On May 25, 2024, APA responded (PDF, 395)opens in new window to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID) Request for Information: Inviting Comments and Suggestions on NIAID’s Strategic Plan (NOT-AI-24-032opens in new window). APA Chief Science Officer Mitch Prinstein, PhD, highlighted and welcomed the recent acknowledgement of NIAID Director Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, MPH, that because of NIAID’s past concentration “on the ‘bugs,’ the institute has not focused on the whole person.” Prinstein agreed with Marrazzo that an inclusive, “whole-person approach to research” requires NIAID to support research that “consider[s] how people really live.”
Prinstein urged NIAID to amend the institute’s mission statement to reflect a support of behavioral, social, and psychological research. Such a change would align NIAID’s mission with that of the NIH-wide Strategic Plan’s (2021)opens in new window Objective (1)—Advancing biomedical and behavioral sciences, which emphasizes the agency’s support for the “broad range of foundational scientific research,…[including] basic behavioral, and social research.”
He also pointed out that a revised NIAID mission statement would incorporate the guidance of the recent NIH Council of Councils Working Group report, Integration of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (PDF, 2.0MB)opens in new window. The congressionally mandated report responds to the House of Representatives Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill (House Report 116-450): a “more robust and focused NIH commitment to behavioral science research and training would yield significant improvements to the nation’s health due to the important connections between behavior and health.”
Prinstein further urged the institute to add a separate and distinct priority to advance and apply foundational research on human behavior in its strategic plan. He referenced the recently released report, Blueprint for the Use of Social and Behavioral Science to Advance Evidenced-Based Policymaking (PDF, 1.4MB)opens in new window by the White House Subcommittee on Social and Behavioral Sciences, which emphasizes “human behavior is a key component of every major national and global challenge we face,” including infectious and chronic diseases. Accordingly, he encouraged NIAID to work with the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Researchopens in new window to identify opportunities to increase the application of behavioral and social science research in the research and training initiatives supported as the institute continues to develop its strategic plan.
Recommendations also encouraged research priorities in the following areas:
- behavior change research to inform public health policy
- more effective contact tracing
- intervention research to address vaccine hesitancy
- mental health consequences of infectious disease
- individual and public engagement with interventions and adherence to health behaviors
- social network research
- scientific workforce diversity targeting early career scientists
- effective community engagement models
- a population health framework related to the Institute’s women’s health research
For more information, contact Angela L. Sharpe.