This week, the National Institutes of Health said it plans to recruit a new associate director for data science to lead its efforts to capitalize on the growing body of biomedical research data including genomics, imaging, and electronic health records.
This decision is based on a recommendation from a working group of the NIH’s Advisory Committee to the Director that was charged with the responsibility of looking at the current data and informatics challenges associated with biomedical research (BI 12/14/2012).
In a statement announcing the planned hire, NIH Director Francis Collins said that the institute “aims to play a catalytic lead role” in addressing complex issues associated with biomedical data internally as well as “with stakeholders in the research community, other government agencies, and private organizations involved in scientific data generation, management, and analysis."
For now, Eric Green has been tapped to serve as the acting associate director whilst continuing in his current role as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute.