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ARTICLE | Strategy

State of the NIH

NIH Director Francis Collins outlines agency strategy with five-year plan

January 7, 2016 8:00 AM UTC

Congress is used to NIH asking for money. Now, it has asked NIH for a five-year strategic plan - the first in more than 20 years. NIH Director Francis Collins sees the mandate as an opening to make the agency's case to the taxpayers, and believes the plan puts a stake in the ground about what NIH's priorities should be, and where and why he's willing to ruffle feathers.

On Dec. 16, two days before the agency received a $2 billion increase in funding for FY16, it released its NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for FY16-20. The document was requested in the FY15 appropriations bill, and is intended to stand alongside the individual plans of the 27 institutes, centers and offices...