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September 10, 2024: A Community Plan for Advancing Translational Science to Address Unmet Public Health Needs

I am delighted to announce that the NCATS Strategic Plan for 2025–2030 is now available. This plan is by and for the broader translational science community. It sets the direction for both NCATS and the field of translational science and will guide us to a future of more treatments for all people more quickly.

We started the strategic planning process in November 2022, with the goal of co-designing the plan with the community. The final version stems from over 1,700 unique comments received through more than 45 formal meetings and other input opportunities. It reflects our priorities, as well as yours.

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughtful input and engagement along the way! As we move from strategic planning to strategic doing, here’s how you can help: Read the plan and share it among your networks.

I also hope you will use it in your own work and tell us about your experience.

Plan Overview

The plan’s five goals provide a way for us to collectively and tangibly make progress.

The plan’s five goals provide a way for us to collectively and tangibly make progress. Explore and reference each goal.

The strategic plan includes five key goals, which you can see in the graphic.

The goals aim to address three major needs for translating science into practice more efficiently:

  1. Increase the pace of development and availability of treatments (more treatments).
  2. Enable more individuals and communities to contribute to and benefit from translational science (for all people).
  3. Identify and address inefficiencies in translation that slow and even stop research efforts (more quickly).

The goals also build on our core values. The values emphasize working in a highly collaborative team-science culture, learning and practicing translational science to impact many diseases at once, making data available, and developing a diverse and accountable workforce.

Implementation

Under each goal are objectives that provide high-level approaches to guide implementation. These objectives offer clear direction on ways to move forward.

NCATS Deputy Director Annica Wayman will coordinate our implementation activities within the center to support our intramural and extramural work. We will use our current priority-setting processes to both pursue and sunset initiatives, establish systems to track strategic activities, and keep our communities informed as we evaluate progress.

As we did at the beginning of the planning process, we are kicking off the official launch of the strategic plan with a series of roundtables to engage you in turning the plan into meaningful action across the translational science community. I invite our entire community to register for and attend the roundtable scheduled for September 30 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. EDT. Also, please make sure you follow NCATS on LinkedIn, X, Facebook and are signed up to receive our news updates, including my community updates. These channels will be the main ways to stay informed.

There will be many efforts we can work on together, and you might be ready to start some on your own. Let’s get to it!

Your partner in science and health,

Joni L. Rutter, Ph.D.
Director
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

Last updated on September 10, 2024