Executive Branch News
NIH Issues Guidelines for HIV/AIDS Research Priorities
In August, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a Notice, NIH HIV/AIDS Research Priorities and Guidelines for Determining AIDS Funding (NOT-OD-15-137), outlining its overarching HIV/AIDS research priorities along with the guidelines the agency will use to determine AIDS funding for the next three to five years beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2016 (see related story).Ā NIHās Office of AIDS Research (OAR) is legislatively mandated to coordinate, plan, evaluate, and budget for the agencyās AIDS research program (see Update, June 16, 2014). The notice highlights NIHās overarching HIV/AIDS research priorities: Research to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS, including the development…
OAR Outlines Overarching AIDS Research Priorities; Studies of Behavior and Social Conditions with Multiple Negative Outcomes Deemed Low Priority
At the September 1 meeting of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic InitiativesĀ (DPCPSI) Council of Councils, Acting Associate Director for AIDS Research and Acting Director for the Office of AIDS Research (OAR) Robert Eisinger provided the Council with an update on OARās activities, including the recent release of NIHās high-priority areas of HIV/AIDS research and accompanying guidelines for determining funding for this research (see related story). Eisinger highlighted NIH director Francis Collinsā August 12 statement extolling the āextraordinary progress that has been made in HIV/AIDS research over the past 34 years, transforming what…
HHS Releases Proposed Updates to the Common Rule
The Department of Health and Human Services has released its proposal to update the regulations that govern research involving human subjects (the Common Rule). The long-awaited Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) explains the proposed changes and poses a number of questions for which the department is seeking public comment, to be submitted within 90 days of the NPRMās publication. The Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) plans to hold several webinars in the coming weeks to explain the changes as well as an in-person town hall meeting in Washington, DC in October. The Common Rule has not been updated since…
NIH Plans for Redirection of National Childrenās Study Funds
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak provided an update on the āredirectionā of National Childrenās Study (NCS) appropriated funding at the September 1 meeting of the NIH Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic InitiativesĀ (DPCPSI) Council of Councils. Despite the NIHās discontinuation of the NCS, in FY 2015, Congress provided $165 million for the study with direction to the agency to continue to support the mission and goals of the study, along with flexibility on how to carry this task out. Tabak announced that the awards associated with this funding will be made in September. As…
William T. Riley Appointed NIH OBSSR Director
On July 30, National Institute of Health (NIH) director Francis Collins announced the appointment of William āBillā T. Riley, PhD, as the next Director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR). Riley has served as Acting Director of the OBSSR since May, 2014. Riley has been with NIH since 2005, serving as Deputy Director of the Division of AIDS and Health & Behavior Research at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). He joined the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute as Program Director of the Clinical Applications and Prevention Branch, Division of Cardiovascular Sciences in 2009….
NIH Office of Extramural Research Releases 2013-2014 Report
Research grants to extramural scientists represent more than 80 percent of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget. The agencyās Office of Extramural Research (OER) provides the infrastructure to make this happen, whether it is through developing policies and procedures or providing electronic systems, among other things, for extramural staff across NIHās 27 institutes, centers, and offices and āfor more than 166,000 external users in 24,000 research institutions worldwide.ā OER recently released its 2013-2014 report. OER director Sally Rockey notes that the report looks back at 2013 and 2014 and includes examples of the impact OER has had on āensuring…
NIH Releases Alzheimerās Disease Bypass Budget Proposal for FY 2017
On July 27, National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Francis Collins released the first Professional Judgement Budget, also known as the Bypass Budget, for Alzheimerās disease (AD) and related dementias, Bypass Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2017āReaching for a Cure: Alzheimerās Disease and Related Dementias Research at NIH. The bypass budget was mandated by Congress in the National Alzheimerās Project Act enacted in 2011 (P.L. 111-375). The fiscal year (FY) 2017 bypass budget outlines the āoptimal approach NIH would take in an ideal world unconstrained by fiscal limitations.ā It concludes that NIH could āsignificantly accelerate progress against Alzheimerās disease with…
NIH Seeks Input on Congressionally-Mandated Agency-Wide Strategic Plan
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently issued a time-sensitive Request for Information (RFI) (NOT-OD-15-118) inviting comments and suggestions on the framework for its congressionally-mandated NIH-wide Strategic Plan. NIH is requesting feedback by August 16, 2015. The agency also plans to host webinars in early to mid-August to gather additional input. NIH Deputy Director Larry Tabak presented the agencyās first iteration of its draft plan at the June 11 meeting of the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) (see Update, July 14, 2015). At the July 20 meeting of the ACD, Tabak presented a revised draft framework incorporating the…
NIH Seeks Comments on Proposed Alternative to National Childrenās Study
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is inviting comments on its proposed plan for the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program and has issued a time-sensitive Request for Information (RFI). Background The ECHO program responds to the NIHās decision to discontinue the National Childrenās Study (NCS) in December 2014, per the recommendations of a working group of the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) of NIH (See Update, December 19, 2014). NIH emphasizes that in keeping with the spirit of the NCS, ECHO aims to address the critical goal of understanding the impact of environmental influences on childrenās…
White House Issues Annual S&T Guidance for FY 2017 Budget
On July 9, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued their annual joint memorandum to federal agencies outlining āMulti-Agency Science and Technology Priorities for the FY 2017 Budget.ā Each year, OMB and OSTP outline specific White House science, technology, and innovation priorities for federal investment, which is meant to inform federal agenciesā development of the fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget submission to OMB and Congress. Similar to last yearās guidance, the FY 2017 memorandum asks federal agencies to allocate resources to a number of multi-agency research activities, including advanced…
Congressionally-Mandated Strategic Plan, FY 2016 Budget Discussed by NIH Advisory Committee to the Director
The June 11-12 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) meeting included the discussion of a number of important issues for the agency, including its fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget and its efforts to develop a five-year strategic plan by December 2015.
NIH SMRB Working Group Approves Recommendations on Streamlining the NIH Grant Award Process
On July 6, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Scientific Management Review Board (SMRB) Working Group on the NIH Grant Review, Award, and Management Process (GRAMP) approved its draft report of its findings and recommendations on ways to streamline the NIH grant award process. NIH director Francis Collins charged the Working Group to ārecommend ways to further optimize the process of reviewing, awarding, and managing grants in a way that maximizes the time researchers can devote to research while still maintaining proper oversightā without compromising the quality of peer review. To accomplish the charge the working group examined the grant…
NIH Seeks Feedback on Using mHealth for the Precision Medicine Cohort
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking feedback from the scientific community regarding using mobile Health (mHealth) technologies for the Precision Medicine Cohort.Ā The agency points out that the collection of health and lifestyle data on āparticipant volunteersā have generally come from medical records and extensive phone or paper surveys. For the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI), the agency is considering using smart phone and wireless technologies to collect some of this information (See Update, June 15, 2015).Ā The use of these devices, however, generates a number of considerations for which NIH is seeking feedback: Willingness of participants to carry…
OBSSR Marks 20th Anniversary at NIH, on Capitol Hill
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) marked its 20th anniversary with a three-day celebration on June 23-25 on the NIH Bethesda campus and Capitol Hill. The celebration began with the 8th Matilda White RileyĀ Award and Lecture in Behavioral and Social Sciences on June 23. The award is given in recognition of an outstanding behavioral or social scientist whose research has contributed to both the deepening of knowledge and its application in a manner that furthers NIHās mission of improving health. This year the award went to Kevin Volpp and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn.
ACS Launches New Website
The American Community Survey (ACS) has a new website.Ā The new site, according to the ACS office, āhas a look and feel consistent with census.gov,ā and should allow for easy user navigation. Back to this issueās table of contents.
NIH Issues Notice on Enhancing Reproducibility
On June 9, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Extramural Research (OER) issued a Notice (NOT-OD-15-103) in an effort to clarify and revise application instructions and review criteria “to enhance reproducibility of research findings through increased scientific rigor and transparency.” The release of the Notice is to raise awareness and begin “culture shifts in the scientific community.” In aĀ June 9 blog post, Sally Rockey, NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research, and Larry Tabak, Principal Deputy Director of NIH, explained, āThese changes will prompt applicants and reviewers to consider issues, whichāif ignoredāmay impede the transparency needed to reproduce key…
Share Your Basic Research Success Stories
In a June 2 blog post, Jo Handelsman, Associate Director for Science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), urged the scientific community to share examples of basic research that has yielded unexpected, yet important insights. Handelsman states, āOne of the hallmarks of science is that the path to knowledge is often indirect, and that in addition to rigorous investigation, discovery is often shaped by serendipity, human curiosity, and sometimes even heroism.ā Unfortunately, basic science, especially in the area of social science, continues to be attacked by some who fail to see the valuable ties between…
NIH Minority Health Institute Moves Ahead on Science Visioning of Health Disparities
At the June 9 meeting of National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NACMHD), outgoing Acting Director Yvonne Maddox updated the Council on the Institute’s Science Visioning process for health disparities research.Ā NIH Deputy Director Larry Tabak will serve as the Instituteās Acting Director until newly appointed director Eliseo Perez-Stableās arrival in September. To initiate the process, the Institute released a request for information in April (see Update, May 4, 2015).Ā Maddox reported that a trans-NIH Science Vision Advisory Group had been appointed and working groups are being established. The working groups will hold discussion forums around areas…
Census Bureau Outlines Content Changes to American Community Survey
The Census Bureau issued a Federal Register Notice on May 29 outlining its proposal for updating the content and methodologies of the American Community Survey (ACS). As previously reported the Census Bureau proposes to retain the field of degree and marriage questions originally slated for elimination from the ACS beginning in 2016.Ā In addition, the proposal plans to remove a couple of other questions that have been deemed of no or low benefit.Ā The Notice states these changes are an āinitial step in a multi-faceted approach to reducing respondent burden.ā Public comment on the proposal is due by June 28;…