In my first post as NIGMS director in 2013, I discussed the need to develop a new strategic plan to guide our efforts and to ensure that we invest taxpayer money as efficiently and effectively as possible. Our current strategic plan emerged as a product of collaboration between all functional units of our Institute, with valuable input from external stakeholders, and it’s been used to guide management decisions at NIGMS for the last 5 years.

Since publication of this strategic plan in 2015, the Institute has undertaken programmatic and organizational changes to better achieve the goals set forth in the plan. I therefore wanted to reflect on these activities as we consider our priorities for the next 5 years.

To aid in this organizational reflection, we’ve put together a progress and outcomes report outlining how the Institute has acted upon each aspect of our 2015-2020 strategic plan, including descriptions of key results and outcomes data. The report also addresses principles laid out in the Evidence-Based Policymaking Act by providing transparency about how NIGMS makes decisions, sets priorities, and measures results.

I invite you to read the report as we think about what we’ve accomplished over the past 5 years and what we hope to achieve over the next 5. A request for information to guide the development of our new strategic plan will soon be out for public comment, and we hope to receive your feedback when it’s released.