I’m pleased to announce the release of the NIGMS 2021-2025 Strategic Plan [PDF]. Like its predecessor [PDF], this plan sets the direction and priorities that the Institute will pursue over the next 5 years. It enumerates a series of goals, objectives, and implementation strategies that build upon the successful outcomes [PDF] of our prior plan, and it reflects key organizational values of the Institute. The plan also contains representative targets for each implementation strategy that promote both transparency and accountability to ensure that progress is tracked and periodically reported, and that any necessary course corrections can be implemented.
Creating this plan involved the engagement and participation of multiple groups and stakeholders. In June 2020, for instance, the Institute released a request for information (RFI) soliciting feedback from the extramural scientific community on the plan’s initial framework [PDF]. A specific suggestion obtained through the RFI was to identify a series of cross-cutting themes that are inherent in multiple goals, objectives, and/or implementation strategies contained within the plan. NIGMS enacted this suggestion with the addition of cross-cutting themes that represent an entirely new component of the overall plan and which are outlined on pages 9 and 10. Additional feedback came from members of the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council and from NIGMS staff through a series of internal focus groups. I’d like to thank NIGMS’ Division of Data Integration, Modeling, and Analytics staff and everyone who contributed to the development of this plan.
I invite you to read the NIGMS 2021-2025 Strategic Plan. We welcome any suggestions or comments you might have to help us become the most efficient, effective, and impactful scientific and public service organization we can be.