IC Directors’ Meeting Highlights — Thursday, April 27, 2017

Announcements – Francis Collins

Dr. Collins (DIR) briefed the IC Directors on recent events at NIH, including a visit from astronaut Kate Rubins and the premier of an upcoming Discovery documentary focusing on research participants in the Clinical Center. He also reported on the upcoming meeting of the Clinical Center Research Hospital Board, foreign dignitary visits, his recent visit with Secretary Price, and the announcement of the Clinical Trial Protocol template.

Grant Support Index – Lawrence Tabak

Dr. Tabak (DEPD) led a discussion on a proposed plan for NIH to utilize a new metric, the Grant Support Index (GSI), to limit the total NIH grant support provided to an individual principal investigator through NIH-supported research. The GSI is a measure of an individual investigator’s grant support, and researchers with GSIs over 21 (the equivalent of 3 single-PI R01 awards) will be expected to include a plan in their applications for how they would adjust their existing grant load to be within the GSI limits if their application is awarded. GSI is anticipated to free up about 1,600 new awards, which will help broaden the pool of investigators conducting NIH research and improve the stability of the enterprise. IC Director discussion focused on various implementation aspects of the policy, and well as other programs that are being used to support investigators at different career stages.