A staple since COSSA’s earliest days, the biweekly COSSA Washington Update newsletter provides members and the public with comprehensive coverage of policy developments impacting social and behavioral science research.
NIH Issues Notice Clarifying its Health Economics Research Priorities
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a Guide Notice on November 25, to “clarify NIH policy related to funding health economics research,” in an effort to delineate NIH’s “priority areas of health economics research as well as reach aims that generally fall outside of the NIH mission.” The notice is part of an ongoing issue that dates back to 2012 Congressional language in the Fiscal Year 2013 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill that bans the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from supporting economics research. Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) responded to the language, along with 82…
NIH Issues Funding Opportunity to Support the PMI Cohort Program Direct Volunteer Pilot Studies
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking proposals for pilot studies and “the needed information technology support for the development of the Direct Volunteer component of the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) Cohort Program.” The agency plans to build a “national research cohort of one million or more volunteers who are engaged as partners in a longitudinal, long-term effort to identify the molecular, environmental and behavioral factors that contribute to diverse diseases, to facilitate the development and testing of novel therapies and prevention approaches, and to pioneer mHealth [mobile health] strategies for improving the efficacy of health care.” To that…
COSSA Members Respond to OBSSR Strategic Plan
Several COSSA member organizations responded to the recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) Request for Information (RFI) regarding its 2016-2020 Strategic Plan (see Update, November 3, 2015). In addition to stressing the challenges and opportunities for the behavioral sciences, the groups emphasize the need for continued leadership by OBSSR within NIH and the federal government. Below are highlights from the comments submitted by the American Educational Research Association (AERA), American Psychological Association (APA), the Population Association of America/Association of Population Centers (PAA/APC), and the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM).
Events Calendar
American Economic Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, January 3-5, 2016 Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting, New York, NY, January 6-9, 2016 American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, January 7-10, 2016 Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, January 7-10, 2016 Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, San Juan, PR, January 7-9, 2016 Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference, Washington, DC, January 13-17, 2016 Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention, San Diego, CA, January 28-30, 2016 American Psychosomatic Society Annual Scientific Meeting, Denver, CO, March 9-12, 2016 COSSA Annual Meeting & Social…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 34 Issue 21
Featured News Save the Date: COSSA Annual Meeting & Advocacy Day, March 15-16 Congressional News Sam Farr, Ranking Member on House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Announces Retirement Federal Agency & Administration News NIH Seeks Input for Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementia 2016 Plan NIDA Announces New Challenge: “Addiction Research: There’s an App for that” NCATS Issues RFI for Input into Strategic Plan OBSSR Hosts Seminar on Video Games and Neuroscience COSSA Member Spotlight COSSA Members among World’s Top 100 Social Science Universities AERA Hold Annual Brown Lecture on “Indigenous Pathways toward Justice” Events Calendar
Save the Date: COSSA Annual Meeting & Advocacy Day, March 15-16
COSSA will hold its 2016 Annual Meeting and Social and Behavioral Science Advocacy Day on March 15 and 16 in Washington, DC. The meeting brings together more than 100 members of the social and behavioral science community and provides a platform for COSSA members to engage with leaders of federal agencies, Congressional staff, and colleagues from across the science and higher education communities. The meeting on March 15 will take place at the George Washington University Marvin Center and will feature updates from leaders at federal science agencies and panels highlighting issues impacting the social and behavioral science community. On…
Sam Farr, Ranking Member on House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Announces Retirement
Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) announced his retirement from Congress at the end of his term after 22 years in the House. Farr is the Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. As Ranking Member, Farr has been a vocal advocate for agricultural science and statistics, memorably speaking out on the House floor against a proposed amendment to cut funding for the Economic Research Service (ERS) in 2014. It remains to be seen who will fill Farr’s spot. Currently, only three other Democrats serve on the Subcommittee. Back to this…
NIH Seeks Input for Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementia 2016 Plan
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institute on Aging (NIA), and the Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) within the National Institutes of Health recently released a time-sensitive request–for-information (RFI) (NOT-NS-15-045) seeking the input of the scientific and broader community regarding the “most important needs and promising opportunities for research” on Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementia (ADRD). The information received will be used to update the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, which is congressionally mandated to be updated annually (see Update, August 10, 2015). Additionally, the RFI announces a March 29-30, 2016 ADRD 2016 Summit sponsored by NINDS…
NIDA Announces New Challenge: “Addiction Research: There’s an App for that”
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced a new Challenge/Prize Competition, “Addiction Research: There’s an App for that.” The objective for the challenge is to “promote the development of innovative mobile applications (apps) for future addiction studies.” According to the notice, three prizes may be awarded: $50,000 (first place); $30,000 (second place); and $20,000 (third place). The NIDA Challenge is enabled by the DHHS IDEA Lab program. Challenge partners include U.S. General Services Administration; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Sage Bionetworks;…
NCATS Issues RFI for Input into Strategic Plan
The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking the scientific community’s input into the development of its five-year strategic plan. This is NCATS’ first strategic plan since its creation in the National Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-482). Accordingly, NCATS has issued a request for information (RFI), “Soliciting Input for the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Strategic Planning Process” (NOT-TR-16-002). NCATS “focuses on what is common across diseases and the translational process” emphasizing “innovation and deliverables, relying on the power of data and new technologies to…
COSSA Members among World’s Top 100 Social Science Universities
The London-based magazine Times Higher Education has released its 2015-2016 World University Rankings for the social sciences. The U.S. leads in terms of number of universities represented, with 43 in the top 100, 35 of which are COSSA member universities. COSSA congratulates all the universities and colleges that made the list. In an article accompanying the rankings, James Wilsdon, chair of the UK’s Campaign for Social Science, suggests that the relative dominance of American universities on the list should give pause to those in Congress looking to cut funding for the social and behavioral sciences. “If I was [looking at…
AERA Hold Annual Brown Lecture on “Indigenous Pathways toward Justice”
Teresa L. McCarty, professor of education and anthropology and world-renowned scholar on indigenous language planning, policy, education, and revitalization, presented the 2015 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Brown Lecture in Education Research, “So That Any Child May Succeed—Indigenous Pathways toward Justice and the Promise of Brown,” in October. McCarty is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and professor emerita at Arizona State University. McCarty’s lecture considered the legacy of the 1953 Brown v. Board of Education case and the “broader issues of education equality, in the context of research, policy, and practice in Indigenous education.” She also…
Events Calendar
American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, November 18-22, 2015 American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, November 18-21, 2015 National Communication Association Annual Convention, Las Vegas, NV, November 19-22, 2015 History of Science Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, November 19-22, 2015 American Economic Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, January 3-5, 2016 Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting, New York, NY, January 6-9, 2016 American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, January 7-10, 2016 Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, January 7-10, 2016 Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, San Juan, PR, January 7-9,…
OBSSR Hosts Seminar on Video Games and Neuroscience
Neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley, University of California, San Francisco, discussed his research and what he described as “the new frontiers” in video games and neuroscience. The November 5 presentation was part of the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Seminar Series, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR). Gazzaley noted that humans have longed been consumed with achieving high-level performance, particularly when it comes to physical fitness. However, when it comes to the human brain and improving “those core functions that are really fundamental to what makes us humans—higher order cognitive ability, perception,…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 34 Issue 20
Featured News With Budget Deal in the Books, Work Turns to Finalizing 2016 Spending Bills Federal Agency & Administration News NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Seeks Input on 2016-2020 Strategic Plan OBSSR and AHRQ Release Population Health: Behavioral and Social Science Insights NIH Announces Plans for ECHO Program HHS Seeks Comments on New Objectives Proposed For Healthy People 2020 NCHS Releases First National Data on Electronic Cigarette Usage NIH Blog Explains NIH Commons NIA Director Reports on the Progress of Alzheimer’s Research and Funding NIA Releases 10 Funding Opportunity Announcements Focused on Alzheimer’s disease Research Publications &…
With Budget Deal in the Books, Work Turns to Finalizing 2016 Spending Bills
Last week was an eventful one in Washington. In just about 72 hours, House and Senate negotiators successfully brokered a two year budget deal with the White House, effectively providing two years of relief from sequestration (i.e. the painful spending caps holding down discretionary spending) and suspending the nation’s debt limit, which would have been breached this week without Congressional action, until early 2017. Last week also ushered in a changing of the guard in the House, with the resignation of Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) as Speaker and as the Representative from the 8th District of Ohio, and election of…
NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Seeks Input on 2016-2020 Strategic Plan
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) has issued a request for information (RFI) (NOT-OD-16-018) seeking the broad input of the scientific community and the public, including academia, industry, health care professionals, patient advocates and advocacy organizations, scientific and/or professional organizations, and other federal agencies regarding the scientific priorities that should be considered as it begins its strategic planning process to update the Office’s 2007 strategic plan for FY 2016 – FY 2020. OBSSR is congressionally mandated to “coordinate research conducted or supported by the agencies of the NIH; and identify projects of…
NIH Announces Plans for ECHO Program
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently issued a notice, Announcement of NIH Plans for the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program (NOT-OD-16-015), detailing the agency’s plans for program, also known as the National Children’s Study (NCS) alternative (see Update, July 17, 2015). The agency reports that it intends to “support multiple synergistic, longitudinal studies using extant maternal/pediatric cohorts that represent a broad range of environmental exposures,” including behavioral and social exposures. According to the notice, “all longitudinal studies will collect a standardized, targeted set of data (Core Elements), such as demographics, normative development, patient/person reported outcomes (PRO),…
HHS Seeks Comments on New Objectives Proposed For Healthy People 2020
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking comments on the proposed new objectives for Healthy People 2020. The Department intends to use the comments to “shape the framework, objectives, and targets” of the initiative. Comments are being sought in the areas of family planning; preparedness; social determinants of health; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender health. Additionally, the Department invites suggestions of “additional objectives for consideration that address critical public health issues within the existing 42 topic areas of Healthy People 2020.” Comments will be accepted through November 13, 2015. More information is available here. Back to…
NCHS Releases First National Data on Electronic Cigarette Usage
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have seen a rapid increase in popularity over the past several years, leading to debate between those who see the products as a useful smoking cessation tool and those who are concerned about potential negative health consequences. To shed light on how prevalent e-cigarette smoking actually is, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has released the first nationally-representative estimates of e-cigarette use. The report shows 3.7 percent of adults currently use e-cigarettes, including 16 percent of current smokers and 22 percent of smokers who have quit in the past year. While only 0.4 percent of non-smokers…