The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has publicly released its updated five-year Strategic Plan. This strategic plan was developed through a consultative process with stakeholders to guide the institute’s activities over the next five years. It proposes key scientific and public health priorities to advance research, methods to enhance scientific stewardship, and goals to support innovation in management practices and accountability.
This plan establishes ambitious goals to fulfill NICHD’s scientific mandate. Given the institute’s critical mission and the ongoing advances in science and technology, effective teamwork will be vital to success. Collaborations within NICHD, with NIH colleagues, with federal partners, and with public and private entities will be essential to achieving these goals.
Specifically, the NICHD Strategic Plan focuses the institute’s research and training efforts to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all. It presents the institute’s research goals and objectives under five broad research themes:
Understanding the Molecular, Cellular, and Structural Basis of Development
Promoting Gynecologic, Andrologic, and Reproductive Health
Setting the Foundation for Healthy Pregnancies and Lifelong Wellness
Improving Child and Adolescent Health and the Transition to Adulthood
Advancing Safe and Effective Therapeutics and Devices for Pregnant and Lactating Women, Children, and People with Disabilities
The NICHD Strategic Plan also outlines five cross-cutting topics – health disparities, disease prevention, infectious disease, nutrition, and global health, which are critical to integrate into each scientific research theme to successfully advance the institute’s scientific goals and objectives.
For further information on the strategic plan development process, read more in an October 2018 webinar presentation and a summary of the RFI responses that informed the strategic plan.