October 30, 2018
On October 15 and 16, national experts appointed by the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Dr. Diana Bianchi , met in Washington, DC to discuss the Institute’s recently launched strategic planning exercise. Over two days, the Strategic Planning Working Group, comprised of approximately 80 scientists and NICHD program staff, met to identify research themes and scientific domains. During the meeting, the experts were asked to identify the five most important research area themes and five scientific domain themes.
NICHD staff will use the outcome of the working group’s deliberations to inform a draft strategic plan. In addition, twitter and email input from the scientific community is being collected and will inform the internal deliberations. Currently, the Institute anticipates posting a draft plan for public comment early in the new year, with a goal of completing the final plan by summer of 2019. Resources will be aligned with the new strategic plan.
FABBS members who wish to get involved in this important initiative are encouraged to register for a public webinar that the Institute is sponsoring on October 31, 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. (ET). More information, including a link to register can be found here. Scientists may also submit comments via email at NICHDStrategicPlan@nih.gov or via twittter, @NICHD_NIH. Once the draft plan is available for public comment early next year, we will share it for review and comment.
