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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Summary
Charts
Complete List of Activities
Type Of Collaboration
Committee, Advisory Group, or Work Group
Health Survey
Meeting/Workshop
Public Education Campaign
Research Initiative
Resource Development
Training Initiative
Other
Agency Collaborations
Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Administration for Community Living (ACL)
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Indian Health Service (IHS)
Office of the Secretary (OS)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
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Report on NIH Collaborations with Other HHS Agencies for Fiscal Year 2017
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Summary
Introduction
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” - Helen Keller
This annual report captures the extent and nature of activities undertaken by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in collaboration with the other agencies and divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Tasked with improving the health of the American public, HHS consists of many agencies and divisions, and synergy between these different components is vital to the success of the whole. In recognition of the important role of collaboration between HHS agencies, Congress added section 403A(a) of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. § 283a(a), Annual Reporting to Increase Interagency Collaboration and Coordination, via Section 104 of the National Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006. This law mandates that the NIH Director provide to the Secretary of HHS an annual report on NIH’s collaborations with other HHS agencies. This, our eleventh report to the Secretary, covers fiscal year 2017.
Background
The HHS mission is to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services. As outlined in the
HHS Strategic Plan FY 2018-2022
, the Department sets forth four interrelated, strategic goals to achieve this mission:
Reform, Strengthen, and Modernize the Nation’s Healthcare System
Protect the Health of Americans Where They Live, Learn, Work, and Play
Strengthen the Economic and Social Well-Being of Americans Across the Lifespan
Foster Sound, Sustained Advances in the Sciences
Promote Effective and Efficient Management and Stewardship
HHS accomplishes its mission and meets its strategic goals and associated objectives, strategies, and performance goals through the work of its eleven operating divisions, including eight agencies in the United States Public Health Service and three human service agencies, which administer HHS’s multifaceted programs and initiatives. In addition, staff divisions of the Office of the Secretary provide leadership, direction, and policy guidance to the Department. Together, this ‘HHS Family’ covers a vast spectrum of activities that impact health, public health, and human services outcomes. With more than 115 programs across the Department, the ultimate success of all components of the HHS family is enhanced by interagency collaborations that enable agencies to combine their knowledge and diverse expertise to accomplish their collective mission. Such cross-agency teamwork is necessary to create a collaborative community within HHS that accelerates progress in medicine, health services, and public health programs.
Since its origins in 1887, as a one-room laboratory in the Marine Hospital Service, NIH has been charged with improving health through research. As the largest research arm of HHS, NIH’s mission is “to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability,” which it fulfills through its congressionally mandated
NIH-Wide Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2016–2020: Turning Discovery Into Health
. NIH’s collaborative efforts with other HHS agencies are vital to transforming fundamental scientific and technical information into effective, knowledge-based approaches that advance the health and safety of the public, such as disease treatments, preventive interventions, protective health policies and regulations, and public health campaigns. In turn, the information provided by other HHS agencies on public health needs informs the policies and priorities of NIH-funded research.
The interagency collaborations included in this report cover joint activities undertaken by NIH with all other components of HHS, including the
staff divisions within the Office of the Secretary (OS)
1
and the ten other operating divisions of HHS:
Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Administration for Community Living (ACL)
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Indian Health Service (IHS)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
FY 2017 Collaboration Themes
NIH and other HHS operating and staff divisions reported 601 collaborative activities in FY 2017. These numerous examples of cross-agency collaboration demonstrate the broad spectrum of health efforts that NIH contributes to in partnership with the rest of the Department and are organized into six themes in this report:
Assessing the Public’s Health
– enabling better tracking of disease and disability
Improving Diagnostics and Treatment
– promoting research, and the translation of NIH’s research results into safe and effective diagnostics and treatments
Preventing Disease and Disability
– providing the evidence base for national disease and disability prevention efforts
Providing Evidence-Based Health Information
– equipping public health efforts and the American public with the latest research findings and best available health information
Keeping Americans Safe
– ensuring effective health policy and regulatory protections
Broad, Multi-Purpose Coordination
– coordinating complex strategic planning efforts that cut across the entire Department
Collaboration examples from each thematic area are included in
Figure 1
and described in the “FY 2017 Collaboration Highlights” section to follow.
Figure 1: Advancing the Public’s Health: Thematic Areas of NIH’s Collaborations with Other Agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services.
These examples of cross-agency collaboration demonstrate the broad spectrum of health efforts that NIH contributes to in partnership with the rest of the Department.
FY 2017 Collaborative Activities by the Numbers
In FY 2017, NIH reported 601 collaborations with other HHS entities.
The Complete List of Activities
provides a list of all reported activities. Thirty-eight new collaborations were reported in FY 2017 across a range of issues, including activities devoted to tick-borne diseases and arthritis, cancer, obesity, and the Zika and Ebola viruses.
Each collaboration has been designated a category based on the nature of the activity.
Chart 1
illustrates how the activities break down across the following categories: Committee, Work Group, or Advisory Group (300 activities); Research Initiative (113); Resource Development, e.g., developing databases, disease registries, and information clearinghouses (69); Meeting or Workshop (32); Public Education Campaign (21); Health Survey (19); Training Initiative (13); or Other (34).
Chart 2
displays the number of reported collaborative activities that NIH engaged in with each HHS operating or staff division.
2
As Chart 2 illustrates, the majority of NIH’s collaborations were with CDC (369) and FDA (295). Given the complementary missions of CDC, FDA, and NIH, the three agencies often work together closely to build on each other’s strengths and achieve shared objectives. While NIH conducts and funds basic and applied biomedical and behavioral research, CDC engages in health promotion, prevention of disease, injury and disability, and preparedness for new health threats, and FDA ensures the safety of drugs, medical devices, and many other products that stem from biomedical research. There is also substantial cross-talk between NIH and the OS, especially in the coordination of multi-agency initiatives, committees, and working groups.
FY 2017 Collaboration Highlights by Thematic Area
The following summary illustrates how NIH works with its sister HHS agencies to help improve the health and well-being of the American public. Introduced in
Figure 1
(above), examples of specific collaborations in each of the six highlighted themes are described in greater detail in this section. Ultimately, these diverse collaborative efforts strengthen the HHS ecosystem, helping to foster a healthier country and a healthier world.
Theme 1: Assessing the Public’s Health
An understanding of the population’s health is critical for the Department to set priorities regarding current and emerging public health needs, and for NIH to refine its strategic research priorities. Cross-agency cooperation takes advantage of the knowledge and resources throughout HHS to define the scope of public health issues and enable better tracking of disease and disability, and of health outcomes. NIH partners with other HHS agencies to collect and use data on disease prevalence, as well as to understand the factors that influence health within and across different segments of the population. These intra-Departmental partnerships encompass efforts to examine disease prevalence and risk factors across a range of issues, such as
cancer
,
kidney disease
, and
adolescent health behaviors
. Important collaborations also address the needs of specific groups, including
American Indian/Alaska Natives
and the
aging U.S. population
. In this section, several health surveillance efforts and national surveys are highlighted.
HHS agencies collaborate on a variety of ongoing efforts to broadly measure population health and disease. NIH helps support CDC’s
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
by providing assistance in developing specific sections of the survey, such as the cardiovascular, oral health, and hearing-related components. NHANES is a large program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. The survey is unique in that it combines interviews and physical examinations to address a number of health conditions as well as nutritional status for adults and children. NIH, CMS, and the Office of the Secretary are collaborating on another large study, the
National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS)
. Begun in 2011, NHATS gathers information on a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries ages 65 and older, interviewing participants on issues such as their physical, social, technological and service environments; physical and cognitive capacity; use of assistive devices and rehabilitation; help received with daily activities (self-care, household, and medical); participation in valued activities; and wellbeing. The study fosters research to guide efforts to reduce disability, maximize health and independent functioning, and enhance quality of life for older Americans. As the U.S. population ages, NHATS will provide the basis for understanding trends in late-life functioning, how these differ for various population subgroups, and the economic and social consequences of aging and disability for individuals, families, and society.
There are a number of intra-Departmental surveillance efforts focusing on specific diseases and health challenges. For example, the National Cancer Institute, CDC, and IHS collaborate on the
Alaska Native Tumor Registry
, part of the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER). This registry collects information on cancer cases among Alaskan Native populations residing in Alaska. Cancer is the leading cause of death and illness among Alaskan Natives, and the registry seeks to develop a better understanding of the nature of cancers afflicting Alaskan Native populations in order to improve treatment and prevention. For example, data in the registry helped determine that Alaskan Native populations have among the highest rates of colorectal cancer in the world, with rates over two times higher than those of white Americans. It also led to the discovery that Alaska Native people are diagnosed at a younger age than whites, leading to a change in screening guidelines.
3
NIH and CDC partner on several surveillance efforts related to children and young adults, such as the
Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study
, a landmark longitudinal study of brain development and child health that will increase our understanding of how diverse experiences during adolescence interact with changing biology to influence brain, cognitive and social/emotional development of youth. The study, which began in 2016, is led by NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and also involves the U.S. Department of Justice. ABCD plans to enroll 10,000 children at age 9 or 10 from diverse backgrounds and follow them through their teens and into early adulthood. By February 2018 the study had already recruited more than 7,500 children. Further, it has
already released data
from the first 4,500 participants to researchers.
To enable better tracking of sudden and unexpected death in the young, NIH and CDC launched the
Sudden Death in the Young Registry
in 2013 for cases of sudden death in people under age 24, including sudden cardiac death and sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. The registry is an expansion of CDC’s Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Case Registry and will help researchers define the scope of unexpected death in the young, and set future research priorities as well as identify children at risk and test prevention strategies.
Theme 2: Improving Diagnostics and Treatment
In striving to provide the best options in medical care and health practice, NIH works across the Department to help develop new, more effective ways to diagnose and treat disease and promote good health. The primary goal of NIH’s translational and clinical research is to improve health interventions to provide the best available care for those who need it. Cooperative efforts with other HHS agencies, such as those described in this section, help to ensure that the wealth of information gleaned from research activities can be disseminated and implemented throughout the Department and in the community.
The Foundation for the NIH Biomarkers Consortium
is a public-private biomedical research partnership managed by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health that endeavors to discover, develop, and qualify biological markers (biomarkers) to support new drug development, preventive medicine, and medical diagnostics. Biomarkers are objectively measurable indicators of normal and abnormal biological states, such as, for example, hemoglobin A1C as a biomarker of blood sugar control in diabetics. The Biomarkers Consortium, with NIH, FDA, CMS, and private sector members, is looking to discover new biomarkers for assessing disease status and response to treatment. The Consortium has launched more than 20 projects in areas as diverse as Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and breast cancer.
NIH and its partners work to uncover some of the mysteries surrounding a variety of diseases and conditions. For example, NIH and FDA work together in supporting the
Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI)
. This Initiative unites researchers with study data as they work to define the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. ADNI researchers collect, validate, and utilize data such as MRI and PET images, genetics, cognitive tests, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and blood biomarkers as predictors of the disease. Data from the Initiative’s North American study participants, including Alzheimer’s disease patients, mild cognitive impairment subjects and elderly controls, are available on a website run by NIH’s National Library of Medicine (NLM).
The Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP)
is a public-private partnership between NIH, FDA, 12 biopharmaceutical companies and multiple non-profit organizations, and is managed by the Foundation for NIH (FNIH). Its goal is to transform the current model for developing new diagnostics and treatments by jointly identifying and validating promising biological targets for therapeutics. The ultimate goal is to increase the number of new diagnostics and therapies for patients and reduce the time and cost of developing them. AMP was launched in February 2014, with projects in three disease areas (Alzheimer’s disease; type 2 diabetes; and autoimmune disorders of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus). AMP added Parkinson’s disease as its fourth area of focus in January 2018.
Another initiative is the
Partnership for Accelerating Cancer Therapies (PACT)
, a five-year public-private research collaboration totaling $215 million. Launched by NIH, FDA, the FNIH (Foundation for the NIH), and 11 leading pharmaceutical companies as part of the
Cancer Moonshot
. PACT will initially focus on efforts to identify, develop and validate robust biomarkers to advance new immunotherapy treatments that harness the immune system to attack cancer.
Theme 3: Preventing Disease and Disability
Preventing disease and disability before it starts is critical to helping people live longer, healthier lives. Poor diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use, and alcohol misuse all have been shown to have negative health consequences for Americans. Minimizing these and other risk factors can result in major public health gains, and coordinating efforts across HHS is central to the success of national prevention strategies. NIH works to expand the evidence-base for prevention strategies and partners with other HHS agencies to change the way communities conceptualize and solve problems, enhance implementation of innovative strategies, and improve individual and community well-being. Examples of interagency prevention efforts include those aimed at reducing
smoking
,
underage drinking
,
women’s cancers
, and
hearing loss
, along with many others.
To coordinate prevention research in areas with methodological challenges, NIH’s Office of Disease Prevention coordinates the
Pathways to Prevention (P2P) program
. The P2P program hosts workshops on selected topics to identify research gaps, address scientific weaknesses, suggest research needs, and move the field forward through evidence-based assessment of a complex public health issue. An evidence report, which provides an objective description of the state of the science, a summary of ongoing research, and information on research needs, serves as the foundation for each workshop. The evidence reports are prepared by one of AHRQ’s Evidence-based Practice Centers. Workshop topics have included
The Role of Opioids in the Treatment of Chronic Pain
,
Advancing the Research on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
,
Total Worker Health
,
Advancing Research To Prevent Youth Suicide
, and
Methods for Evaluating Natural Experiments in Obesity
.
NIH’s
Prevention Research Coordinating Committee (PRCC)
serves as a venue for exchanging information on recent scientific advances in disease prevention; examining the impact of new policies on research; planning new or discussing ongoing initiatives; and highlighting program accomplishments. PRCC provides HHS with a broad perspective on the current state-of-the-science and actively disseminates information about prevention-related activities sponsored by federal and non-federal organizations. By facilitating the spread of information PRCC and NIH can help inform and support efforts by other HHS and federal agencies, strengthening those efforts and leading to better outcomes. Other HHS partners on the PRCC include AHRQ, CDC and the Office of the Secretary.
The Child Safety Network
seeks to create an environment in which all children and youth are safe and healthy. It does this by helping to equip states and jurisdictions to strengthen their capacity, utilize data and implement effective strategies to make major reductions in injury-related deaths, hospitalizations, and emergency department visits. This network is supported by
the National Coordinated Child Safety Initiative
and its steering committee, which works to create new synergy among public and private stakeholders and to support the activities of the Child Safety Collaborative Innovation and Improvement Network (CoIIN), an initiative within the Child Safety Network. The steering committee, which includes representatives from NIH, ACF, CDC, and HRSA, provides advice to the Child Safety CoIIN and helps communicate its lessons and accomplishments to a broad national audience of public health professionals, policymakers, funders, and families.
To better understand and prevent traumatic experiences for children and adolescents like bullying and abuse, NIH works with the ACF, CDC, HRSA, SAMHSA, and other federal agencies through the
Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery
workgroup. This workgroup meets to provide a forum through which staff from relevant federal agencies can communicate and exchange ideas concerning how to prevent or stop bullying in schools and communities. A similar group,
the Federal Interagency Work Group on Child Abuse and Neglect
, run through ACF, works toward preventing child abuse and neglect.
Theme 4: Providing Evidence-Based Health Information
The biomedical and behavioral research that NIH funds forms much of the evidence base for understanding health risks. However, to have a tangible impact on population health, this information must be effectively and broadly communicated to the American public and empower individuals to make informed personal decisions about their health. To this end, NIH works with other HHS agencies on numerous large-scale health promotion campaigns and information portals. Examples include informational websites dedicated to
diabetes
,
kidney disease
,
osteoporosis
. A few other notable public health campaigns and information portals are highlighted below.
Together with CDC and HRSA, NIH began the
Safe to Sleep
campaign in 1994 to educate parents and caregivers about the importance of placing healthy babies on their backs to sleep to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). To promote this practice along with other ways of reducing the risk of SIDS, the campaign offers print and electronic materials, media resources, toolkits, and continuing education programs for nurses. Partnering with minority organizations serving African American, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American communities, the campaign concentrates outreach efforts in states with high SIDS rates also known to have high minority and low-income populations.
Another campaign focused on early childhood is the
Text4Baby
service. This collaboration with ACF, AHRQ, CDC, CMS, HRSA, IHS, and SAMHSA provides a free health text messaging service for pregnant women and new mothers. Those who text "BABY" (or “BEBE” for Spanish) to 511411 receive weekly text messages, timed to their due date or their baby’s birth date through the baby’s first year. Messages, which have been vetted by both government and non-profit health experts, deal with topics such as nutrition, immunization, birth defect prevention, and oral health.
More than 100 million Americans have diabetes or prediabetes, according to CDC.
4
As such it is incumbent upon the nation’s public health agencies to educate Americans on the causes and risks of diabetes, and on the ways in which diabetes can be treated.
The National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP)
, supported by NIH through the National Institute on Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the CDC, seeks to do just that. The NDEP works collaboratively with its partners at the federal, state, and local levels to improve outcomes for people with diabetes, promote early diagnosis, and prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes through multiple education and awareness campaigns. It also holds an annual Diabetes Month to raise awareness and understanding of diabetes, and an annual Diabetes Alert Day to emphasize the seriousness of diabetes on one’s health. .
Sensory loss can be hugely debilitating. In 2008, to raise awareness of the importance of preventing noise-induced hearing loss, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) initiated the
It’s a Noisy Planet. Protect Their Hearing
®
(Noisy Planet) campaign. This national public education campaign seeks to increase awareness among parents of children ages 8 to 12 about noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and how to prevent it. The campaign disseminates messages through print and digital materials, social media, community events, school presentations, and other methods. CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have actively collaborated with the NIDCD on this campaign. Similarly, the National Eye Institute (NEI) annually sponsors
Healthy Vision Month
. During Healthy Vision Month, held each May, NEI and its partners in CDC encourage Americans to make their eye health a priority and informs them about steps they can take to protect their vision.
Theme 5: Keeping Americans Safe
Through research, regulation, and policy development, HHS agencies are committed to protecting the health and safety of all Americans. With HHS and other federal partners, NIH works to ensure that proper policies are in place to protect the public, including confirming that medical products are safe and effective, that emerging health and biosecurity threats can be identified and addressed swiftly, that appropriate biosafety protocols are in place to prevent laboratory accidents, and that scientific information is used in responsible ways.
To improve surveillance of disease-causing bacteria and foodborne disease, NIH, in collaboration with CDC and FDA, began the
Pathogen Detection Project
in 2015. This system, hosted by NIH’s National Center for Biotechnology Information, integrates genetic sequence data for bacterial pathogens found in food, the environment, and human patients. Currently focused on sequencing and analyzing genetic material from four bacteria groups that cause foodborne illness in the United States—Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter, and Escherichia coli and Shigella—the goal of this project is to uncover potential sources of contamination and assist with investigations and outbreak responses.
Enhancing biosafety and biosecurity in health science research is a high priority and requires close collaboration between federal departments and agencies. The HHS Biosafety and Biosecurity Council – composed of OS, NIH, CDC, FDA, and other HHS representatives – advises the HHS Secretary and senior Department leadership, fosters intradepartmental coordination and collaboration, and recommends Department-wide policy on biosafety and biosecurity matters. HHS, in turn, has been working actively with interagency partners toward the development and implementation of comprehensive federal policies that support vital research and manage potential risks. The
National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB)
, managed by NIH; the Intragovernmental Select Agents and Toxins Technical Advisory Committee, managed by CDC; and the Federal Experts Security Advisory Panel (FESAP), co-chaired by HHS, are helping to inform federal biosafety and biosecurity policies on various issues, including
dual use research of concern (DURC)
and gain-of-function research of concern (GOFROC). DURC is research that has the potential to yield information, products, or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat with broad potential consequences to public health and safety, agriculture, the environment, or other aspects of national security. NIH is managing a
deliberative process
on behalf of the U.S. Government that will inform federal policy development on the funding and oversight of GOFROC—a subset of DURC studies which have the potential to generate pathogens with the potential to cause pandemic disease.
HHS must be poised to address emergency health risks, and several interagency collaborations aid this effort. Under the leadership of the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, NIH participates in the
Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE)
, the coordinating body for federal agencies in charge of employing medical countermeasures to protect the civilian population from potential adverse health impacts from chemical, biological, nuclear, or radiological threats. Medical countermeasures are medicines, devices, or other medical interventions that can lessen the harmful effects of these threats. This preparedness effort includes representatives from the OS, NIH, FDA, and CDC, as well as the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Homeland Security. To provide guidance for health care providers about clinical diagnosis and treatment of radiation injury in the event of a radiological or nuclear emergency, HHS developed the web resource,
Radiation Emergency Medical Management (REMM)
, in collaboration with NIH and CDC. REMM is a comprehensive mechanism to collect, evaluate, and store just-in-time, evidence-based, usable information with sufficient background and context to make complex issues understandable to those without formal radiation medicine expertise. REMM is also available as a mobile app and all of the information available on the website can easily be saved and downloaded so that it can be available in the event that the internet is not accessible.
Theme 6: Broad, Multi-Purpose Coordination
Given the complexity of major public health challenges, there is often a need for formal cross-agency strategic planning to ensure that all of the agencies within the Department are working in concert toward larger health goals. The five-year HHS Strategic Plan described above and the interdepartmental ten-year agenda for improving the nation’s health,
Healthy People 2020
, are prime examples of strategic planning endeavors that outline pathways to achieve broad health-related objectives. In addition, HHS supports several activities designed to improve the functions of the Department as a whole. For example, to achieve better coordination of its data collection and analysis activities, the HHS Data Council was established in 1996, and to make better use of evidence to evaluate its functions and capture its outcomes, the HHS Evidence and Evaluation Policy Council was instituted in 2016. NIH is an active member of both Councils.
Other important interagency strategic planning activities are focused on achieving better outcomes in specific health topics, such as
muscular dystrophy
,
HIV/AIDS
,
disability and rehabilitation
, and
nutrition
, among many others.
Chaired by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID),
the Autoimmune Diseases Coordinating Committee (ADCC)
, provides a forum for the coordination of research efforts in autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases among various stakeholders including NIH, other HHS agencies such as FDA and CDC, professional societies, and patient and advocacy organizations. Similarly, the
Interagency Collaborative to Advance Research in Epilepsy (ICARE)
is an interagency epilepsy working group that includes broad representation across NIH Institutes and Centers involved in epilepsy-related research, as well as across HHS and other Federal agencies and multiple epilepsy research and patient advocacy groups with a primary focus on biomedical research. The purpose of this group, which is led by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), is to increase communication among agencies sponsoring epilepsy-related research and to explore opportunities for increased coordination. The group’s meetings provide a forum for sharing information about ongoing and planned epilepsy research activities, highlighting advances, discussing needs and opportunities, and promoting increased collaboration toward common research goals.
The Interagency Coordinating Committee on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (ICCFASD)
was created in October 1996 in response to recommendations of an expert committee of the Institute of Medicine that the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) chair an effort to coordinate Federal activities on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and other disorders associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. ICCFASD works to improve communication, cooperation, and collaboration among disciplines and federal agencies that address issues of health, education, developmental disability, research, justice, and social services relevant to FAS and related disorders caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. The ICCFASD meets twice a year and frequently arranges special conferences.
Conclusions
HHS accomplishes its mission to enhance the health and well-being of Americans through several hundred programs and initiatives that cover a wide spectrum of activities, serving the American public at every stage of life. America’s investment in NIH provides the nation with a unique resource—a scientific agency devoted to the creation of a knowledge base needed to conquer the most devastating human diseases and disabilities. In order for this rich knowledge base to improve health, the Department, as well as the entire federal government and the private sector, must work in concert to cultivate ground-breaking research and ensure that scientific knowledge is translated into sound regulations and policies, health services and medical interventions, and information that all Americans can use to lead healthier lives.
NIH appreciates the opportunity to report on its multifaceted collaborations within HHS. The policies, programs, and regulatory and service activities developed and carried out by HHS operating and staff divisions are some of the most effective means that the government can use to improve the health and well-being of its citizens. The collaborative activities detailed in this report illustrate how NIH works across the Department to cultivate partnerships, leveraging the respective strengths of all HHS agencies to support the HHS mission and strengthen the public health ecosystem.
[1]
The staff divisions of the Office of the HHS Secretary (OS) are: the Immediate Office of the Secretary (IOS), Assistant Secretary for Administration (ASA), Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources (ASFR), Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs (ASGA), Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH), Assistant Secretary for Legislation (ASL), Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA), Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (CFBNP), Departmental Appeals Board (DAB), Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Office of the General Counsel (OGC), Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs (IEA), Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA), and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).
[2]
Individual collaborative activities can involve multiple HHS agencies. Therefore, the values displayed in Chart 2 reflect duplicate counts and add up to more than the total reported sums.
[3]
http://anthctoday.org/epicenter/antr/newsletters/ANTR_Newsletter_Feb2018_FINAL.pdf
[4]
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p0718-diabetes-report.html
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