(L-R: Jason Wan, Jennifer Westendorf, Megan Weivoda, Anna Teti, Catherine Gordon, Faye Chen, Theresa Cruz, Tânia Amorim, Lindsey Criswell, Vivian Ota Wang, Laura Calvi, John Williams, Patricia Juárez-Camacho, Melissa Kacena, Deborah Veis, Tamara Alliston, Mary Bouxsein, Joseph Stains, Joy Wu, Kristi Nicks, René St-Arnaud, Gayle Lester, Doug Fesler)

Message from ASBMR President Laura Calvi, MD – July 25, 2024

Dear Colleagues,

Last month, the ASBMR Council convened at our headquarters in Washington, DC, USA  and invited representatives from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to discuss issues that our members and the bone and mineral research field currently face, as well as the exciting opportunities we see for continued discovery and innovation. Our conversations centered around four key areas: 1) Advancing Women's Health Research and Innovation; 2) Developing the Pipeline of Future Trainees; 3) Trans-Disciplinary Research; and 4) Innovation through Biomedical Data. For each topic, we discussed how the Society and NIH could partner to address perceived barriers and move our science forward. I want to thank our colleagues at NIH for participating in this important discussion: Drs. Faye Chen (NIAMS), Lindsey Criswell (NIAMS), Theresa Cruz (NCMRR), Catherine Gordon (NICHD), Gayle Lester (NIAMS), Kristy Nicks (NIAMS), Jason Wan (NIDCR), Vivian Ota Wang (ORWH), and John Williams (NIA). This was an opportunity for ASBMR to update our NIH colleagues on who we are, our mission, our strategic pillars and major programs and to establish a framework for enhanced communication.

Below I share a high-level summary of our conversations in the four areas. It is our aim to develop and refine these conversations into achievable goals and actions with timelines which will be shared with you in the coming weeks.

Advancing Women’s Health Research & Innovation

In March, the White House announced an Executive Order prioritizing women’s health research and innovation across the federal research enterprise. Our discussion revolved around the need to educate both the public and members of Congress on the impact that musculoskeletal (MSK) diseases have on our Society, particularly in women, with the goal of increasing research funding  to address these diseases. The intent of this conversation was also to make sure we develop a framework to maximize our members’ awareness of and access to programs and funding opportunities in this research area.

During our conversation, we learned that the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), in response to the Executive Order, is taking the lead in coalescing NIH funded women’s research opportunities and has a tool on its website to search these opportunities.  The ASBMR is establishing a working group to leverage the current focus on advancing women’s health research to increase and improve awareness of morbidity, mortality and need for increased musculoskeletal research by maximizing interactions of ASBMR and its members with the funding agencies, Congress and community.

Developing the Pipeline of Future Trainees in the Field

A key imperative for the Society is to continue to develop the pipeline of future trainees in our field. Moreover, our mid- and senior-investigators must have the necessary resources to mentor the next generation. While NIH has numerous programs that help in addressing this imperative, awareness of these programs and access of our members could be improved. We also discussed several innovative approaches and programs that scientific/medical associations like ASBMR are doing, in partnership with NIH or philanthropic and corporate entities, to increase the number of clinical investigators in their fields. A first next step, organized by the ASBMR Early-Stage Investigators (ESI) Committee as part of their Career Development Programming at the 2024 Annual Meeting in Toronto, is the “Meet the funding agencies” session on Friday, September 27, 12:30pm -1:30pm. At this session, ESIs will have an opportunity to speak with staff (Program and Scientific Review Officers) from various NIH institutes and centers, including NIAMS, NIA, NICDR, NIDDK, NICHD and CSR. Other panelists include Peter R. Ebeling, MBBS, MD, Monash University, Australia discussing the National Health and Medical Research Council  (NHMRC) and Suzanne Nicole Morin, MD, MS, McGill University, Canada discussing the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). My thanks to Kristy Nicks, PhD, NIAMS for also participating in this program and for her efforts in aiding the ESI Committee to put together this important program. ASBMR is also assembling a working group that will examine and propose opportunities to partner with funding agencies, aligned organizations and corporate sponsors to continue to build programming that enhances our pipeline.  

Trans-Disciplinary Research

Many of our members conduct cross-disciplinary research and we hear often of the challenges they face finding the appropriate Institute at NIH to fund their research. Short-term strategies discussed to address this challenge include making our members aware of the NIH Matchmaker tool so that they can identify appropriate program officials, institutes and centers, and panels to discuss their research proposals; offering a series of targeted grant funding/writing webinars to improve their awareness of current NIH funding mechanisms that their research might qualify; providing joint education to make our members better grant reviewers as well as instill in our members the importance of serving on scientific review groups. At our Annual Meeting this September, attendees will have an opportunity to directly address their questions to NIH representatives by visiting the Meet the NIH Lounge in the exhibit hall.

Staying Ahead of the Curve

In order for ASBMR to continue to lead the research agenda in musculoskeletal science, one of our strategic pillars, it is essential for our members to stay ahead of the curve. To explore how we can partner with NIH to ensure our members stay competitive in a rapidly changing landscape, we articulated the need for biomedical data collections that include bone cells and how the absence of these cells will negatively impact the field. Many ideas were discussed from establishing Notices of Special Interest (NOSIs) for skeletal tissue inclusion to encouraging secondary analysis of existing datasets and possibly “piggybacking” on current data collection initiatives.

In addition to our NIH guests, I want to thank our engaged Council members, who drove these exciting conversations and who are ready to continue to act to continue to strengthen our members and meet the challenges of ASBMR’s bold mission. Over the next several weeks we aim to continue to flesh these ideas out into tangible next steps. Stay tuned.

Sincerely,

Laura Calvi, MD
ASBMR President