Council of Councils Working Groups

All of Us Research Program Advisory Panel
The All of Us Advisory Panel evaluates, provides recommendations and expert advice on the All of Us Research Program’s vision, scientific goals, and operations. The Advisory Panel will provide an intensive examination of the progress of the All of Us Research Program at appropriate intervals to ensure that its vision has continued to adapt to the evolving landscape of research, clinical practice, and participant engagement.

Council Advice on NIH-Owned or -Supported Chimpanzees
Information on the NIH Veterinary Panel, Working Group on Assessing the Safety of Relocating At-Risk Chimpanzees, Chimpanzee Research Use Panel, Working Group on the Use of Chimpanzees in NIH-Supported Research, and a timeline of the NIH Decision to End the Use of Chimpanzees in Research can be found here.

Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) External Scientific Board
The ECHO External Scientific Board reports to the Council of Councils, works to oversee and consider how to overcome challenges to the ECHO Program, whose mission is to enhance the health of children for generations to come, and to provide advice on strategies to ensure the long-term success of the ECHO program.

Generalist Repository Ecosystem Initiative (GREI) Working Group
The GREI Working Group provides an assessment of GREI’s progress to date and recommendations to the Council of Councils regarding the future focus of the initiative. The GREI Working Group will review the current scope and goals of the GREI, as well as, progress to date; provide recommendations on future GREI objectives and goals, based on progress in the context of the larger repository ecosystem and the biomedical research community needs; and provide recommendations on future success measures for proposed future GREI objectives and goals, accounting for a diverse community of researchers.

Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Research Working Group
The SGM Research Working Group will provide input to the Council of Councils on activities of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) that relate to sexual and gender minority research including activities of the Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office.

Basic Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (bBSSR) Working Group
The bBSSR Working Group was established to answer the following questions regarding bBSSR: (1) what are the promising and emerging areas of bBSSR that are priorities for NIH (i.e., have a plausible translational pathway to health-relevant applied research; not supported under the mission of another funding agency); (2) which of these emerging areas of research are not adequately supported by the current NIH bBSSR portfolio; and (3) can these inadequately addressed emerging areas of research be addressed by individual IC efforts, or do some require a trans-NIH effort to address? 

Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (BSSR) Integration Working Group
The BSSR Integration Working Group will assess the current status of BSSR in NIH-supported research and training and identify existing processes that should continue or be enhanced as well as opportunities for enhancing processes, coordination and integration of BSSR into research conducted trans- NIH.

Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) Working Group
The CFDE is a trans-Common Fund infrastructure investment intended to support novel discoveries through enhanced usage of Common Fund data sets. The CFDE is not a data platform but is intended to enable simultaneous exploration of data that are stored in many platforms. The CFDE Working Group will assess the CFDE and provide recommendations for the CFDE’s future.

Common Fund (CF) Evaluation Working Group
The Common Fund Evaluation Working Group was established to evaluate the principles and processes used to manage the CF, review evaluative information from a subset of CF programs to assess the impact of CF-supported science, and provide recommendations on how to optimize the success and impact of the CF as it entered its second decade.

Sequence Read Archive (SRA) Data Working Group
The SRA Data Working Group was established to provide recommendations to the Council of Councils regarding evaluation of SRA data storage, management, and access in cloud service provider environments, and examine data related to SRA scientific impact, value to the community, access, cost, and usage, as well as other areas, to inform their considerations and evaluations.