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Exploratory Centers for Interdisciplinary Research DirectoryInterdisciplinary Research Centers are part of a trans-NIH Roadmap initiative designed to lower organizational barriers that impede research and enable scientists to conduct research across disciplines, creating solutions to biomedical problems that have not been solved using traditional, disciplinary approaches. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Roadmap for Medical Research funds nine interdisciplinary research consortia as a means of integrating aspects of different disciplines to address health challenges that have been resistant to traditional research approaches. The funding of these consortia represents a fundamental change in both the culture within which biomedical and behavioral research is conducted and the culture within the NIH where research projects are normally managed by an individual Institute or Center (IC). (See Press Release) As opposed to multidisciplinary research, which involves teams of scientists approaching a problem from their own discipline, interdisciplinary research integrates elements of a wide range of disciplines, often including basic research, clinical research, behavioral biology, and social sciences so that all of the scientists approach the problem in a new way. The members of interdisciplinary teams learn from each other to produce new approaches to a problem that would not be possible through any of the single disciplines. These consortia will not only develop new ways to think about challenging biomedical problems, but will provide a stimulus for academic research culture change such that interdisciplinary research becomes the norm. The consortia address directly several current barriers to interdisciplinary research. The strategies for accomplishing this include: (1) dissolving departmental boundaries within institutions; (2) providing recognition of team leadership within the projects; (3) cross-training students in multiple disciplines; and, importantly, (4) changing the NIH approach to interdisciplinary research administration. Funded Centers FY2008 Consortium for Neuropsychiatric Phenomics-Coordinating CenterDr. Robert Bilder, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles - Learn More Interdisciplinary Research Consortium in GeroscienceDr. Dale Bredesen, Director and CEO, The Buck Institutute for Age Research, Novato, California- Learn More Neurotherapeutics Research ConsortiumDr. Paul Hagerman, Professor, University of California, Davis - Learn More Taskforce for Obesity Research at SouthwesternDr. Jay Horton, Associate Professor, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas- Learn More SysCODE: Systems-Based Consortium for Organ Design and EngineeringDr, Richard Maas, Professor of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts - Learn More Northwest Genome Engineering ConsortiumDr. Andrew Scharenberg, Associate Professor, Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, Washington - Learn More Genomic-Based Drug DiscoveryDr. Edward Scolnick, Director, Psychiatric Initiative, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts - Learn More Interdisciplinary Research Consortium on Stress, Self-Control, and AddictionDr. Rajita Sinha, Professor, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut - Learn More The Oncofertility Consortium: Fertility Preservation for WomenDr. Teresa Woodruff, Professor, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois - Learn More |
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Bethesda, Maryland 20892 |
Department of Health and Human Services |