Commemorating OBSSR: A History in Milestones

1993

1995

  • OBSSR Opens Its Doors

    OBSSR Opens Its Doors

    July, 1995

    OBSSR officially opens its doors within the NIH Office of the Director. The Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee forms the same year to advise the OBSSR Director and foster communication and coordination between NIH staff and external partners in the field of behavioral and social sciences research.

  • Dr. Norman B. Anderson Appointed Director of OBSSR (1995–2000)

    Dr. Norman B. Anderson Appointed Director of OBSSR (1995–2000)

    July, 1995

    "Ask not what NIH can do for behavioral and social sciences. Ask what behavioral and social sciences research can do for NIH."

    Norman B. Anderson becomes OBSSR’s first Director after being a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Anderson specializes in intersections between health and behavior, with a particular focus on racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic health disparities.

    Under his leadership, OBSSR articulates its priorities. As OBSSR’s first leader, Dr. Anderson champions the integration of behavioral and social sciences research across NIH. OBSSR hosts its first conference and releases its first strategic plan (in 1997) to address the critical behavioral and social science factors affecting public health. OBSSR defines behavioral and social sciences research with input from a wide range of fields, laying the foundation for its role as the backbone of the behavioral and social sciences at NIH.

1997

  • Educational Workshops in Interdisciplinary Research

    Educational Workshops in Interdisciplinary Research

    January, 1997

    OBSSR issues a funding opportunity announcement in 1997, and again in 1998, for the development of short-term educational workshops for social, behavioral, and biomedical researchers in the early stages of their careers. Promoting interdisciplinary approaches, these workshops aim to help participants develop cross-disciplinary collaborations.

  • Disease Prevention Through Behavior Change

    Disease Prevention Through Behavior Change

    October, 1997

    OBSSR issues funding opportunities, which are enacted in 1998 and 2003, to test whether theoretical models and practical interventions are effective for creating positive, long-term behavior changes. In particular, researchers study the leading causes of poor health and premature death: poor diet and exercise, alcohol use, and tobacco use.

1999

  • Focus on Mind/Body Interactions and Health

    Focus on Mind/Body Interactions and Health

    January, 1999

    OBSSR leads a funding opportunity to establish the Centers for Mind/Body Interactions and Health to encourage and advance interdisciplinary projects—each designed to focus on relationships between the mind and body in disease and health. Subsequent funding opportunities in this field are released in 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007.

  • Research on Child Neglect

    Research on Child Neglect

    March, 1999

    Seeking to promote the development of research programs on child neglect, which can have long-term health and behavioral consequences, OBSSR issues a funding opportunity in 1999 and again in 2001. These projects aim to build partnerships among researchers studying child health, education, and juvenile justice and those working with child neglect and abuse research.

2000

  • Development of Interventions for Youth Violence

    Development of Interventions for Youth Violence

    January, 2000

    OBSSR and NIH advance intervention research to improve human health. OBSSR issues a funding opportunity soliciting behavioral intervention research focused on youth violence prevention.

  • Interventions to Improve Adherence to Pharmacological Treatment Regimens

    Interventions to Improve Adherence to Pharmacological Treatment Regimens

    January, 2000

    A focus of OBSSR and NIH is to support intervention research to improve human health. With this view in mind, OBSSR issues a funding opportunity soliciting behavioral intervention research focused on ways to improve adherence to long-term medicine regimens.

  • Dr. Peter Kaufmann Appointed Acting Director of OBSSR (2000)

    Dr. Peter Kaufmann Appointed Acting Director of OBSSR (2000)

    April, 2000

    "OBSSR has been the backbone of behavioral and social sciences research at NIH."

    Peter Kaufmann becomes Acting Director of OBSSR after a decade as the Chief of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Behavioral Medicine Branch. Dr. Kaufmann encourages OBSSR staff to use their diverse subject backgrounds and abilities, enabling the team to concentrate on and strengthen aspects of behavioral and social sciences research at NIH.

  • OBSSR Holds Inaugural Summer Institute

    OBSSR Holds Inaugural Summer Institute

    July, 2000

    In collaboration with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, OBSSR holds its first annual Summer Institute on Randomized Behavioral Clinical Trials. The institute trains researchers and health professionals on how to conduct studies that divide participants into groups by chance, allowing researchers to review different treatments or interventions fairly.

  • Dr. Raynard S. Kington Appointed Director of OBSSR (2000–2003)

    Dr. Raynard S. Kington Appointed Director of OBSSR (2000–2003)

    October, 2000

    "OBSSR is constantly identifying opportunities … for those areas of behavioral and social science knowledge where a nudge of some sort could promote the scientific advance in a way that ultimately gets us to treatments and cures and prevention faster."

    Raynard S. Kington becomes OBSSR’s Director after serving as the Director of the Division of Health Examination Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. As Director, Dr. Kington examines the links between health and education. This work ranges from micro to macro levels of analysis: from how education shapes neural pathways in the brain to how it affects an individual’s economic status and overall health.

    Dr. Kington also prioritizes studies on implicit racial bias and its impact on patient care at individual and structural levels. These studies and the conversations surrounding them reflect OBSSR’s larger mission: to demonstrate the critical role of behavioral and social sciences in clarifying complex health-related questions.

2001

2002

  • Methodology and Measurement

    Methodology and Measurement

    March, 2002

    OBSSR issues a funding opportunity announcement focused on developing and enhancing the quality and power of data in health-related behavioral and social sciences. Researchers are asked to explore how to improve methodologies in research design, measurement, and data synthesis. This project is reissued in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2016, and 2017.

2003

  • Pathways Linking Education to Health

    Pathways Linking Education to Health

    January, 2003

    OBSSR encourages the investigation of formal schooling’s impact on overall health by issuing a funding opportunity announcement. This leads OBSSR to a related meeting in 2014 called "Education and Health: New Frontiers" which included meeting minutes found in the 2015 NAS National Academy of Sciences report Exploring Opportunities for Collaboration Between Health and Education to Improve Population Health: Workshop Summary. OBSSR also issues related funding opportunities “Education and Health: New Frontiers” in 2016 and 2018.

  • Dr. Virginia S. Cain Appointed Acting Director of OBSSR (2003–2005)

    Dr. Virginia S. Cain Appointed Acting Director of OBSSR (2003–2005)

    February, 2003

    "Keeping the behavioral and social sciences on the radar of NIH and the leadership … and the impact of behavioral and social science and the contribution that it can make to understanding health and health care [are major contributions of the OBSSR]."

    A veteran researcher at OBSSR and the Office of Research on Women’s Health, Virginia S. Cain becomes OBSSR’s Acting Director. Dr. Cain ensures that behavioral and social sciences research is prioritized in the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, which helps define NIH’s strategic plan. She also protects NIH funding for behavioral and social sciences grants, including those for AIDS treatment and prevention.

2004

  • Understanding and Promoting Health Literacy

    Understanding and Promoting Health Literacy

    June, 2004

    OBSSR releases funding opportunities to stimulate research in health literacy—the capacity of individuals to understand and act on information to improve or sustain their health. These projects examine how health literacy connects to health disparities and how technology can bridge the knowledge gap. These funding opportunities are reissued in 2006, 2010, and 2013 and inform a 2011 Institute of Medicine report.

  • Community Participation in Research

    Community Participation in Research

    December, 2004

    Community-based participatory research allows people with great stakes in a community’s health to work alongside scientific researchers to improve health and address related disparities. OBSSR issues a funding opportunity announcement in 2004, and again in 2008, to stimulate joint involvement of researchers and communities in conducting health research.

2005

  • Dr. David Abrams Appointed Director of OBSSR (2005–2008)

    Dr. David Abrams Appointed Director of OBSSR (2005–2008)

    January, 2005

    "We get a lot of applause for all the breakthroughs in biomedical research … we get some applause for the breakthroughs in psychosocial, epidemiology, and public health research …. If the one takes place without the other, it’s the sound of one hand clapping …. Imagine how much more applause we would get if both hands were clapping: on the one side the biomedical sciences, and on the other side collaborating with the behavioral and social sciences."

    David Abrams becomes OBSSR’s Director after a long tenure as a professor of Community Health, Psychiatry, and Human Behavior at Brown University Medical School. Under his leadership, OBSSR publishes a strategic prospectus. Dr. Abrams prioritizes systems science—studying the world as a series of systems interacting with one another—and transdisciplinary team science. His efforts involve focusing on major chronic diseases that are not easily categorized into biomedical or psychosocial realms but rather result from interactions between them.

    Dr. Abrams also encourages community-building efforts and provides spaces for staff to generate ideas about how to enhance the mission of the behavioral and social sciences within the NIH community. He establishes a “kitchen cabinet,” holding weekly meetings with behavioral and social sciences programming staff across the NIH to garner advice. The group builds a sense of camaraderie, discussing challenges OBSSR faces and ways to work together more effectively.

  • Social Work Practice and Concepts in Health

    Social Work Practice and Concepts in Health

    December, 2005

    OBSSR releases funding opportunities in 2005, 2006, and 2007 that promote the development of research on observed intersections between social work and positive health impacts on people with medical conditions and behavioral disorders. They aim to analyze and enhance the effectiveness of social work services.

2006

2007

  • A Prospectus for the Future

    A Prospectus for the Future

    March, 2007

    OBSSR releases its strategic prospectus (second strategic plan), which provides recommendations within the field and for public health progress as a whole. The prospectus contains four priorities: (1) “next-generation” basic, or life, science; (2) research between and across different fields; (3) systems science, or the science of understanding life as a series of related systems; and (4) problem-focused research for population impact.

  • Understanding and Reducing Health Disparities

    Understanding and Reducing Health Disparities

    June, 2007

    Rural, low-income, and certain racial and ethnic populations generally experience poorer health than the overall U.S. population. To stimulate research on the causes of and solutions to health and disability disparities in the United States, OBSSR issues a funding opportunity announcement focused on this topic. These projects were reissued in 2010 and 2013.

2008

  • Dr. Christine Bachrach Appointed Acting Director of the OBSSR (2008–2010)

    Dr. Christine Bachrach Appointed Acting Director of the OBSSR (2008–2010)

    April, 2008

    "OBSSR (is) … a uniter of NIH institutes around behavioral and social science issues, having a small budget … to nudge things along, to seed ideas, and having a voice."

    Christine Bachrach becomes OBSSR’s Acting Director following a long tenure at the Demographic and Behavioral Science Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Center for Population Research. Under Dr. Bachrach’s leadership, OBSSR organizes institute directors, program leaders, and working groups to create OppNet NIH Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network , a fruitful interdisciplinary funding initiative launched in 2009.

  • Technological Innovations for Interdisciplinary Research

    Technological Innovations for Interdisciplinary Research

    July, 2008

    OBSSR issues funding opportunities encouraging methods for incorporating behavioral and social sciences into interdisciplinary research using technological innovations. This effort builds on 2007’s NIH Roadmap, an initiative that emphasizes the need for efficient transferring of basic research into actual human practice and positive health impacts.

2009

  • OppNet Is Created

    OppNet Is Created

    November, 2009

    OBSSR facilitates the establishment of OppNet NIH Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network , a collaborative, multi-institute funding initiative. OppNet NIH Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network identifies research areas and issues funding opportunities to fund research projects that advance the goals of NIH institutes and centers. Over the next 10 years, it provides over $80 million to more than 100 research projects.

2010

  • Dr. Deborah Olster Appointed Acting Director of OBSSR (2010–2011)

    Dr. Deborah Olster Appointed Acting Director of OBSSR (2010–2011)

    January, 2010

    "There are still health disparities among various groups, racial, ethnic, geographic … figuring out how environment, broadly defined to include the social and behavioral environment, as well as the physical and chemical environments, influences gene expression, and health and disease outcomes … those issues are still on the table for NIH and for OBSSR."

    Deborah Olster becomes OBSSR’s Acting Director after serving as Deputy Director of OBSSR and in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation. As Acting Director, Dr. Olster spearheads the interdisciplinary research activities and funding opportunities included in the NIH Roadmap.

  • Social Networks and Their Impact on Public Health

    Social Networks and Their Impact on Public Health

    March, 2010

    OBSSR releases funding opportunities related to social network analysis and translating important social science findings into health-related behavior improvements. The former focuses on improving the science of social network structures, the latter on stimulating innovative research projects to close gaps between public health research, policy, and practice.

2011

  • Dr. Robert Kaplan Appointed Director of OBSSR (2011–2014)

    Dr. Robert Kaplan Appointed Director of OBSSR (2011–2014)

    February, 2011

    "What I’ve come to appreciate is that the determinants of health are much broader than we’ve ever recognized. OBSSR has really developed that message."

    Robert Kaplan becomes OBSSR’s Director after serving as a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health and School of Medicine. During his tenure, OBSSR invests in the development of the mHealth Collaboratory, an initiative that employs mobile technologies to improve public health and prepares for next-generation technologies and research methods.

    Under Dr. Kaplan’s leadership, OBSSR also spearheads a training program to help medical schools reform their curricula to bolster behavioral and social sciences content. Additionally, OBSSR holds many short courses to train early-career researchers and doctors in mHealth, dissemination and implementation methods, systems science, and more.

  • First Annual Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (TIDIRH) Is Held

    First Annual Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (TIDIRH) Is Held

    August, 2011

    In close partnership with other NIH institutes, OBSSR develops a training institute designed to build capacity in dissemination and implementation (D&I) research. In addition to receiving training in conducting D&I research, participants are expected to return to their home institutions and share what they learned to grow the field.

  • Addressing Chronic Health Conditions

    Addressing Chronic Health Conditions

    November, 2011

    OBSSR issues a funding opportunity announcement in 2011, and again in 2014, to stimulate research related to positive behavioral interventions and health outcomes for patients with coexisting chronic health conditions and diseases. In particular, they support research in primary care treatment for patients with three or more chronic health conditions.

  • Medication Adherence Research

    Medication Adherence Research

    November, 2011

    Commitment to medication regimens is crucial to producing positive health outcomes. In collaboration with the NIH Adherence Network and other NIH agencies, OBSSR issues funding opportunity announcements for innovative research to encourage patients to follow prescribed medication instructions. These funding opportunities are issued and reissued in 2014, 2018, 2021, and 2024.

2013

  • U.S. Health in International Perspective

    U.S. Health in International Perspective

    March, 2013

    In collaboration with OBSSR, the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine publish the consensus report U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health. Conducted at OBSSR’s request, the study compares life expectancy and health in the United States with those of 16 other wealthy democratic countries. It finds that U.S. life expectancy and health do not compare well and require a societal commitment to improve.

  • Short Courses on Innovative Methodologies

    Short Courses on Innovative Methodologies

    May, 2013

    OBSSR issues a funding opportunity announcement in 2013, and again in 2018, 2021, 2022, and 2025 to promote educational courses that prepare students to meet biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs. These projects also serve to stimulate public health education and outreach geared toward groups underrepresented in behavioral and medical research.

2014

  • Dr. William T. Riley Appointed Acting Director (2014) and Then Director of OBSSR (2015–2022)

    Dr. William T. Riley Appointed Acting Director (2014) and Then Director of OBSSR (2015–2022)

    May, 2014

    "I cannot imagine a more exciting time than now to be a behavioral and social science researcher. Advances in technology, open data, and big data analytics are providing new and temporally dense information in large and varied samples. Transdisciplinary efforts by diverse disciplines, including genetics, neuroscience, computer science, and engineering, are reinvigorating the behavioral and social sciences with novel approaches and methodologies and are cross-pollinating behavioral and social sciences research approaches into their disciplines, as well."

    William T. Riley becomes OBSSR’s Acting Director, and then Director, after serving for more than a decade at NIH in the National Institute of Mental Health; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and the National Cancer Institute. He specializes in applying digital technologies, engineering, and computer science to the behavioral and social sciences to improve public health research and outcomes.

    Under Dr. Riley’s leadership, OBSSR expands its training initiatives. In particular, the K18 award provides funding opportunities for established scientists to gain experience in disciplines beyond their primary research fields. OBSSR releases its third strategic plan, which expands on scientific priorities by providing a list of functions central to OBSSR’s mission and advancement.

  • New Dimensions of Electronic Health Records

    New Dimensions of Electronic Health Records

    June, 2014

    In collaboration with OBSSR, the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) publishes the consensus study report Capturing Social and Behavioral Domains and Measures in Electronic Health Records. This two-phase report advocates for the incorporation of social and behavioral dimensions of health into electronic health records, which provide crucial information about patients to their providers. OBSSR organizes an NIH meeting on this topic in 2018.

2015

  • Mobilizing Research Through mHealth

    Mobilizing Research Through mHealth

    March, 2015

    Ever-changing technology plays a part in health management. OBSSR issues a funding opportunity announcement to help researchers effectively evaluate mobile and wireless (mHealth) technologies. The goal is to identify sustainable applications and spaces that can facilitate mHealth research across various settings, studies, health conditions, and populations. OBSSR releases a related funding opportunity announcement in 2017.

2016

2017

  • Intensive Longitudinal Analysis: Leveraging New Technologies

    Intensive Longitudinal Analysis: Leveraging New Technologies

    March, 2017

    OBSSR issues funding opportunity announcements to develop a cooperative agreement network and research coordinating center to support the Intensive Longitudinal Health Behaviors Initiative. The goal is to learn the influences of key health behaviors from data collection and analysis, assisted with real-time data from smartphones and new technologies, to suggest personalized strategies for disease reduction and prevention.

  • Third Strategic Plan Released

    Third Strategic Plan Released

    November, 2017

    OBSSR releases its third strategic plan, for 2017 to 2021. The plan details scientific priorities on strengthening behavioral and social sciences and interdisciplinary research structures, as well as applying findings to practice and policy. It outlines foundational processes for supporting these scientific priorities and advancing OBSSR’s overall mission.

2018

2019

  • Research on Biopsychosocial Factors of Social Connectedness and Isolation on Health, Well-Being, Illness, and Recovery

    Research on Biopsychosocial Factors of Social Connectedness and Isolation on Health, Well-Being, Illness, and Recovery

    September, 2019

    Social ties can facilitate overall well-being, recovery from acute illness, and self-management of chronic conditions. But the mechanisms, processes, and trajectories by which connection and isolation lead to positive or negative impacts on health, well-being, illness, or recovery are less well understood. To address this knowledge gap, OppNet NIH Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network published funding opportunities in 2019 and again in 2021 to solicit research projects that seek to model the underlying mechanisms, processes, and trajectories of social relationships and how these factors affect outcomes in health, illness, recovery, and overall well-being.

2020

2021

  • Improve Understanding of the Determinants of Firearm Injury

    Improve Understanding of the Determinants of Firearm Injury

    September, 2021

    In FY2021, OBSSR, along with IC Institutes and Centers partners, publishes NOFOs to conduct research on firearm injury and mortality prevention and recommended that NIH take a comprehensive approach to studying the underlying causes and evidence-based methods of prevention of firearm injury, including crime prevention. NIH awards 10 grants in response to two funding announcements (PAR-21-191, PAR-21-192). The grant awards are consistent with a public health approach to firearm injury and mortality prevention and includes various types of projects including the evaluation of community violence intervention programs, risk and protective factors for firearm injury and mortality, and a range of types of firearm violence including suicide, youth violence, and childhood injury. See grant award details.

2022

2023

  • Behavioral Economics: Policy Impact and Future Directions

    Behavioral Economics: Policy Impact and Future Directions

    April, 2023

    OBSSR and other NIH institutes and centers sponsor a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that examines the evidence for behavioral economics and its application in six public policy domains: health, retirement benefits, climate change, social safety net benefits, education, and criminal justice. The report concludes that the principles of behavioral economics are indispensable for the design of policy and recommends integrating behavioral specialists into policy development within government units. In addition, the report calls for strengthening research methodology and identifies research priorities for building on the accomplishments of the field to date.

  • Dr. Wendy B. Smith, Interim Acting Director (2023)

    Dr. Wendy B. Smith, Interim Acting Director (2023)

    June, 2023

    "Events in the last few years have demonstrated the importance of integrating behavioral and social sciences research into the broader biomedical enterprise. OBSSR is uniquely poised through our collaborations across the NIH Institutes and Centers to identify opportunities to not only support BSSR, but also identify where it can provide additional and important synergy. Directors’ integration of behavioral and social sciences can result in bringing new perspectives to areas of science not yet explored. The role of OBSSR in this process is one that I have found exciting and rewarding during my time at OBSSR."

    Wendy Smith is named Interim Acting Director. Dr. Smith joined OBSSR in 2013 from the Office of Science Policy, where she served as the Director for Clinical and Translational Research Partnerships, and has held several senior leadership positions in OBSSR. She also has served as the inaugural Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine, where she created and directed the Research Development and Support Program. Dr. Smith is a founding member of the NIH Pain Consortium, and her publications include research on pain memory, psychophysics of pain perception, psychological aspects of pain, complementary and alternative medicine, and research methodologies.

  • Dr. Jane M. Simoni Appointed OBSSR Director and NIH Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (2023–present)

    Dr. Jane M. Simoni Appointed OBSSR Director and NIH Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (2023–present)

    July, 2023

    "The leading causes of death among Americans have clear behavioral and social antecedents. Many deaths are preventable, if only we better implemented the effective public health outreach and behavioral health interventions we have developed. Certainly, we cannot fulfill NIH’s mission to improve health and lengthen life without coordinated support for rigorous and impactful behavioral and social sciences research across the NIH."

    Jane M. Simoni, Ph.D., becomes the NIH Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and Director of the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. Dr. Simoni earned her bachelor’s degree at Princeton University and her Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles. She also completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Southern California and Columbia University.

2024

2025

  • OBSSR Celebrates 30th Anniversary

    OBSSR Celebrates 30th Anniversary

    February, 2025

    To celebrate its 30th anniversary, OBSSR hosts a series of events throughout the year, including webinars, workshops, and a research festival.