Strategic Goals
As history has proven time and again, basic research is an engine of progress. The knowledge that grows from fundamental exploration is essential. The future of America’s health depends on it, as does the nation’s global economic competitiveness. NIGMS strongly commits to continuing to invest in discovery by using a variety of vehicles to support basic research.
GOAL I: Enhance the basic biomedical research enterprise through grant support for competitive, investigator-initiated research.
NIGMS recognizes the need to provide scientists sufficient latitude to explore biomedicine in order to improve health. Although many important advances have occurred in a manner that could not have been anticipated, most scientific advances are more deliberate and require years of persistent work. While good research depends on a balance of ingredients, among the most important are adequate financial support and access to state-of-the-art resources and equipment.
NIGMS will pursue this strategic goal through the following objectives:
Maintain a balanced research portfolio that reflects scientific excellence and variety. By funding a wide spectrum of scientific topics, the Institute will encourage flexibility to allow emerging areas to be pursued promptly. Investigator-initiated research project grants—mostly R01s—will continue to remain the main focus of the overall NIGMS research portfolio. However, coordinated research programs will also provide an important and responsive avenue for addressing biomedical problems and creating resources for use by the scientific community at large.
Facilitate career stability in the biomedical workforce. NIGMS recognizes that scientific investigation, as a human endeavor, requires career stability enabled through steady research funding. The Institute will protect the talent pipeline, especially by addressing the vulnerability of career transition times, as a way to encourage continuity in the research enterprise. While the Institute recognizes that obtaining NIH funding will always be a highly competitive process, NIGMS considers it very important that all investigators have a reasonable chance of success. In particular, NIGMS will make a deliberate effort to fund new investigators. These actions are especially relevant in limited funding climates that can disadvantage applicants who are new to the NIH system. NIGMS will also continue to provide bridge funding for highly meritorious investigators who are especially at risk during constrained budget periods.
Provide support for innovative, high-risk biomedical research initiatives with the potential for achieving significant health impact. NIGMS will continue to encourage scientists to pursue innovation and risk in biomedical research. For science to move forward in leaps rather than in incremental steps, scientists need opportunities to test unconventional ideas and to try novel methods for solving difficult technical and conceptual problems that stall a field’s progress. One current effort initiated by NIGMS is the EUREKA (Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) award program, in which review criteria focus on potential impact and exceptional innovation in research and/or technology. Through EUREKA and other programs, NIGMS will identify research proposals with the potential to have a significant impact on scientific knowledge and on human health.
At the Institute level, initiate enhancements to the peer review process. In addition to supporting NIH-wide enhancements to the peer review system,7 NIGMS will continue to develop alternative in-house review practices and criteria that address review challenges, especially those that affect interdisciplinary research, quantitative biology, new scientific fields, and the entrance of new players into the biomedical research community. As part of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, NIGMS administers the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award and the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award programs. Each of these programs employs a novel, individualized peer review approach. NIGMS will pilot approaches that streamline administrative requirements for research project grants, always striving to ensure quality and consistency in the review of applications.
Support research that analyzes fundamental mechanisms that traverse multiple organ systems. NIGMS will continue to fund research on clinically related problems, addressing several selected areas, including burns, wound healing, the effects of drugs and anesthesia on the body, and the total body response to injury. These areas of inquiry will remain an important element of the Institute’s research portfolio since they focus on biological phenomena on a systems-wide, organismal level and they are not funded in a comprehensive way by other NIH institutes and centers. Some of these NIGMS-funded research efforts will involve clinical studies, but the Institute will not fund purely outcomes-based research, nor will it systematically examine issues related to health access and delivery.
GOAL II: Address selected scientific needs and opportunities through coordinated research programs.
The Institute recognizes that multiple approaches are needed to solve complex research problems. Modern biomedical research is a collaborative enterprise that may involve one or a few laboratories or a large group of researchers.
NIGMS will pursue this strategic goal through the following objectives:
Facilitate team science along a continuum of scales to advance multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary inquiry. NIGMS endorses the scientific community’s recognition of the value of team science for some challenges in modern biomedical research. Novel combinations of researchers often self-assemble to broaden the canvas of biomedical inquiry and encourage diversity in thinking. NIGMS will continue to fund cross-cutting research in the basic biomedical, behavioral, and clinical sciences through collaborative programs among researchers from a wide range of disciplines, including the clinical, social, and quantitative sciences. One example is the Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study (MIDAS), which is using computational tools to simulate how infectious diseases emerge and spread through communities, countries, and even continents. NIGMS will encourage use of the recently established NIH multiple-principal investigator mechanism as a method to extend the scope of the Institute’s funded research. A key NIGMS strategy will be to accommodate the evolution of new fields that emerge at the interfaces of existing disciplines. The Institute will nurture the talent pipeline in emerging fields through its support of cutting-edge, rigorous training environments that accompany basic research pursuits.
Identify and develop large-scale research programs that offer value, insight, and the broadest applicability to the scientific community. The NIGMS portfolio currently includes the Large-Scale Collaborative Award program, the National Centers for Systems Biology, the Pharmacogenetics Research Network, the Protein Structure Initiative, and MIDAS. These endeavors conjoin the efforts of multiple institutions working in a common area of major biomedical significance. Advantages of large-scale science initiatives include their economies of scale and synergy, as well as the capacity to build new communities. NIGMS will continue to fund these efforts while assuring the proper evaluation of their outcomes. For Institute-directed large-scale efforts, NIGMS will determine whether project goals have been met in a timely fashion and assess the projects’ impact on the broader scientific community. The Institute will strive to ensure that instrumentation, data, and resources developed at NIGMS-funded large-scale science facilities are made broadly available to all scientists.
Create programmatic linkages in support of NIH-wide translational initiatives. The NIH Roadmap has begun to address translational gaps through the Clinical and Translational Sciences Award (CTSA) program. NIGMS will consider possible linkages to CTSA institutions through NIGMS efforts such as the Medical Scientist Training Program. In concert with other NIH institutes and centers, NIGMS will also seek opportunities for enhancing workforce diversity through the nationwide CTSA network of clinical and translational investigators.
GOAL III: Identify innovative approaches among individuals and institutions to foster training and the development of an inclusive and effective scientific workforce.
A key aspect of the NIGMS mission is nurturing the biomedical research workforce, and achieving a workforce that accurately reflects the U.S. population remains an Institute priority. The NIGMS training investment will continue to set a high standard for students’ acquisition of both research skills and important career-related knowledge beyond specific research training. The positive effects of NIGMS-funded training grants and fellowships are extended through collaborative interactions with students and faculty within and across academic departments.
NIGMS will pursue this strategic goal through the following objectives:
Support a broad range of high-quality institutional training programs across the biomedical sciences. The Institute views a rigorous, yet nurturing, training environment as a key element of a healthy research enterprise. NIGMS recognizes the broader effects of its institutional training grants in that these programs impact many students and faculty beyond those supported by the grants. NIGMS will leverage its training investment by encouraging institutional training grant recipients to continually improve their existing practices while also welcoming new approaches. NIGMS is keenly aware of the need for more personnel in quantitative disciplines as well as the integrative sciences like physiology, pharmacology, and the clinical sciences. The Institute will consider approaches that provide institutional incentives that encourage students to interact with investigators in more than one discipline.
Provide funding for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows through investigator-initiated research project grants. The NIGMS research training investment is multifaceted and tightly linked to the Institute’s workforce development efforts. Independent of its institutional training grant activities, the Institute will continue to support the training of students and fellows working in individual-investigator (mostly R01 grant-funded) laboratories. NIGMS considers this an important avenue for research training. The Institute also acknowledges the reality that one size does not fit all, and it will remain open to both distinct training mechanisms and alternative career outcomes that depend on “marketplace” influences.
Expand and extend the NIGMS commitment to facilitating the development of a diverse and inclusive biomedical research workforce. Fostering diversity cannot be separated from the broader challenges of future workforce development. Dimensions of diversity include ethnicity, gender, disability, socioeconomic status, and national origin. The Institute is also aware of the low representation of women in leadership positions in the basic sciences and aims to close these gaps. NIGMS acknowledges the special circumstances faced by various segments of society in accessing career opportunities. The Institute will examine the purpose, intent, and desired outcomes of NIGMS-sponsored training programs as they relate to workforce diversity.
Address diversity and workforce development in all programs administered by NIGMS as a matter of both policy and practice. NIGMS is committed to the regular and rigorous review of all of its training efforts, including special diversity and career development programs, as well as to achieving closer coordination among the Institute’s various programs. NIGMS will continue to evaluate its efforts to promote biomedical research workforce diversity, seeking the most productive ways to distribute funding, and will continue to integrate diversity efforts across its programs. The Institute will consider implementing a “broader aims” component of research project grant applications that explicitly evaluates an investigator’s training, mentoring, and diversity activities.
Adopt a comprehensive, systems-based approach to address future workforce development issues. The challenge of scientific workforce diversity is fundamentally a systems problem, and NIGMS will approach it in this fashion. The Institute will investigate the issue of workforce diversity in a data-driven, scientifically rigorous manner. Developing effective approaches will require that NIGMS continually acquire evidentiary data, even if those data do not lead to concrete solutions in the near term. NIGMS will expand its investment in research to understand the efficacy of interventions designed to increase diversity. The Institute will assess the feasibility of developing computer models that reflect key trends in workforce development and related career path issues, incorporating pivotal demographic, societal, and behavioral variables. NIGMS will also continue to identify and use early predictors of longer-term outcomes for enhancing workforce diversity at research institutions.
GOAL IV: Advance awareness and understanding of the basic biomedical research enterprise, including its value, requirements, and potential impact.
NIGMS values transparency and positive relations with the scientific community and the public as critical to carrying out its mission. The Institute also believes that it is important to contribute to improvements in science education at the K-12 and other levels as a distinct diversity and workforce development strategy.
NIGMS will pursue this strategic goal through the following objectives:
Continue to foster an open dialogue with the scientific community about evolving scientific trends, gaps, and opportunities. NIGMS will communicate with its grantees and other members of the scientific community directly and through partnerships with universities, research institutes, scientific and professional societies, and organizations. The Institute will continue to issue regular programmatic updates to these constituents and seek input and feedback from them. NIGMS will also enhance efforts to empower its approximately 4,000 grantees and its advisory council members to serve as a highly visible group of ambassadors who can effectively and broadly communicate Institute programs and policies to multiple audiences. Additionally, the Institute will explore ways to increase communication among scientists working in diverse fields, potentially leading to new interactions and discoveries.
Raise public awareness and understanding about the value and impact of basic biomedical research. NIGMS will continue its efforts to communicate with the public about its goals and research results, as well as about NIH and its contributions to the nation's health. In our increasingly technology-driven society, knowledge of science—as well as how science is done—is important for making personal health and community decisions as well as for succeeding in a wide variety of careers. Toward this end, NIGMS will team with NIH institutes and centers and/or other organizations to increase scientific literacy. The Institute will also work to diminish misperceptions about biomedical science and scientists that stem from outdated stereotypes and lack of information. NIGMS will continue to provide students, teachers, and the general public with educational materials that illustrate the value of basic research and encourage the pursuit of scientific careers. In support of its efforts to foster workforce diversity, the Institute will partner with organizations and institutions to target the distribution of NIGMS educational and career-focused resources to students who belong to groups that are underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce.
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