Long-Term Strategic Planning for the Intramural Research Program

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) maintains a robust Intramural Research Program (IRP) to conduct fundamental research that reveals new principles of biology, provides a new understanding of human disease, and changes treatment paradigms using innovative approaches. The structure and resources of the IRP are designed to foster the pursuit of projects beyond the scope of what is reasonably fundable in the extramural community, such as the ability to start long-term research projects or to change directions quickly when the scientific opportunity or public health need arises. Previously, reviews of the IRP have been particularly insightful and useful in guiding the IRP in its long-term planning efforts; however, the last review, undertaken by the Institute of Medicine to review the entire NIH organizational structure, was completed in 2003. Therefore, Dr. Francis Collins, the NIH Director, assembled a working group of the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) to examine and assess the IRP in an effort to identify areas of opportunity, enhance the uniqueness of the IRP, evaluate the sustainability of current approaches, and guide the future vision of the IRP.

• NIH ACD Long-Term Intramural Research Program (LT-IRP) Planning Working Group Report [December 2014]