across its institutes and centers.
Almost all of the 27 institutes and centers of the NIH fund at least some kind of child health research, totaling more than $4 billion in the 2017 fiscal year, according to an NIH statement. “The new consortium aims to harmonize these activities, explore gaps and opportunities in the overall pediatric research portfolio, and set priorities.”
Research funded by NIH “has resulted in tremendous advances against diseases and conditions that affect child health and well-being, including asthma, cancer, autism, obesity, and intellectual and developmental disabilities,” explained Diana W. Bianchi, MD, in the statement. Dr. Bianchi is director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the lead NIH institute for the consortium.
The new consortium, which will be led by the NICHD director, will meet several times a year.