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    ROCC News & Updates

    News

    NIH Releases 2021-2025 Strategic Plan

    On July 30, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released its agency-wide strategic plan for 2021-2025. The plan articulates five “cross-cutting themes” reflecting priorities that are seen as touching on all NIH programming. These themes include improving minority health and reducing health disparities; enhancing women’s health; addressing public health challenges across the lifespan (from early childhood to advanced age); promoting collaborative science; and leveraging data sciences in biomedical discovery. 

    Reimagine Biomedical Research for a Healthier Future: Announcing Essay Challenge Winners and Symposium

    The Health Research Alliance (HRA) and the Public Library of Science (PLOS) have announced the winners of their essay contest that sought “ideas that re-commit to serving society and achieving an equitable, diverse, and creative environment for all those working to advance scientific discovery and improve human well-being.”

    Toolkit to Increase Vaccinations Amid Rising Delta Variant Infections

    Amid rising COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths due to the highly transmissible Delta variant, the AAMC has put together a suite of resources for academic medical centers to use to help increase COVID-19 vaccinations. The toolkit contains a sample op-ed, as well as talking points on the Delta variant and little-known facts about the COVID-19 vaccines. AAMC members can use this content to customize a message as an op-ed or open letter to encourage and increase COVID-19 vaccinations in their community.

    New Publication Presents Best Practices for Advancing Telehealth in Academic Health Systems

    As telehealth has become an even more widely accepted mode of delivering care, academic medical centers are examining how it can advance their strategic goals. A new report published by the AAMC and Manatt presents effective strategies and successful practices from health system leaders that have established leading telehealth programs. The strategies are designed to help health system leaders and telehealth managers critically assess, design, implement, and integrate telehealth programs across mission areas. 

    Perspectives

    Modernizing Public Health Data Systems: Lessons from the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act

    The authors of this JAMA viewpoint present “five lessons from HITECH that are pertinent for achieving public health data modernization.”

    Literature

    Integrating the Arts and Humanities into Medical Education

    The August issue of Academic Medicine features examples of integrating arts and humanities. As the accompanying editorial from the editor reflects, “these works illustrate broad experiences across academic medicine as well as illuminate a path of shared knowledge and community in the health professions.”

    Get Involved

    Looking for Twitter Savvy ROCC Members for Tweet Chats

    As the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Research on Care Community (ROCC) group looks to connect with our audience in new ways, we’d like to know which members are active on Twitter. We are considering hosting Tweet Chats around topics of interest related to biomedical research, advocacy, policy, etc. If you’d like to learn more about participating, please contact Anne Berry at aberry@aamc.org. And for those members who may not be active on Twitter but still interested in becoming more engaged with AAMC staff and other ROCC members, please also reach out to Anne. 

    AAMC MOSAIC Program Mentor Application 

    The AAMC is seeking mid- or senior-level academic researchers to serve as mentors for the AAMC Career Development Program for MOSAIC Scholars. The MOSAIC (Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers) program is an effort of the NIH to enhance diversity within the academic biomedical research workforce. The mentor program application is currently open.

    PCORI Seeking Public Comment on Proposed National Priorities for Health

    Aug. 27—Deadline to submit comments about PCORI’s proposed National Priorities for Health. These priorities will be used to inform the Institute’s research agenda moving forward. 

    Critical Resource Gaps and Opportunities to Support Radiological Tool Development and Clinical Data Interpretation Using Artificial Intelligence

    Nov. 1 -- Deadline to respond to this Request for Information from the NIH and FDA to identify gaps and "foster the development and validation of the next generation of AI/ML algorithms capable of analyzing data from multiple clinical domains  to provide researchers, physicians, and patients with new “big data” insights on the detection, characterization, treatment, and drug resistance of cancers and other diseases."

    Advocacy

    AAMC President and CEO Presents to White House COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force

    AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, spoke at a July 30 White House COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force meeting on how the United States can prepare for future public health crises to ensure equitable access to care. Dr. Skorton outlined four priorities: building trust through community engagement and collaboration, addressing racism and diversifying the health workforce, improving health equity data, and increasing access to care via telehealth. 

    AAMC-Convened Ad Hoc Group Joins NIH, OSTP Listening Session on ARPA-H

    The AAMC-convened Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research participated in an August 4 listening session hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to discuss President Joe Biden’s proposal for the establishment of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).