Long-Term Intramural Research Program (LT-IRP) Planning Working Group

Background

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 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.

Charge

The LT-IRP Working Group of the ACD is charged with evaluating the NIH IRP and providing recommendations on its long-term planning efforts.

  • Recommend how the IRP should ensure its distinctive role in biomedical research, and how it should differ from extramural research institutions
    • Define the essential components of the IRP necessary to maintain or extend its special nature and the components that need modification
    • Articulate potential barriers to achieving this vision
    • Define what, if any, changes are needed or should be avoided
  • Identify areas of opportunity that the IRP should focus on in the next 10 years to take advantage of the IRP's distinctive features
  • Identify what needs to be done to ensure sustainability of the IRP's distinctive features, including the Clinical Center
  • Assure alignment of recommendations for the opportunities and needs in the IRP with the work of other ACD and internal NIH WGs regarding the demographics of workforce, age, sex, ethnic/racial diversity, MDs vs. PhDs

PROCESS, DELIVERABLES, and TIMEFRAME

The LT-IRP Working Group of the ACD will review a variety of reports focusing on the IRP, including reports from each Institute and Center on their long-term planning efforts, and present a final report for consideration by the ACD at its December 11–12, 2014 meeting.

Related Resources

Roster

  • Gilda A. Barabino, PhD
    Dean
    The Grove School of Engineering
    The City College of New York
  • Jeffrey Bluestone, PhD
    Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost; Professor
    School of Medicine
    UCSF
  • Arturo Casadevall, MD, PhD
    Professor
    Department of Microbiology and Immunology; Professor
    Department of Medicine (Infectious Diseases); Chair
    Department of Microbiology and Immunology; Director
    Center for Immunological Sciences; Leo and Julia Forchheimer Chair in Microbiology and Immunology
    Albert Einstein College of Medicine
  • Barry S. Coller, MD
    Physician in Chief; Vice President for Medical Affairs; David Rockefeller Professor; Allen and Frances Adler Laboratory of Blood and Vascular Biology
    The Rockefeller University
  • Diane E. Griffin, MD
    Alfred and Jill Sommer Professor and Chair in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
    Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • David Hunter, MBBS, MPH, ScD
    Vincent L. Gregory Professor in Cancer Prevention
    Departments of Epidemiology and Nutrition; Dean for Academic Affairs
    Harvard University School of Public Health
  • Carl H. June, MD
    Program Director of Translational Research
    Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute; Professor
    Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
    University of Pennsylvania
  • Philippa Marrack, PhD
    Professor of Molecular Biology and Immunology; Vice Chair
    Department of Immunology
    National Jewish Medical and Research Center
    Denver; Professor
    Health Sciences Center
    University of Colorado
  • Robert Nussbaum, MD
    Professor
    Department of Medicine
    UCSF
  • Nicholas A. Peppas, ScD
    Fletcher Stuckey Pratt Chair in Engineering; Professor of Chemical Engineering
    Biomedical Engineering and Pharmacy; Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering
    The University of Texas at Austin
  • Amita Sehgal, PhD
    John Herr Musser Professor of Neuroscience
    Department of Neuroscience
    University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
  • Harinder Singh, PhD
    Director
    Division of Immunobiology; Professor
    UC Department of Pediatrics
    Cincinnati Children's Hospital
  • Allen M. Spiegel, MD
    The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean; Professor
    Department of Medicine; Professor
    Department of Molecular Pharmacology
    Albert Einstein College of Medicine

ACD Members

  • Cato T. Laurencin, MD, PhD (co-chair)
    Albert & Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Chair in Orthopedic Surgery; Institute for Regenerative Engineering
    The University of Connecticut
  • Lawrence A. Tabak, DDS, PhD (co-chair)
    Acting Director
    NIH

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

  • Tara A. Schwetz, PhD
    NIH

This page last reviewed on February 12, 2011