The appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2012 was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on Dec. 23, 2011. The bill includes provisions that formally establish the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) as a new component of the NIH. This is an important step forward in NIH’s efforts to speed the delivery of new drugs, diagnostics and medical devices to patients.
Concurrent with the creation of NCATS, the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) has been dissolved, and former NCRR grants and contracts along with the scientific and administrative staff that lead and administer those activities have been reassigned to appropriate Institutes or to the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) in the NIH Office of the Director. Dr. Louise Ramm will be joining DPCPSI as the Director of a new Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP), the new home for the grants and contracts that have been reassigned to DPCPSI.
The eight National Primate Research Centers, including the WaNPRC, are now part of ORIP.