The Foundation for NIH, as part of its portfolio, manages several large biomedical research partnerships or Key Initiatives. These partnerships leverage the resources of the National Institutes of Health with the public and private sectors, including government agencies, industry, academia, foundations, associations and the philanthropic community.

The Biomarkers Consortium

This groundbreaking initiative expands the science of personalized medicine. The study of biomarkers creates the potential to individualize medical treatment by determining how a drug works in the body and identifying patients likely to respond to targeted medicines and therapies.

Grand Challenges in Global Health

Funded by the Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges in Global Health encompasses 43 project across 33 countries, working toward scientific breakthroughs to prevent, treat and cure diseases that kill millions each year.

Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP)

An exciting initiative designed to improve the safety of drugs on the market, OMOP utilizes information drawn from patient medical record databases and health insurance claims to develop and test methods to detect and evaluate drug safety issues over time.

MAL-ED: A Global Network for the Study of Malnutrition and Enteric Diseases

Poor nutrition is linked to more than half of all child deaths worldwide. This initiative, funded by the Gates Foundation, draws together an international group of science investigators to study the inter-relationship between enteric infections and malnutrition to reduce its devastating effects.

HIV Vaccine Development

The Foundation for the NIH's portfolio of HIV/AIDS research projects, all part of Gates Foundation's Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery, is working to expedite development an effective AIDS vaccine.

The Sports and Health Research Program (SHRP)

The Sports and Health Research Program (SHRP) is an innovative partnership among the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Football League (NFL) and the FNIH. Launched in 2012, the program aims to help accelerate the pursuit of research to enhance the health of athletes at all levels, past, present and future, and to extend the impact of that research beyond the playing field to benefit others in the general population, including members of the military.
Photo courtesy of Mitch Loeber under the Creative Commons license