The National Cancer Act of 1971 directed the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to "Collect, analyze, and disseminate all data useful in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer, including the establishment of an international cancer research data bank to collect, catalog, store, and disseminate insofar as feasible the results of cancer research undertaken in any country for the use of any person involved in cancer research in any country." Subsequent legislation widened the scope of NCI's communications activities beyond cancer researchers to include health professionals, cancer patients and their families, and the general public.

The Office of Communications (OC), located in the Office of the Director, is the coordination center for NCI's information dissemination activities, providing core communications services to the Institute and serving as NCI's primary resource for cancer-related information.

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