April 6,
2005
|
Vol.
8 No. 4
|
NIH PLANS NEW CROSS-AGENCY OFFICE
According to its latest budget
plans, NIH will create a new Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic
Initiatives within the Office of the
Director in FY 2006. NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, M.D., said the new
office will help coordinate trans-NIH initiatives like the Institutes’ obesity
project and the NIH Roadmap plan.
In his budget testimony
before the House Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations,
Zerhouni said the new office will create “better
institutional tools to analyze, assess and manage the NIH-wide research
portfolio,” including “an improved process for collecting
data on various diseases, conditions and research fields, and improvements
in data about burden of disease.” The office will also seek
advice from within NIH and from the public about ways to coordinate
research between institutes and to set priorities for new trans-NIH
initiatives.
Zerhouni told the House
Energy and Commerce Subcommittee that the Office of Portfolio Analysis
would improve the timeliness and public
relevance of NIH research, concerns frequently mentioned by the subcommittee’s
members. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the Energy and Commerce Committee
chairman, has proposed legislation to reauthorize NIH to address
some of these concerns.
To read more about the new office in the NIH FY 2006 budget justification,
go here.
