NIH Nominee; NASA Nominee; NIA Feedback
BU IN DC
Senior Vice President for Strategy & Innovation Kenneth Olliff attended the Council on Competitiveness 2024 Gala Dinner and National Competitiveness Forum on December 2nd and 3rd.
TRANSITION UPDATES: TRUMP PICKS NOMINEES FOR NIH AND NASA
President-elect Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate Dr. Jay Bhattacharya as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Jared Isaacman as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Bhattacharya will oversee NIH’s nearly $48 billion budget and Isaacman will manage NASA’s $25 billion budget.
Dr. Bhattacharya is a physician and health economist at Stanford University and is known for co-authoring the Great Barrington Declaration, an open letter that critiqued COVID-19 lockdowns and promoted herd immunity. Isaacman is a billionaire entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, a payment processing company. He has flown on two commercial SpaceX missions.
NIH SEEKS FEEDBACK ON MINORITY HEALTH AND AGING RESEARCH PRIORITIES
Two institutes of the National Institutes of Health are seeking feedback from stakeholders about their plans for future research investments. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) has launched the process for providing input on the NIMHD strategic plan for 2026 – 2030. The agency is asking the public “to identify the most pressing concerns in minority health and health disparities for the next five years” and submit comments prior to December 31, 2024. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is requesting comments on NIA’s Strategic Directions for Research, 2026 – 2030 by January 31, 2025. The plan includes ten goals related to topics such as the biology of aging, tools and technologies to study aging, and the infrastructure to support aging research.
BUZZ BITS…
- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced the forthcoming retirement of NIH’s Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity, Dr. Marie Bernard. Dr. Bernard co-led the agency’s UNITE Initiative to address racial equity. She previously served as deputy director of the National Institute on Aging.
- The Biden Administration released the Federal Strategic Plan for Advancing STEM Education and Cultivating STEM Talent. The plan details federal goals for enhancing engagement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); improving teaching and learning; addressing workforce needs; building research and innovation capacity; and creating better learning environments by improving retention.
- Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Arati Prabhakar recently spoke with School of Public Health Dean Sandro Galea about using science to improve health outcomes, health care in America, and the Biden Cancer Moonshot.