Director's Voice
Expanding the Reach and Impact of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research: OBSSR 2005-2008. As we celebrate 25 years of OBSSR, we have asked the former Directors to reflect on their time at OBSSR. This guest blog was authored by OBSSR’s third Director, David Abrams, Ph.D.
Under my leadership, we developed a strategic prospectus that outlined the priority areas for the office. The process for developing that prospectus was truly a collaborative effort puling in a broad range of stakeholders, and the prospectus reflected our vision for the behavioral and social sciences at the time. We worked to develop partnerships both within and outside of the NIH to enhance the mission of the behavioral and social sciences within the NIH community. In addition to highlighting the need for “next generation” basic science and problem-focused research for maximum population impact, we worked to elevate systems science (studying the world as a complex system of multi-level influences (from cells to societies) interacting with one another over time and with short term and long term vicious and virtuous feedback loops) and emphasize transdisciplinary team science to understand better the causes of chronic diseases that require expertise in areas such as biomedical, psychosocial, cultural, economic and environmental sciences among others.
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Do historically discriminatory policies influence current health outcomes? A study funded by the NIH’s Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program and the NIEHS hopes to answer this question. Policies geared toward racially segregating neighborhoods in the U.S. were widespread, pervasive, and well-documented following the Great Depression. Redlining maps were used for decades by banks and other lenders in order to determine loan risk. These maps shaded neighborhoods in one of four colors, and were based, in part, on the race and socioeconomic status of each neighborhood's residents.
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Human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancer burden is increasing in the U.S., despite the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine for the prevention of HPV infections and associated cancers. According to a 2019 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, nearly half of the adolescents who are eligible for the HPV vaccine are not up to date on vaccination. A study funded by the NCI aimed to estimate the rate of HPV vaccine usage among adolescents in the United States, broken down by state and explored reasons why there may be a failure to initiate or complete the vaccine series.
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In a recently published study funded the NICHD, NSF, and others investigated how adverse health shocks to one child could spill-over to their siblings. Brothers and sisters share a unique bond, often growing-up in the same household, with the same parents, similar genetics, and experiencing life events together. Siblings can have important influences on each other's lives, teaching/learning from each other, and modeling behaviors. However, they also share limited parental resources such as time, attention, and money. To date there is limited evidence regarding the causal role of siblings on the outcomes for other siblings since it is difficult to identify the effect of one sibling on another.
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Call for Nominations: Consensus Study on Accelerating Behavioral Science through Ontology Development and Use
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is undertaking a study to gather, review, and discuss the literature on the development of ontologies in scientific disciplines with a focus on the behavioral sciences. Ontologies for behavioral processes (e.g., mechanisms, mediators) in humans should be applicable to basic and applied research, while still considering how they can and should be linked with other behavioral, biomedical, and clinical ontologies.
The study will be carried out by a committee of approximately 15 volunteer experts in the fields of: psychological processes, behavioral measurement, machine learning, knowledge structures, ontology development (in behavioral science as well as in non-behavioral domains of science), and experience in leadership roles in high-profile journals covering behavioral phenomena applicable to human health and of trans-disease relevance.
You are invited to submit nominations for committee members and/or reviewers for this study by September 25, 2020.
Submit a Nomination
Request for Information (RFI): Information and Data Resources Needed by the Health Services Research Community for Research and Practice
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is the world’s largest biomedical library, established to “assist with the advancement of medical and related sciences and to aid in the dissemination and exchange of scientific and other information important to the progress of medicine and the public health.”
Information Requested
NLM seeks input from all participants and disciplines of the health services research community, regardless of previous engagement with our products. NLM invites your comments in the following areas:
- Products that NLM currently offers in the areas of health services delivery or health services research.
- Information types necessary for your organization to successfully support health services research or public health.
- Tools, resources, or health services literature that are the most critical for NLM to collect or support.
- Any other comments that would enable NLM to support future work related to the delivery of health services or health services research.
How to Submit a Response
To respond to this RFI, please go to the submission survey [link]. To ensure consideration, responses must be submitted by November 6, 2020. Responses are voluntary and may be submitted anonymously.
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NIMH Virtual Workshop, September 17-18, 2020, on Social Disconnection in Late-Life Suicide
Please join the NIMH Division of Translational Research for a two-day virtual workshop, “Social Disconnection in Late-Life Suicide,” which will bring together clinician scientists, behavioral scientists, neuroscientists, geriatric psychiatrists, epidemiologists, and implementation scientists to discuss the current state of the science on social disconnection and suicide. Workshop topics include:
- The mechanisms by which social disconnection confers risk for suicide in older adulthood
- Potential treatment targets for future intervention development
- Opportunities for and obstacles to effective implementation of interventions to address and prevent late-life suicide
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NIH Blueprint Event: Addressing Neuroimaging Challenges Across Populations and Settings— September 21 and 22
Join the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) on September 21 and 22 for a virtual workshop: Addressing Neuroimaging Challenges Across Populations and Settings.
The workshop brings together experts to discuss the challenges of neuroimaging in certain groups, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and in certain settings, such as rural health clinics, as well as the approaches to study design and analysis that help address these challenges.
Featured speakers, including neuroimaging experts from clinical and research backgrounds and technical developers working with multiple neuroimaging modalities, will discuss the following topics:
- Common and/or complementary themes
- Gaps in knowledge
- Best practices
- Promising new strategies
- Future directions
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Navigating Pediatric to Adult Health Care: Lost in Transition Workshop
Virtual Workshop co-sponsored by NICHD, OBSSR, NCI, and the NIH HEAL Initiative
Wednesday, September 30, 2020 (9:00 a.m.–4:45 p.m. ET)
Thursday, October 1, 2020 (9:00 a.m.–12:45 p.m. ET)
With improved rates of survival in childhood illnesses in the United States and globally, individuals are living longer with one or more chronic conditions. To meet the needs of diverse populations with chronic physical/medical conditions or intellectual/developmental disabilities as they transition from pediatric to adult centric services, barriers to successful health care transition (HCT), methods and measures for defining HCT, and the identification of promising practices must be better understood.
The purpose of this workshop is to bring together experts from various backgrounds and disciplines to explore research areas of high priority for youth regarding needed transition services/support as part of routine care. The workshop is part of the NIH-wide Pediatric Research Consortium (N-PeRC), which began in 2018 to provide a venue and opportunity for NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices to harmonize activities related to pediatric research, explore gaps in the overall NIH portfolio, and share best practices to advance science across NIH.
Individuals with disabilities who need Sign Language Interpreters and/or reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should contact Monica Barnette, [email protected], 301-459-0100, extension 119, and/or the Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).
The deadline to register is Monday, September 28, 2020.
Register Today
Global 2 Local Webinar Series: Webinar #1—Transferring HIV and Stigma Reduction Interventions from LMICs to the U.S.
The Fogarty International Center, in collaboration with OBSSR, invites you to attend a webinar discussion on Thursday October 1, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET on Transferring HIV and Stigma Reduction Interventions from LMICs to the U.S., the first in the Global 2 Local Webinar Series.
This first webinar will provide the scientific community with case examples of HIV interventions that are in various phases of being transferred from LMICs to the U.S., with a focus on several lessons from the transfer of stigma reduction interventions. Presenters will describe lessons learned from abroad, frameworks for intervention transfers, and key barriers and facilitators to this type of research and implementation.
Register Today
NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee Open Meeting (BSSR-CC)
Please join the next NIH BSSR-CC open meeting on Friday, October 2, 2020, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Representatives from NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices will meet to discuss behavioral and social sciences-relevant topics.
Join Webex meeting
Meeting number (access code): 126 387 5019
Meeting password: 4QjWUpFrt22
Join from a video system or application
Dial [email protected]
You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter the meeting number.
Tap to join from a mobile device (attendees only)
+1-650-479-3208,,1263875019##
Call-in toll number (U.S./Canada)
Join by phone
1-650-479-3208 Call-in toll number (U.S./Canada)
Global call-in numbers
Virtual NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival
SAVE THE DATES: December 1–2, 2020—Virtual Meeting. The Annual NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival will be hosted by OBSSR and the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee and held December 1–2, 2020. The purpose of the festival is to highlight recently funded behavioral and social sciences research that the NIH supports; bring together behavioral and social scientists within the NIH extramural and intramural communities to network with each other and share scientific ideas; and explore ways to advance behavioral and social sciences research.
