OBSSR’s strategic plans align with our mission and vision to enhance behavioral and social sciences research (BSSR) that improves health outcomes for all. Each plan highlights scientific priorities that reflect key research challenges OBSSR is uniquely positioned to address. Because BSSR provides valuable insights into human behavior—including how individuals and groups think, feel, behave, and interact—findings from BSSR can inform interventions and public health strategies to directly affect health outcomes.
Explore the Latest Strategic Plan
Previous Strategic Plans
William T. Riley, Ph.D., led the development of the OBSSR Strategic Plan 2017-2021. The plan highlighted three equally important scientific priorities, supported by four foundational processes designed to enhance these priorities and advance OBSSR’s mission.
David B. Abrams, Ph.D., led the development of OBSSR's second strategic plan, which was published in 2007 and was titled "The Contributions of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research to Improving the Health of the Nation: A Prospectus for the Future."
OBSSR’s first strategic plan "Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Strategic Plan 1997" was published in 1997 under the leadership of OBSSR's founding director, Norman B. Anderson, Ph.D.
Previous Strategic Plan-Related Publications
November 2016 | Science Translational Medicine
NIH's transformative opportunities for the behavioral and social sciences
January 2017 | Nature Human Behaviour
Basic and applied behavioural and social sciences at the NIH
January 2017 | Health Psychology
Behavioral and social sciences at the National Institutes of Health: Methods, measures, and data infrastructures as a scientific priority
June 2017 | Translational Behavioral Medicine
Behavioral and Social Sciences at the National Institutes of Health: adoption of research findings in health research and practice as a scientific priority
Previous Strategic Plan-Related Videos
NIH OBSSR Strategic Plan 2017-2021: Priority #1
