in this issue...
 APA Hosts First Friends of NIAAA Meeting
NIMH Research and Policy Update
RWJ Seeks Proposals from Behavioral Scientists Conducting Health Policy Research
National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research Update
National Children’s Study Expands Centers
NICHD Plans for Tight Funding Year
Farm Bill Includes Worrisome Amendments
APA Hosts First Friends of NIAAA Meeting
On January 31, Science Government Relations staff hosted the inaugural meeting of the Friends of NIAAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) at APA Headquarters. The meeting was well-attended and followed an “if you build it they will come approach,” considering the fact that the meeting actually took place after the first public Friends of NIAAA event, which was a Capitol Hill briefing on underage drinking research. In addition to local representatives from various scientific and professional societies, APA was delighted that Dr. Ray Anton took the time to fly in for the meeting in his role as President of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA). Before the official start of the meeting, Dr. Ting-Kai Li, Director of NIAAA, provided a one-hour briefing on NIAAA research priorities. After Dr. Li left, Geoff Mumford then discussed models that other coalitions are using to enhance the visibility of individual NIH Institutes and engaged the group in a strategic planning exercise to help move this new Friends group forward. For more information, or to get involved, please contact Anne Bettesworth.
[back to top]
NIMH Research and Policy Update
On January 11, Science GRO’s Elizabeth Hoffman attended the Open Policy Session of the National Advisory Mental Health Council at NIH. NIMH Director Tom Insel opened the meeting with an NIH-wide update, including an overview of the recently established Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) and a new program to investigate causes and treatments of autism, the Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE). ACE is a consolidation of two existing programs, the Studies to Advance Autism Research and Treatment (STAART) and Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism (CPEA).
In discussing the Institute’s priorities, Insel emphasized the importance of whole genome analysis in mental health research, especially autism spectrum disorders, depression, and schizophrenia. Francis Collins, Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, spoke about the Institute’s genes, environment, and health initiative and predicted that discoveries from whole genome association studies would transform health research in the coming years. Council member Jonathan Cohen (Princeton University) pointed out that the social environment and our behavioral choices are just as important as the physical environment. Collins agreed and said that he looks forward to learning more about gene-social environment interactions in health and disease.
The Council then moved to a discussion of the NIMH Strategic Plan, a draft of which was released for public comment in November. As readers may recall from last month’s SPIN, a common theme that emerged from APA member comments was the noted absence of behavioral research among the Plan’s objectives. In our review, we urged the Institute not to exclude basic behavioral research in the final version. We were encouraged to hear that much of the public commentary focused on the importance of behavioral and social science research as well as environmental factors associated with mental disorders. Insel assured Council members that the value of basic behavioral science will be underscored in the final version. Stay tuned for public release of the NIMH Strategic Plan in spring 2008.
The next Open Policy Session will be in May.
For more NIMH news, click here.
[back to top]
RWJ Seeks Proposals from Behavioral Scientists Conducting Health Policy Research
The Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation has just released its 2008 program announcement for the Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research, which is designed to support scholars from a range of fields who have broad projects that can enhance policy to improve health or health care in the U.S. Unlike most NIH or NSF funding opportunities, the program, which provides grants of up to $335,000, is not intended to support a discrete research project but rather to allow a scholar to devote considerable time to a project of greater scope than the usual RO1 grant. The program also offers an unusual opportunity to meet, interact, and often collaborate with outstanding scholars in fields including medicine, economics, political science, sociology, law, epidemiology, history, public health, and journalism, among others.
RWJ recognizes that its mental health portfolio is “very slim” at present and reached out to the Science Directorate to assist in boosting the behavioral scientist applicant pool. Having said that, the selection process for the Investigator Awards is very competitive. Each year RWJ receives over 200 four-page letters of intent and invites a quarter of those applicants to submit full proposals (20 pages in length). RWJ makes about 10 awards each year for a success rate of about 20 percent. In correspondence with APA, Lynn Rogut, Deputy Director of the program, noted that “We are always on the lookout for highly-qualified behavioral scientists with broad, innovative, policy-relevant projects that promise to contribute to improving health and health care policy.”
The Call for Applications is posted on the RWJ website. The next deadline for receipt of four-page letters of intent is March 26, 2008.
[back to top]
National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research Update
During the January NICHD Advisory Council meeting, Michael Weinrich, Director of NICHD’s Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research, presented a progress report on how the center is meeting the objectives established in its most recent strategic plan. While highlighting the tremendous scientific progress in advanced prosthetics and clinical trials of constraint-induced therapies, the Center is seeking new approaches to encourage successful multidisciplinary translational research teams and supporting research on the reintegration of persons with disabilities into the community.
[back to top]
National Children’s Study Expands Centers
Last year, Congress successfully moved the National Children’s Study (NCS) funding responsibility from the NICHD to the Office of the NIH Director, which allowed Congress to provide funding increases for the study even as NIH funding remained flat. The FY08 omnibus appropriations bill provided the NCS with $110.9 million, which will enable the NCS to continue expanding the number of counties involved in the study and also allow the original seven Vanguard Centers to begin recruiting families into the NCS. APA submitted its official comments on the NCS last fall. Currently funded Vanguard and Study Centers are also eligible to compete for additional study locations. Click here for more information on the new competition.
[back to top]
NICHD Plans for Tight Funding Year
Funding for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) remained level for FY08 at $1.254 billion. The ramifications of that will be felt not only by those applying for new funding, but also by current grantees. The number of new and competing grants will drop to 392—even lower than the 423 in FY06. Noncompeting awards will only receive a one percent inflationary increase rather than the committed three percent. On the positive side, NICHD is still committed to funding as many new investigators as in previous years and will spend $1.1 million to fund 12 Pathway to Independence awards. Council also approved several upcoming requests for applications, including multidisciplinary HIV/AIDS research in developing countries to examine behaviors of individuals 18-24, as well as young married couples. APA and others in the scientific community are lobbying for a 6.6 percent increase for NICHD in FY09, which would raise the Institute’s budget to $1.34 billion.
[back to top]
Farm Bill Includes Worrisome Amendments
Two amendments that may adversely affect aspects of research with nonhuman animals are included in both the House and Senate versions of a five-year, $286 billion bill that reauthorizes programs on food safety and production. H.R. 2419 (commonly called the “Farm Bill”) passed the Senate on December 14, 2007, with a strong margin of 79-14, and passed the House in July with a 231-191 vote.
Section 11316 in the House version would prohibit the use in sales contexts of live animals to demonstrate medical devices, as well as of previously recorded videos of demonstrations on live animals. This prohibition would deprive veterinarians, physicians, and researchers of opportunities to learn new surgical techniques and to evaluate and expand the applicability of these new devices.
The Animal Welfare Association (AWA) already requires prior review and approval of all demonstrations that involve animals by animal care and use committees associated with the relevant research organizations and companies. These committees' approvals are contingent on the determination that there is no alternative to live and/or recorded animal demonstrations and that the individuals conducting the research or demonstrations have the required skills and training.
Click here to view the entire story.
[back to top]
About SPIN
APA's Science Government Relations Office (GRO) wants you to know about the important policy issues that involve psychological science at the national level. The Science GRO staff advocate for psychological science not only with members of Congress, but also with the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, Education, Justice, and with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National Science Foundation. To keep you up-to-date regarding science policy within these agencies and on Capitol Hill, Science GRO staff write various articles and publish them monthly in an electronic newsletter called Science Policy Insider News (SPIN).
[Subscribe to SPIN]
Questions?
If you have any questions regarding SPIN or specific science policy issues, please feel free to contact any of APA's Science GRO staff.
Geoff Mumford, PhD
Assistant Executive Director for Science Policy
email
Pat Kobor
Senior Science Policy Analyst
email
Heather O'Beirne Kelly, PhD
Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer
email
Karen Studwell, JD
Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer
email
Elizabeth Hoffman, PhD
Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer
email
Anne Bettesworth
Science Policy Associate
email
Kirk Waldroff
Science Website Manager
email |
