current policies and safeguards related to DURC and PEPP, as well as lessons learned, and considered the challenges and opportunities for promoting the benefits of computational and AI-driven approaches in biology while mitigating potential biosecurity risks. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop, including suggestions from participants on tiered oversight approaches, early-stage risk evaluations and assessment, and incentivizing norms through training and publication standards.
65 pages
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8.5 x 11
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99433-0
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29174
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Disseminating In Silico and Computational Biological Research: Navigating Benefits and Risks: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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As people get older, they become more likely to have hearing difficulties in certain situations; for example, having conversations in public settings where there is naturally more noise. This can sometimes lead to isolation, depression, or even fatigue from the effort needed to communicate with others. Clinicians and researchers often do not use standardized outcome measures for hearing interventions that reflect patients' perceptions of real-life improvements.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a committee of experts to identify a core set of outcomes and corresponding measures that researchers and clinicians should use each time they assess the effectiveness of hearing aids and other treatments in addressing hearing difficulties. The resulting report, Measuring Meaningful Outcomes for Adult Hearing Health Interventions, presents those outcomes and measures, as well as recommendations for promoting their use within the hearing health community.
266 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99237-0
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99238-9
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29104
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Measuring Meaningful Outcomes for Adult Hearing Health Interventions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) is a systematic and evidence-based approach to examining teaching and improving learning that is openly shared. In the summer and fall of 2024, the National Academies Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education held a public workshop series exploring current and future applications of SOTL to health professional education and elevating its critical value for advancing health professional workforce development across the education to practice continuum. This Proceedings of a Workshop highlights the presentations and discussions that occurred at the workshop.
102 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-09902-1
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-09903-X
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29089
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Innovating Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Health Professions Education: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop_series
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine assembled the ad hoc Committee on State-of-the-Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment to convene state-of-the-science workshops and develop a consensus report to advise the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on further developing the scientific foundation underlying the practice of cumulative impact assessment. This proceedings provides a summary of a workshop series that the committee convened as part of its information-gathering activities. The series included a community-engaged workshop in New Orleans, Louisiana; a virtual Town Hall with members of the community and Tribal liaison group from across the United States; and a Tribal engagement event in Aurora, Colorado. This proceedings has been prepared by the workshop rapporteurs as a summary of what occurred during the workshops.
76 pages
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7 x 10
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-09923-4
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-09925-0
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29094
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment: Proceedings of a Workshop Series. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Around 10-20% of people who contract Lyme disease, the most common tickborne disease in the U.S., develop persistent, often debilitating symptoms such as chronic pain, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction. Lyme infection-associated chronic illnesses (IACI) share symptoms common to other IACI such as Long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. Despite the chronic impact on the quality of life for many people, there are currently no validated interventions to treat Lyme IACI.
In response to this unmet need, the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation asked the National Academies to convene a committee of experts to assess the evidence for disease mechanisms, diagnoses, and treatments of Lyme IACI and illuminate a pathway for the development of new treatments. The resulting report, Charting a Path Toward New Treatments for Lyme Infection-Associated Chronic Illnesses, makes recommendations around developing treatments that improve function and quality of life based on currently available evidence, while continuing research to identify root causes and mechanisms of the disease.
252 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-73098-8
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-73099-6
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/28578
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Charting a Path Toward New Treatments for Lyme Infection-Associated Chronic Illnesses. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) disorders, including mental illness and substance use disorders, affect every U.S. population group, community, and neighborhood. Existing infrastructure focuses more on responding to MEB crises, through treatment and recovery, rather than preventing them through evidence-based policy approaches and programs. Prevention services that do exist are insufficiently funded and fragmented.
Blueprint for a National Prevention Infrastructure for Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders focuses on building and sustaining a comprehensive prevention infrastructure for MEB disorders as a whole. Conclusions and recommendations of this report focus on closing research gaps, supporting an MEB disorder prevention workforce, ensuring adequate data to support prevention and reporting, establishing clear governance, securing sustainable funding, and enacting evidence-based policies.
384 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-73092-9
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-73093-7
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/28577
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Blueprint for a National Prevention Infrastructure for Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Although traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of disability for adults over the age of 65, knowledge gaps and clinically relevant differences in TBI injury, recovery, and outcomes in this age group limit evidence-based care guidance. The National Academies organized a public workshop in October 2024 to explore what is known about TBI among older adults, discuss unmet research needs, and consider opportunities to address gaps and support the translation of new knowledge to practice.
64 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-09962-5
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-09963-3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29099
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Approaches to Address Unmet Research Needs in Traumatic Brain Injury Among Older Adults: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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In February 2025, the National Academies Roundtable on Population Health Improvement hosted the fourth workshop in its Elevating the Structural Drivers of Population Health series, focusing on the implications of economic systems on health and well-being. The workshop examined how democratic principles and approaches can inform the economic system and improve conditions for population health and well-being.
13 pages
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8.5 x 11
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99357-1
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29149
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Economic Systems as a Structural Driver of Population Health Through the Lens of Democracy and Governance: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Advances in genome sequencing technologies, like next-generation sequencing, provide powerful tools that have vastly improved the detection and classification of pathogens and disease outbreaks and support data-driven public health responses. In July 2024, the National Academies Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop to explore opportunities to advance the use of pathogen genomics and metagenomics data in the U.S. public health system. Speakers considered the application of these technologies to monitoring disease, characterization of emerging pathogens, rapid public health response to outbreaks, and biomedical research.
128 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-09984-6
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-09986-2
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29103
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Accelerating the Use of Pathogen Genomics and Metagenomics in Public Health: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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In 2024, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine were tasked with convening a committee to examine the current process and data inputs used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to valuate primary care in the Physician Fee Schedule. Additionally, the committee was tasked with outlining alternative methodologies for data collection and potential sources of input to more accurately capture the time, intensity, and complexity of the work required to deliver high-quality primary care.
The resulting report, Improving Primary Care Valuation Decisions for the Physician Fee Schedule by the Center for Medicare, makes specific recommendations for CMS to address the systemic flaws currently affecting primary care professionals and limiting the potential of high-quality primary care services for all.
64 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-73535-1
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-73536-X
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29069
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Improving Primary Care Valuation Processes to Inform the Physician Fee Schedule. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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The climate surrounding reproductive health research in the U.S. changes rapidly. The National Academies Standing Committee on Reproductive Health, Equity, and Society hosted a workshop in November 2024 to address the challenges and opportunities and their effects on research quality and quantity. This Proceedings of a Workshop-In Brief highlights the presentations and discussions that occurred at the workshop.
12 pages
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8.5 x 11
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99284-2
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29131
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Understanding the Barriers and Opportunities to Conducting Reproductive Health Research: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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When someone experiences the loss of a limb or severe facial disfigurement, one of their options may be vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA), which transfers a graft containing multiple tissues transferred as a functional unit. Using VCA to restore the functionality and aesthetics of a lost upper limb or disfigured face is a profound and life-altering gift; however, the process and the decision to accept (or donate) a VCA graft is complex and deeply emotional. In addition to psychosocial considerations, a VCA recipient must commit to undergoing years of rigorous rehabilitation, have a robust support system in place, and accept and understand the risks of being on immunosuppressive drugs for the rest of their life. Despite VCA advances over the last 25 years, challenges remain, and the small number of recipients of face or hand transplants makes it difficult to generalize outcomes.
To address these challenges, the Department of Defense Reconstructive Transplant Research Program tasked a committee of the National Academies with developing principles and a framework for the standardization, assessment, and validation of protocols and standard operating procedures for face and hand transplantation. The resulting report offers guidance for the newly established Clinical Organization Network for Standardization of Reconstructive Transplantation (CONSORT), but it also includes specific recommendations to enable the larger VCA community to mature, advance, and thrive into the future.
388 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-73108-9
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-73109-7
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/28580
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Advancing Face and Hand Transplantation: Principles and Framework for Developing Standardized Protocols. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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