Putting NIH Research on the Map… Literally

March 15, 2013

Early in his tenure as director of NIH, Francis Collins detailed five major areas of opportunity for NIH research. One of these areas is an increased focus on global health. An emphasis on global health research is nothing new at NIH; the lead story in the inaugural issue of the NIH Record newsletter in 1949 described NIH’s efforts to combat disease in Africa. ….

Diversifying the Training Experiences of the Biomedical Research Workforce

March 8, 2013

I’m eager to tell you about another important biomedical workforce-related initiative that NIH is launching based on the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) working group recommendations. This initiative seeks to expand existing research training and allow research institutions to best prepare their trainees for a variety of research-related career outcomes. ….

NIH Operations Under the Sequester

March 4, 2013

This morning I sent a letter to the signing officials at NIH -funded institutions about the sequestration order signed by the President on Friday. We have posted the letter on the Office of Extramural Research website and I am copying it here for your information.

Your Chance to Weigh in on the Biomedical Research Workforce Initiative

February 21, 2013

As I noted in my last post on the K99/R00 program and predoctoral fellowships, we have made some progress on implementing some of the recommendations proposed by the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD) working group that studied the biomedical research workforce. There are many more components to this complex initiative…

Progress on the Biomedical Workforce Initiatives: Upcoming Changes to the K99/R00 Awards and Pre-doctoral Fellowships

February 19, 2013

As I posted back in December, NIH is implementing many of the recommendations proposed by the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD) working group that studied the biomedical research workforce. I’d like to draw your attention to several Notices that have been posted in the NIH Guide in the past few weeks, laying out some of the details and providing a bit of background on the ACD recommendations that preceded them. ….

Update on NIH’s Public Access Policy

February 14, 2013

In November I blogged about NIH efforts to improve access to research results and updates related to the NIH public access policy. Today, NIH announced that the compliance measures outlined in the November guide notice will be implemented for all awards with anticipated start dates on or after July 1, 2013 (see NIH Guide Notice NOT-13-042). ….

Another Approach to Transparency

February 8, 2013

As you know, in August 2011 we issued a final rule in the Federal Register revising the regulations on financial conflicts of interest (FCOI) of extramural investigators, and these regulations were implemented in August 2012. One of the major changes in the new regulations was the requirement that institutions make publicly accessible certain information concerning identified financial conflicts of interest held by senior/key personnel.

One Step Closer: OMB Asks for Comments on Proposed Rule on Federal Grant Policy Reforms

February 6, 2013

You may recall that back in February 2012 I blogged about OMB’s request for comment on proposed reforms to federal grant policies contained in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circulars such as A-21, A-133, and A-122. OMB proposed these reforms to streamline Federal policies relating to grants. The essential idea behind this reform is to reduce the “red tape” and unnecessary or overly burdensome requirements so that grantees can better focus their efforts achieving their research objectives.

Does Your Academic Training Destine Your Choice of Research Subject?

February 1, 2013

As I’ve been discussing the biomedical research workforce with people in the extramural community over the past few months, I’ve heard people say things like “PhDs don’t do much research with human subjects”. I decided to look into data that could support or refute statements such as this, and started with checking data on the use of animal and human subjects in research.