Twenty-five years of the National Institutes of Health Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research

摘要

The 10th anniversary of Translational Behavioral Medicine, commemorated by this special issue, coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). OBSSR was enacted by Congress in 1993 and established 2 years later in July 1995 to identify projects of behavioral and social sciences research that should be conducted or supported by the national research institutes and develop such projects in cooperation with such institutes and to coordinate research conducted or supported by the agencies of the NIH [1]. Over the past 25 years, OBSSR has worked diligently to fulfill Congress’s charge. Strategically located within the NIH Office of the Director’s Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI), OBSSR is well positioned to facilitate collaboration across the NIH by convening NIH staff and extramural investigators, conducting workshops, developing trans-NIH initiatives, and providing cofunding of meritorious grant applications. In this commentary, we highlight some of the key projects led by OBSSR, in collaboration with our colleagues at the various NIH institutes and centers, to advance behavioral and social sciences research conducted or supported by the NIH. We also consider the opportunities and challenges of OBSSR and the behavioral and social sciences in the next 25 years.