NIH Advisory Board Re-Established to Evaluate Agency Organization

By: Yvette Seger
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
On November 12, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Scientific Management Review Board (SMRB) convened to discuss its charge—“to evaluate the current structure of NIH and propose changes that will enhance the ability of the agency to fulfill its mission”—and determine the strategy to develop a report and recommendations to the NIH director within the next 12 months. Since this was the first SMRB meeting since July 2015, much of the agenda focused on orienting members to prior committee efforts and the current charge.

Spurred by two Congressionally-led initiatives exploring strategies for reorganizing the world’s largest government funder of biomedical research, SMRB’s initial efforts will revisit the guiding principles from the 2010 report, Deliberating Organizational Change and Effectiveness to identify areas for which agency efficiency could be improved. To meet the dual constraints of the requirement for SMRB to convene at least five times prior to issuing a report and the desired 12-month timeline for issuing at least one report on organizational efficiency, SMRB will meet in alternating months beginning in January. SMRB also plans to utilize subcommittees and stakeholder outreach strategies to supplement committee members’ expertise and further inform recommendations.