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Director Francis Collins Holds NIH Constituents Meeting September 9, 2009
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NIH Director
Francis Collins |
On behalf of SOT, Shawn Lamb, Executive Director, attended the first ever National Institutes of Health (NIH) constituents meeting on September 9, 2009, at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. NIH Director Francis Collins thanked the participants, past and present NIH staff, and the President for support. More than 350 representatives from 312 constituent organizations, including scientific societies, advocacy, voluntary, and patient groups, attended this forum.
Dr. Collins outlined five areas of specific scientific opportunity that he would like NIH to focus on in the coming years:
- Applying genomics and other “high throughput technologies” to understanding fundamental biology and uncovering the specifics of disease causes
- Translating basic scientific discoveries into new and better treatments
- Putting science to work for better health care decision making
- Increasing the focus on global health
- Reinvigorating and empowering the research community through stable and predictable budget increases
Dr. Collins responded to the questions posed by attendees and asked that each constituent group develop a 1–1.5 page summary of the issues about which he should be aware. Moreover, he noted that to encourage ongoing input, the NIH has launched a new communications portal NIH-LISTENS@nih.gov.
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