In the State of the Union Address, the President announced the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) initiative on Ending the HIV Epidemic. The goals are bold, to reduce new infections by 75 percent in 5 years and by 90 percent in 10 years, but are possible due to advances in two areas of research supported by the NIH. First, extensive research on HIV has produced an armamentarium of testing strategies and treatments that have extended the lives and quality of life of people infected with HIV and provided effective prevention strategies. Second, for over a decade, NIH has supported implementation science research for a range of medical conditions and treatments, including HIV.

On January 2, 2019, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) released a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input on its Strategic Plan 2020–2024. From a collaborative process involving external and internal stakeholders, six themes have emerged for which NICHD is seeking public input.

The behavioral and social sciences continue to play an integral role in the mission of the NIH. In fiscal year (FY) 2018, NIH funding for grants meeting the RCDC criteria for behavioral and social sciences research was $4.83 billion, an increase from $4.55 billion in FY 2017. All of the NIH Institutes and Centers support the behavioral and social sciences to some degree, with the National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development providing the largest funding for new grants in the behavioral and social sciences in FY 2018. The behavioral and social sc

NIH released new funding opportunity announcements for Basic Experimental Studies Involving Humans. These funding opportunities are for studies that meet the definition of basic research and are subject to clinical trials policies based on the NIH definition of a clinical trial.

On November 27, 2018, the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee (BSSR-CC) and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) will host the third NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival. This one-day festival provides the opportunity to highlight some of the impactful behavioral and social science research funded by the various NIH Institutes and Centers and gives the NIH staff a day to network and focus on the science we all work to advance.

Last month, a group of researchers representing labs from five institutions and the Center for Open Science published findings on the replication of 21 studies previously published in Nature and Science.

This blog was co-authored by Dr. Carrie D. Wolinetz, Director of the NIH Office of Science Policy (OSP). More information about OSP can be found at https://osp.od.nih.gov.

On July 20, 2018, the NIH released Guide Notice NOT-OD-18-212, “Delayed Enforcement and Short-Term Flexibilities for Some Requirements Affecting Prospective Basic Science Studies Involving Human Participants.”

“Let’s not fly blind” has been a frequent call to action at OBSSR in recent years. We are responsible for coordinating the behavioral and social sciences research (BSSR) at the NIH but that is a difficult task without the data and analytics to determine what types of BSSR are being funded or not and why.

Congratulations to our 11th NIH Matilda White Riley Distinguished Lecturer and our Early Stage Investigator Paper Awardees.