The establishment of the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (CCDPHP) at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) following the Conferences on the State of the Art in Quality Control Measures for Diagnostic Cytology Laboratories is briefly discussed. The CCDPHP is expected to play a major role in the CDC's cancer control program, including participation in establishing effective screening programs and assuring the quality of such methodologies as the Papanicolaou test and mammography.