Since its inception, OBSSR has been a leader in advancing behavioral and social sciences research (BSSR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), championing science that improves health outcomes and reduces disparities. This year was no exception. 

By collaborating with experts within and outside the federal government, our talented, creative, and passionate staff have continued to foster innovation, build capacity, and emphasize the vital role of BSSR in public health. As 2024 draws to a close, let's reflect on OBSSR's major achievements this year:

• Launched the OBSSR Strategic Plan 2025–2029, a five-year roadmap to advance BSSR across NIH and foster innovation and collaboration.
• Supported more than 150 grants and research projects. Our annual NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival showcased BSSR across the NIH, with over 13 NIH-funded research presentations from Institutes and Centers.
• Advanced violence prevention research with two notices of funding opportunity announcements focused on measuring interpersonal violence and maternal health. Additionally, obtained Council of Councils approval for a concept aimed at supporting resource development and capacity building in research on the mechanisms underlying aggressive behavior—a key step toward advancing future studies in this vital area.
• Supported early stage investigators, including recognizing five emerging scientists with the Matilda White Riley Honors award and bringing them to NIH to present their innovative research.
• Advanced the understanding of the brain-behavior connection by awarding multiple grants for the Brain Behavior Quantification and Synchronization Program, including one to establish a data coordination and artificial intelligence center that will create and disseminate new tools, ontologies, research designs, data archives, data standards, and ethical frameworks.
• Expanded behavioral and social science ontologies by collaborating with NIH partners to fund five new Research Network Projects focused on accelerating BSSR through ontology development and use, enhancing our ability to structure, mine, standardize, and integrate behavioral and social sciences information within and across health domains.
• Enhanced representation of BSSR terminology in Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) by evaluating the impact of adding new social determinants of health (SDoH) terms to MeSH on the quality of PubMed search results. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, found significant improvements in search retrieval quality and provides a foundation for future work.
• Supported innovative methods by funding short courses focused on cutting-edge analytic methods to train a strong scientific workforce, with a particular emphasis on early stage investigators. 
• Advanced training for the next generation of BSS researchers in advanced data analysis methods with a reissue of the TADA-BSSR institutional training program funding opportunity (T32) supporting predoctoral training programs focused on computational and data science approaches. To date, the program has supported over 70 pre-doctoral candidates across a diverse array of disciplines. 
• Promoted research on health behavior maintenance, launching  several new initiatives, including a series of expert-led workshops, a comprehensive portfolio review, and an upcoming literature review.
• Explored the future of scientific conferencing by hosting a virtual workshop with multidisciplinary experts to reimagine scientific meetings, prioritizing diversity, inclusion, environmental sustainability, and technological innovation. Recommendations highlighted the importance of tailoring formats to diverse audience needs to ensure equity and engagement.

As we celebrate these achievements, we also look forward. In 2025, OBSSR will mark its 30th anniversary—a milestone marking three decades of progress in BSSR. This anniversary will provide the opportunity to celebrate our history while renewing our commitment to advancing impactful and interdisciplinary research. 

We invite you to join the celebration! Stay connected by signing up for our mailing list to receive updates on anniversary activities, upcoming initiatives, and opportunities to engage with our work. 

Meanwhile, have a lovely and restful holiday season, and we will see you in the new year!