Each year, the OBSSR pays tribute to the influence of Dr. Matilda White Riley (1911–2004) in the behavioral and social sciences at the NIH, as she was instrumental in the coordination and advancement of behavioral and social sciences at the agency. Dr. Riley laid the foundation for the establishment of the OBSSR over 20 years ago.

The goal was ambitious: Develop a strategic plan in less than 10 months. But the need and the eagerness of staff and stakeholders alike made it clear it would be done. Today, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) is in the final stages of a strategic planning process, and a draft plan is being prepared for public comment. OBSSR last developed a strategic plan in 2007, which served as point of departure for the new strategic planning process to update our priorities and focus our activities on the areas OBSSR is uniquely suited to lead…

The United States pays more for health care than any other country and yet reaps comparatively fewer health benefits. April is National Minority Health Month, a good time to focus on the negative impact that health disparities affecting racial and ethnic minorities and low income populations have on the nation’s health care bill. The Commonwealth Fund reports that health care costs in the United States represent 17 percent of GDP—or more than $9,000 per person per year.

Twenty years ago, when OBSSR was created by Congress, one of its mandates was to define behavioral and social sciences research to assess and monitor NIH funding in this area. This resulted in a high-level taxonomy of BSSR and delineates basic versus applied behavioral and social sciences research with a range of examples for each. The taxonomy goes on to describe what is meant by “behavioral”—overt actions, psychological processes, and bio-behavioral interactions—and “social”—sociocultural, socioeconomic, biosocial interactions, and various levels of social context.