NIH requests comments on proposed Strategic Plan framework

National Institutes of Health                                                                                             
Office of the Director 
Bethesda, MD 20892


July 22, 2015

Dear Colleagues,

In order to advance the NIH mission, we are developing an NIH-wide Strategic Plan. The goal of this 5-year plan is to outline a vision for biomedical research that ultimately extends healthy life and reduces illness and disability. NIH senior leadership and staff have developed a proposed framework for the Strategic Plan that identifies areas of opportunity across all biomedicine and unifying principles to guide NIH’s support of the biomedical research enterprise. The aim is to pursue crosscutting areas of research that span NIH’s 27 Institutes, Centers, and Offices.  

I invite you to review the framework in our Request for Information (RFI: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-15-118.html) and on the NIH website (http://www.nih.gov/about/strategic-plan), and to provide your feedback via the RFI submission site (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/rfi/rfi.cfm?ID=46). I encourage stakeholder organizations (e.g., patient advocacy groups, professional societies) to submit a single response reflective of the views of the organization/membership as a whole. We also will be hosting webinars to gather additional input. These webinars will be held in early to mid-August.

Your input is vital to ensuring that the NIH Strategic Plan positions biomedical research on a promising and visionary path. I appreciate your time and consideration in assisting us with this effort.  

Sincerely,

Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D. 
Principal Deputy Director, NIH