IC Directors’ Meeting Highlights — Thursday, March 22, 2018

Announcements

Dr. Tabak provided updates, including Secretary Azar’s visit to NIH’s campus. The visit included a Town Hall meeting, pain/opioid research presentation, and meetings with NIH’s IC Directors. He also announced the next phases of Optimize NIH, including a NIH-wide Town Hall. Dr. Tabak also shared information about the budget.

Facilities Working Group Update re: Status of the Campus

Dr. Paul Sieving presented on assessing the capital needs of the NIH main campus. Per the 2017 Appropriations Bill, NIH was to enter into a contract with the National Research Council, Division of Engineering and Physical Sciences to prepare a report that assesses the capital needs of NIH’s main campus. The report identifies facilities in greatest need of repair, describes the work needed to bring the facilities up to current standards, and includes cost estimates for each project. The September 2017 agreement between the NIH and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine convened an ad-hoc committee. In February 2018 Committee members were selected, and meetings are planned for March 19-21, 2018.

Clinical Center Capital Fund Discussion

Dr. Alfred Johnson presented on the Clinical Center Capital Fund. The presentation included information on the fund’s purpose to provide funding for strategic Clinical Center investments such as infrastructure, major equipment, emergent programmatic issues, and Clinical Center defined projects. The fund, which is capped at $50M/year was established in FY 2019 to meet crucial Clinical Center programmatic and infrastructure modernization needs.

P01 and R01

Dr. Mike Lauer presented on the Extramural Activities Work Group’s question: Should NIH allow simultaneous applications through R01 and multi-component mechanisms.

Prevention Research Portfolio Analysis FY 2017 Results

Dr. David Murray provided a portfolio analysis on NIH-funded primary and secondary prevention research in humans.