NIH releases strategic plan for data science

What

Storing, managing, standardizing and publishing the vast amounts of data produced by biomedical research is a critical mission for the National Institutes of Health. In support of this effort, NIH today released its first Strategic Plan for Data Science that provides a roadmap for modernizing the NIH-funded biomedical data science ecosystem. Over the course of the next year, NIH will begin implementing its strategy, with some elements of the plan already underway. NIH will continue to seek community input during the implementation phase.

Accessible, well-organized, secure, and efficiently operated data resources are critical to modern scientific inquiry. By maximizing the value of data generated through NIH-funded efforts, the pace of biomedical discoveries and medical breakthroughs for better health outcomes can be substantially accelerated. To keep pace with rapid changes in biomedical data science, NIH will work to address the:

findability, interconnectivity, and interoperability of NIH-funded biomedical data sets and resources
integration of existing data management tools and development of new ones
universalizing innovative algorithms and tools created by academic scientists into enterprise-ready resources that meet industry standards of ease of use and efficiency of operation
growing costs of data management

To advance NIH data science across the extramural and intramural research communities, the agency will hire a Chief Data Strategist. This management function will guide the development and implementation of NIH’s data science activities and provide leadership within the broader biomedical research data ecosystem.

Who

Jon R. Lorsch, Ph.D., director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, is available to comment on this strategic plan.

Contact

To schedule interviews, please contact the NIH Office of Communications and Public Liaison, News Media Branch, nmb@od.nih.gov(link sends e-mail)or 301-496-5787.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

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