February 2, 2012
For my first “letter from Jerry” posting of 2012, I thought I’d address a question on the minds of many of the ITN staff: What happens in 2014?
The ITN operates on contract funding from NIAID that expires in mid-2014. The ITN Directors were told during this week’s leadership meeting that funding to continue the network beyond 2014 is expected, and that planning for the review and award process is underway. This is good news. Although we have been expecting this, it’s nevertheless reassuring to hear that the work of the ITN is highly valued at NIH, and will continue.
As with all these types of NIH programs, renewal of the contract will involve an extensive process of review, and it now appears as though some of the details of the funding mechanism will likely change after 2014. I want to be very clear to all ITN staff that ITN leadership intends to try to maintain organizational structure and operations based on our current model. We have spent a lot of time and effort reorganizing ourselves to be efficient and forward-focused, and have much to show for this, and the senior Directors, Bill, Larry and I are all committed to present the ITN in the renewal proposal as a unified network. If it is necessary to satisfy new funding mechanism requirements by separating budgeting or business units, we will endeavor to do this in a way that has minimal disruption to our integrated programs, sites, and staff, so the work can continue in a coordinated network-wide fashion.
I am setting up a renewal planning group to begin the background work that will create a process for the renewal proposal, and pledge to keep you all posted on progress with periodic updates like this one. On a personal note, it’s a pleasure and an honor to work with you on behalf of the ITN, and I’m looking forward to another exciting year, and beyond.
Jerry
Jerry Nepom, MD, PhDDirector, Immune Tolerance Network
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