[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 93 (Monday, May 17, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26739-26740]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-10287]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Notice To Announce the National Eye Institute (NEI) Draft 
Strategic Plan; Request for Information

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This Request for Information (RFI) is intended to gather broad 
public input to assist the National Eye Institute (NEI), National 
Institutes of Health (NIH) in reviewing the draft strategic plan 
document accessible from the NEI Strategic Plan website. NEI invites 
input from vison researchers in academia and industry, health care 
professionals, patient advocates and advocacy organizations, scientific 
or professional organizations, federal agencies, and other interested 
members of the public. Organizations are strongly encouraged to submit 
a single response that reflects the views of their organization and 
their membership as a whole.

DATES: This Request for Information is open for public comment and must 
be received by June 7, 2021 to ensure consideration.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted electronically at 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please direct all inquiries to 
[email protected] and to Nora Wong, 301-496-4308, [email protected]. 
To learn about strategic planning activities at NEI, please visit 
https://www.nei.nih.gov/about/strategic-planning.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Charged to protect and preserve the eyes and 
vision of the American people, NEI supports basic and clinical research 
that unravels the mysteries of how vision works at a fundamental level 
and provides patients with new therapies and standards of care that 
maintain and improve quality of life.
    In accordance with the 21st Century Cures Act, NIH institutes are 
required to regularly update their strategic plans. The new NEI 
Strategic Plan seeks to distill those reflections into a cohesive 
document that will guide efforts to address those gaps and 
opportunities over the next five years. NEI has always been--and will 
continue to be--committed to high quality investigator-initiated 
research and will fund the best science across the broad spectrum of 
vision research. Ultimately, NEI stakeholders provide the catalyst for 
identifying and implementing the goals.
    NEI has been incorporating broad public and expert input in the 
development of this plan, starting in the winter of 2019-2020 with an 
initial Request for Information (RFI). This public comment period 
engaged perspectives from scientists, clinicians, patients, vision 
advocates, and the public. NEI received a robust response to the RFI, 
which informed the selection and agendas of expert panels for seven 
cross-cutting areas of emphasis during the spring and summer of 2020. 
NEI incorporated the topics covered in the RFI and panels into the 
planning document and presented the information publicly before the 
NAEC.
    Under each area of emphasis, NEI provides a summary of goals 
related to research needs, gaps, and opportunities for the institute to 
address over the next five years.

Areas of Emphasis

Visual System in Health and Disease

 From Genes to Disease Mechanisms
 Biology and Neuroscience of Vision
 Immune System and Eye Health

Capitalizing on Emerging Fields

 Regenerative Medicine
 Data Science

Preventing Vision Loss and Enhancing Well-Being

 Individual Quality of Life
 Public Health and Disparities Research

Information Requested

    This RFI invites comments from researchers in academia and 
industry, health care professionals, patient advocates and health 
advocacy organizations, scientific or professional organizations, 
federal agencies, and other interested members of the public on the 
draft NEI Strategic Plan at https://www.nei.nih.gov/about/strategic-planning. When developing comments, please read the draft strategic 
plan and provide any high-level, content related feedback by submitting 
a written response to [email protected]. Organizations are strongly 
encouraged to submit a single response that reflects the views of their 
organization and membership.
    Results of this RFI and updated Strategic Plan will be presented at 
the June 11, 2021, meeting of the NAEC and the finalized Strategic Plan 
will be posted on the NEI website once it is approved.

Responses

    Responses to this RFI are voluntary. Please do not include any 
personally identifiable information or any information that you do not 
wish to make public. Proprietary, classified, confidential, or 
sensitive information should not be included in your response. The 
Government will use the information submitted in response to this RFI 
at its discretion. The Government reserves the right to use any 
submitted information on public websites, in reports, in summaries of 
the state of the science, in any possible resultant solicitation(s), 
grant(s), or cooperative agreement(s), or in the development of future 
funding opportunity announcements. This RFI is for informational and 
planning purposes only and is not a solicitation for applications or an 
obligation on the part of the Government to provide support for any 
ideas identified in response to it. Please note that the Government 
will not pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for 
use of that information.

[[Page 26740]]

    NEI encourages the dissemination of this RFI opportunity to broader 
networks and is looking forward to receiving input from the community. 
Please provide a written response to [email protected] by June 7, 
2021.

    Dated: April 20, 2021.
Nora M. Wong,
Health Science Policy Analyst, National Eye Institute, National 
Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 2021-10287 Filed 5-14-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P