Transition in Acting Director, OBSSR and NIH Acting Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research

Wendy B. Smith, Ph.D., is serving as Acting NIH Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and Acting OBSSR Director. This follows the retirement of Christine M. Hunter, Ph.D., who has been serving in an acting capacity for both roles since January 2022. Dr. Hunter retired on May 31, 2023, and we encourage you to read her reflections on her retirement in the May 12 OBSSR blog.

Dr. Smith joined OBSSR in 2013 and has held several senior leadership positions, including, Senior Scientific Advisor for Research Development and Outreach, Acting Deputy Director, and her current role as Associate Director since 2016. She joined OBSSR from the NIH Office of Science Policy, where she served as the Program Director for Clinical and Translational Research Partnerships. Prior to this, Dr. Smith was the Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine, where she also established and directed the Research Development and Support Program. Dr. Smith earned her M.A. in the psychology of health and her Ph.D. in applied experimental psychology and is a licensed experimental psychologist and a nationally certified biofeedback therapist with advanced training in the use of hypnosis for pain. She joined NIH in 1990 as a research psychologist in the intramural research program at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. 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.

Please join us in expressing our appreciation to Dr. Hunter for her exemplary contributions to advancing the coordination, collaboration, and integration of behavioral and social sciences across NIH and in wishing her the very best in her retirement. Also please join us in thanking Dr. Smith for her continued leadership at NIH and her willingness to take on the additional role of acting OBSSR director for an interim period.

More about Dr. Wendy B. Smith

Virtual Workshop: Advancing the science of aggression across species and disciplines

On June 14 and 15, 2023, (1:00 - 5:00 p.m. ET each day) OBSSR and collaborating NIH ICOs will host a virtual workshop, Advancing the science of aggression across species and disciplines. The workshop will be available for live public viewing on the NIH Videocast. Goals of the workshop include bringing together both animal and human aggression researchers from various backgrounds to facilitate dialogue across disciplines, individual and interpersonal levels of analysis, lifespan, and disorders/diseases; identifying barriers and potential solutions to move research on basic mechanisms of aggression and health to inform intervention development as well as identify opportunities for more use-inspired basic research; and identifying research gaps and opportunities in the science of aggression and health in the service of advancing progress in prevention, assessment, and treatment.

Plenary Speakers:
Dayu Lin, Ph.D., NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Terrie E. Moffitt, Ph.D., Duke University, King’s College London
L. Syd M Johnson, Upstate Medical University
Celia Fisher, Fordham University

Registration is not required. This virtual workshop will be live streamed through NIH Videocast. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions through the live videocast.

June 14, 2023: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=49267
June 15, 2023: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=49269

View Agenda

Health Equity Distinguished Lecturer: Daniel E. Dawes, JD

On June 29, 2023, from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. ET, Daniel E. Dawes, JD, Senior Vice President of Global Health Equity and the Executive Director of the Institute of Global Health Equity at Meharry Medical College, will join the NINR with co-hosts NIMHD and OBSSR to share his expertise as a scholar, educator, and researcher on health equity and social and political determinants of health. CEUs will be available for those who attend the lecture.

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[National Academies Workshop] Going Beyond BMI: Communicating About Body Weight: A Second Workshop in the Series

The National Academies' Roundtable on Obesity Solutions is hosting a two-part workshop series titled, "Exploring the Science on Measures of Body Composition, Body Fat Distribution, and Obesity." Building on the previous workshop that explored the current science, the June 26 workshop will focus on strategies for improving communication about body composition, body mass index (BMI), adiposity, and health across diverse groups and sectors. Presentations will address communicating the diagnosis and definition of obesity; innovations for communicating about body weight to mitigate weight bias and stigma; and the ethics and trust challenges in communicating about body weight. The workshop will also include discussions about long-term communication strategies and promoting change in culture and perception around body weight. The event will be accessible via live webcast. Learn more on the event page.

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Webinar Recording: Violence as a public health problem: What we know, and where we are going

The recording of the OBSSR Director's Webinar featuring guest presenter Megan L. Ranney, MD, MPH, FACEP, Incoming Dean, Yale School of Public Health (July 2023), is now available. Dr. Ranney presented "Violence as a public health problem: What we know, and where we are going" on May 16, 2023. In this talk, Dr. Ranney presented work that illuminates the current state of knowledge on physical, digital, and firearm violence and co-occurring disorders (such as depressive symptoms and substance use disorder). She also discussed novel approaches, drawn from her and others’ work, to studying, preventing, and treating these interdependent crises across the social-ecological model.

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Webinar Recording: 16th NIH Matilda White Riley Honors

The recording of the 16th NIH Matilda White Riley Behavioral and Social Sciences Honors, held on May 15, 2023, is now available. The Distinguished Lecturer Jennifer J. Manly, Ph.D., presented "Lifecourse Social and Structural Mechanisms of Inequalities in Cognitive Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease."

The half-day event also featured presentations from four early-stage investigator (ESI) honorees:
Alina Arseniev-Koehler, Ph.D.
Marissa Burgermaster, Ph.D.
Jessica Finlay, Ph.D.
Ted K.S. Ng, Ph.D.

Go There Now

NIH Institutional Excellence in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in Biomedical and Behavioral Research Prize Competition

NIH is now accepting submissions for a new initiative that rewards effective strategies for enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in research environments: the NIH Institutional Excellence in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) in Biomedical and Behavioral Research Prize Competition. The prize competition will recognize and reward biomedical and behavioral science institutions that have identified gaps in DEIA and designed, implemented, and evaluated interventions to address them. It also aims to identify effective practices for enhancing DEIA within faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and student bodies that can be feasibly disseminated for adoption by other institutions.

NIH will award up to 10 prizes of $100,000 each through the competition. Up to half of the prizes will be set aside for consideration for limited-resourced institutions. NIH may also recognize additional entries as honorable mentions with nonmonetary awards. Visit the Prize Competition website to review the eligibility and participation rules and to submit a written entry. The deadline to apply is September 26, 2023.

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