Agency head outlines research and financial focus in updated strategic plan for NIH
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced a new unified strategy, led by Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, to better align the agency's priorities and funding. The strategy aims to deliver measurable public health results, improve transparency, and support rigorous, reproducible science.
Key elements of this unified NIH strategy include:
- Chronic Disease and Nutrition: The NIH will focus on research exploring the role of poor diets in common chronic conditions, identifying healthy diets for prevention and management, with attention to maternal and infant nutrition's lifelong impacts and obesity/insulin resistance in children. Enhancing dietary self-care to reduce cardiovascular and metabolic risks is emphasized.
- Artificial Intelligence: The NIH plans to develop a comprehensive AI Strategic Plan to improve transparency in AI models, establish standards for replication of AI research, and accelerate AI-driven medical discoveries, while validating AI applications in healthcare delivery.
- Real-World Data Platform: The NIH will build a robust, secure national infrastructure to integrate data from sources like Medicare and Medicaid, facilitating advanced computational analyses across diseases including neurodevelopmental and chronic disorders while protecting privacy.
- Alternative Testing Models: The strategy includes promoting alternatives to animal testing, supporting the development and adoption of innovative, ethical research methods.
- Research Rigor and Reproducibility: The NIH aims to shift the research culture toward rigorous, reproducible, and generalizable results by supporting replication studies and mechanisms to publish negative findings, moving beyond the traditional "publish or perish" mentality.
Dr. Bhattacharya stated that this unified strategy will better leverage the synergies among NIH institutes and centers to fund the most meritorious science, address urgent health needs, and sustain the biomedical research workforce. He emphasized transparency and honoring public trust as core principles guiding this approach amid recent budget cuts and reorganization efforts.
In addition to the above priorities, the NIH is also dedicated to supporting research that pursues innovative, sometimes controversial questions. The agency is focused on research related to autism, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, research on racial disparities, transgender care, and more. The NIH is prioritizing research that can be replicated or reproduced and is based on gold-standard science principles.
The NIH is also emphasizing a preference for domestic research, including a new system for managing projects with funding for foreign research institutions and a blueprint for domestic training programs. The agency is shifting to solution-oriented approaches in health disparities research.
Moreover, the NIH is dedicated to supporting scientists focused on replication work and publishing negative findings. In April, a policy note from the NIH stated that the agency can pull medical research funding from universities with diversity and inclusion programs. The NIH is prioritizing research focused on more promising avenues for the health of transgender youth, such as treating harms caused by puberty suppression, hormone therapy, or surgery.
NIH funding decisions will reflect these priorities and other "core principles." Friday's statement noted that the NIH is focused on certain agency priorities, including autism, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, research on racial disparities, transgender care, and more. The statement aims to clarify specific issues that currently require additional guidance, specifically focusing on these agency priorities.
- The NIH's strategy for chronic disease and nutrition will concentrate on understanding the impact of unhealthy diets on common conditions, such as obesity, and developing healthy diets for prevention and management.
- As part of the strategy, the NIH intends to create an AI Strategic Plan to improve transparency in artificial intelligence models, set standards for replicating AI research, and expedite AI-driven medical discoveries.
- To foster more rigorous, reproducible, and generalizable results in health and wellness research, the NIH aims to shift the research culture, encouraging replication studies and publishing negative findings.
- In terms of policy and legislation, the NIH's unified strategy emphasizes a preference for domestic research, with a focus on solution-oriented approaches in health disparities research and strengthening support for scientists focused on replication work.
