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Goals and Planning

The National Human Genome Research Institute's (NHGRI's) scientific mission is reflected in a dynamic planning and assessment process that establishes goals and sets a research agenda to achieve them.

Building upon the successful implementation of three previous five-year plans, the Human Genome Project's (HGP) completed the sequencing all the human DNA in April 2003. NHGRI continues to successfully meet additional goals central to the institute's mission. These goals include fostering research in the ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) of genomic discoveries; developing strategies for reducing health disparities by disseminating genomic information to the public and health professionals; and providing support to train and educate the next generation of genomic investigators.

NHGRI is now charting a course of action and setting research priorities for the future. This new plan will guide an expanded mission focused on understanding the structure and function of the human genome with the ultimate aim of improving human health.

NHGRI's effort to create a bold new vision includes a series of planning workshops, now completed, and the "bookend" meeting at the Airlie Conference Center in Warrenton, Va., November 18-20, 2002, Beyond the Beginning: The Future of Genomics II, similar in spirit to the first Airlie conference in December 2001, Beyond the Beginning: The Future of Genomics. The first Airlie conference brought together more than 100 of the world's top scientific minds to envision ways the vast wealth of DNA data generated by the HGP could find practical applications in biology and medicine in the future.

The direction of the future for NHGRI and for genomics research - A Vision for the Future of Genomics Research - was released in April 2003, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of James Watson and Francis Crick's seminal publication of the structure of DNA.

Current Planning

• A Vision for the Future of Genomics Research
• Long-Range Planning

Past Planning

• New Goals for the U.S. Human Genome Project: 1998-2003: The 1998 Five-Year Plan
• A New Five-Year Plan for the United States Human Genome Program: The 1993 Five-Year Plan
• Understanding Our Genetic Inheritance: The 1990 Five-Year Plan
• NHGRI/NIH Health Disparities Strategic Plan (2004 - 2008)
• NHGRI Strategic Plan for Reducing Health Disparities (2001)
• NHGRI Strategic Plan for Reducing Health Disparities (2000)

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Last Reviewed: October 22, 2008