NIAID is now updating its Institute-wide Strategic Plan. To start, we need to identify and elucidate our major research priorities. And we want to hear from you—through Request for Information (RFI): Inviting Comments and Suggestions on NIAID’s Strategic Plan, we invite feedback from the extramural research community on the scientific topics that will drive our Strategic Plan.
In recent years, NIAID’s research portfolio has expanded both in response to new threats, e.g., emerging infectious diseases, and new opportunities, e.g., technological advances in RNA-based therapeutics.
Our new Strategic Plan will likely be built around five research priorities and several cross-cutting themes. The research priorities are outlined below.
Priority 1: Advance foundational research on the immune system, host-pathogen interactions, and pathogen biology.
Priority 2: Apply foundational knowledge of the complex interactions between microbes and the immune system to develop and test medical countermeasures against known infectious diseases (non-HIV/AIDS).
Priority 3: Apply knowledge of HIV/AIDS to reduce HIV incidence through the development of safe and effective prevention, treatment, and cure strategies.
Priority 4: Apply knowledge of basic immunology to develop and enhance intervention strategies for asthma, allergic and immune-mediated diseases, and transplantation.
Priority 5: Support innovative research efforts to prepare for and respond to nationally or internationally significant biological incidents affecting public health.
The RFI lays out detailed objectives within each priority area, e.g., Leverage expertise in infectious diseases, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, and access to clinical samples to develop and test rapid-response diagnostics for biological threats and emerging infectious diseases (under Priority 5).
In addition to the above research priorities, NIAID seeks input on cross-cutting themes like diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; women’s health; health disparities; research inclusivity; and global health. We are also concerned with infrastructure and research facilities, data science and sharing, and workforce training.
How to Respond
To answer this RFI, send your response to NIAIDStrategicPlanRFI@niaid.nih.gov by May 27, 2024.
Responses are welcome from associations and professional organizations as well as individual community members.
Do not include any private, proprietary, classified, or sensitive information in your response, as we may collect and share publicly the community feedback we receive in response to this RFI.