Digestive Diseases News
Fall 2007

NIDDK Director Addresses Physicians and Scientists During Digestive Disease Week

Agency-wide initiatives throughout the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have great potential to advance digestive diseases research, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Director Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., told attendees who gathered in Washington, DC, during Digestive Disease Week.

These initiatives include research on the human microbiome and epigenetics, as well as new awards to support vulnerable members of the research community, such as new investigators.

“Collectively, digestive diseases represent an enormous public health burden,” Rodgers told participants at the world’s largest annual gathering of researchers and physicians in the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy, and gastrointestinal surgery on May 21. “Research progress in combating these complex digestive diseases requires coordination across scientific disciplines, organizations, and approaches.”

Rodgers said this includes coordinating research among NIH and federal partners and developing partnerships with academia, government, industry, private foundations, practitioners, patients, and the community.

In addition to focusing on such public health challenges as chronic conditions, the aging population, and health disparities, the NIH is responding to changing needs within the scientific community with a number of new programs, according to Rodgers. These include the

• NIH Director’s New Innovator Award to support highly innovative research by new investigators

• Pathway to Independence Award, which provides 1 to 2 years of support for mentored postdoctoral research plus up to 3 years of independent research support upon attainment of a faculty position

• NIH Director’s Bridge Award to provide continued but limited funding for new and established grantees who have submitted a competing renewal grant application for a highly meritorious project

• NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards, designed to overcome current obstacles to performing clinical research, including challenges associated with inter-disciplinary collaboration and other barriers

Related to these NIH initiatives, Rodgers said the NIDDK will work to ensure that new investigators realize their full potential as innovative researchers by promoting mentorship activities and special consideration for new investigator funding.

Core Principles

As the NIDDK director, Rodgers said he will pursue the following core principles:

• maintain a vigorous investigator-initiated research portfolio

• support pivotal clinical studies and trials on a range of digestive diseases with substantial involvement of minorities as study leaders and participants

• support exceptional research training and mentoring opportunities for physician scientists and Ph.D. scientists at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels

• preserve a stable pool of talented new investigators

• disseminate science-based knowledge to health care providers and the public through national campaigns, an information clearinghouse, and an annual compendium entitled NIDDK: Recent Advances and Emerging Opportunities

NIDDK-supported digestive diseases research efforts already under way include the

• Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Genetics Research Consortium

• Gastroparesis Clinical Research Consortium
• Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network

• Pediatric liver disease consortia on biliary atresia and cholestatic liver injury

The NIDDK has also provided leadership and support for trans-NIH research planning efforts related to digestive diseases, including the

• Trans-NIH Action Plan for Liver Disease Research

• National Commission on Digestive Diseases—see related story.

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NIH Publication No. 08–4552
November 2007