Freedom of Information Act Office
IC Directors' Meeting Highlights
October 26, 2011
| To: | IC Directors |
| Subject: | IC Directors' Meeting Highlights — March 10, 2011 |
NIH Reorganizations: Kathy Hudson, Jim Anderson, and Larry Tabak
The National Center for the Advancement of Translational Science has a mission to advance the discipline of translational science and catalyze the development of novel diagnostics and therapeutics across a wide-range of human diseases and conditions. NCATS will help facilitate—not duplicate—the translational research activities supported and conducted by the current institutes and centers. NCATS does not intend to compete with the private sector and will reinforce the NIH’s commitment to basic science research.
Among the functions of this new Center will be to improve the processes of therapeutic development through an open access environment, collaboration within the ICs, and helping to facilitate an interaction with all regulatory agencies to advance the field of regulatory science. NCATS will also help provide resources for therapeutic development and will enhance training in disciplines relevant to the translational sciences.
Moving forward a budget amendment and reorganization package will be sent to DHHS and a search for a Transition Management team and NCATS leadership will commence. Common Fund support for NCATS will remain at FY12 levels through FY13 and the IC distribution of funding will decline.
State of the Agency briefing: Larry Self
Management Directive 715 requires that each agency analyze its current EEO policies, procedures, and practices and develop plans to remove any barriers to equal opportunity. Each year the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management briefs senior leaders on agency progress and future recommendations for accomplishing objectives.
Focus areas continue to be on the recruitment of Blacks, Hispanics, Asia/Pac Islanders, and individuals with targeted disabilities. Recruitment of American Indian/Alaska native scientists was eliminated from FY11 focus areas. Recruitment and retention across all of these areas has decreased from 2009 except for a slight increase in targeted disability representation. Senior leadership need to continue their commitment to hiring underrepresented minorities and individuals with targeted disabilities as well as strive for diversity in their postdoc hires.
For agency complaints, the ratio of pre-complaints to formal complaints has generally remained the same since FY07. Reprisal was the most prevalent basis for formal complaints in fiscal years 2007-2010. The last finding of discrimination was in fiscal year 2007.
NHGRI Strategic Plan—Eric Green
On February 10, 2011, Nature magazine published the National Human Genome Research Institute’s strategic plan for the future of human genome research called “Charting a course for genomic medicine from base pairs to bedside”. This strategic vision was developed in consultation with leading genome researchers over more than two years and is intended to inspire many to contribute to advancing genomic understanding, especially as other National Institutes of Health institutes and centers focus genomic technologies on the diseases they study.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first analysis of the draft human genome, and the launch of the new strategic vision for the field of genomics, NHGRI sponsored a symposium with leading thinkers in the field of genome research—including all three directors in the history of the National Human Genome Research Institute—who gathered on the campus of the National Institutes of Health on February 11, 2011, to consider the future of their field.
The plan can be found at the following url: http://www.genome.gov/Pages/About/Planning/2011NHGRIStrategicPlan.pdf (PDF - 2.5MB)
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