FROM THE ARCHIVES: NIH Behavioral and Social Science Research Office Emerges from Conference (May 31, 1993)
In celebration of COSSA’s 40th anniversary, we are diving into the decades of Washington Update archives to share articles from years past that resonate with today’s news.
The version of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Reauthorization bill that recently emerged from a joint House-Senate conference committee was adopted by the House on May 25 by a 290-130 vote. It is expected that the bill will pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Clinton in the coming weeks.
As reported in the May 17 issue of Update, the bill establishes an Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research within NIH. As stated in the report accompanying the legislation, “the initial responsibility of the new Office will be the preparation of a special report to the Congress identifying those specific activities within the national research institutes which represent the NIH’s behavioral and social science research portfolio. The report will encompass both intramural and extramural research projects supported in fiscal year 1993. In preparing the report, the Conferees have directed that a standardized definition of “‘behavioral and social science research’ be established and applied uniformly to the research portfolios of each national research institute.”
The report further states that in developing this definition, “the Director of the Office is expected to consult with professional research organizations with expertise in behavioral and social science research.” COSSA anticipates being a part of that process.[…]