The Office of Science Policy Analysis (OSPA) serves as the point office within the Office of the Director (OD) for collecting up-to-date information on NIH scientific accomplishments and discoveries from all of the NIH components; packaging these advances in plain language; and disseminating these discoveries to a wide audience including NIH Senior Staff, Congress, Patient Advocacy Groups and the Public.
NIH and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
In 2009, ARRA awarded NIH over 10 billion dollars to provide jobs and invest in cutting edge science with the goal of improving the nation’s health. NIH's two-year infusion of ARRA funds is empowering the nation's best scientists to discover new cures, advance technology, and solve some of our greatest health challenges.
The ARRA Investment Reports provide highlights of NIH ARRA-funded projects on some of the major topics of interest to the public and groups involved in biomedical research funding. The reports are designed to describe, in plain language, the need for research on a specific disease or other health-related topic and how ARRA-funded projects are addressing these needs. The ARRA Investment Reports were developed by the NIH Institutes and Centers and several other NIH Offices, including the Office of the Director, which are involved in awarding ARRA grants to scientific researchers. The reports are compiled, maintained, and publicly posted by OSPA.
The new NIH ARRA Web Portal features NIH ARRA Investment Reports, Funding & Story Maps, press releases, stories of NIH ARRA-funded researchers, research projects, training programs, and infrastructure, as well as early results of ARRA-funded biomedical research. The portal also links out to additional online resources, including ARRA funding reports from NIH’s RePORT website and ARRA websites from each of NIH’s Institutes and Centers and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The newest “Early Results” stories are being developed by OSPA, in close collaboration with the NIH Institutes and Centers and their funded investigators. The NIH ARRA Web Portal soon will feature ARRA Results Reports, which will document the broad scope of scientific, health, and societal outcomes of NIH’s ARRA investments in biomedical research, training, and infrastructure.
The NIH ARRA Web Portal was developed by OSPA, in collaboration with the Office of Extramural Research. It builds on the original NIH Recovery website developed by the NIH Office of Communication and Public Liaison and communications offices of the NIH Institutes and Centers.
Contact: OSPA at 301-496-1454
In 2006, in conjunction with the Office of the NIH Director and the Office of Communications and Public Liaison (OCPL), OSPA began the systematic release of the Fact Sheet vignettes, “Research Results for the Public.” The chronological format of each fact sheet is designed to tell the stories of research discovery, current treatment status, and future expectations for the prevention and treatment of diseases and conditions affecting the nation's health. Several of the Sheets also describe NIH policies and organizations in place to enhance public health safety and the public understanding of health science. OSPA solicits these Fact Sheets from the NIH Institutes and Centers and the OD Program Offices on a wide range of important disease and medical topics. Once received, OSPA coordinates the response from the contributors and checks each Fact Sheet for clarity and plain language before posting to the recently redesigned Fact Sheets website.
To submit new Fact Sheets or request edits to existing Fact Sheets, please contact: Betsy Dean at deanb@od.nih.gov
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