About the Office of Data Science Strategy

The Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) leads the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science through scientific, technical, and operational collaboration with the institutes, centers, and offices that comprise NIH. 

Vision: Elevating the frontiers of data science

Mission

We catalyze new capabilities in biomedical and health data science by providing NIH-wide leadership and fostering strategic partnerships across the agency to accelerate the advancement of the NIH data science ecosystem. We promote the development of a talented data science workforce, and we build and disseminate advanced technologies and methods.

Responsibilities

  • Modernize NIH’s data infrastructure by enabling the utilization of cloud capabilities and enhancing NIH-supported data repository resources to improve scientific discoverability, impact, and efficacy.  
  • Develop and enhance data standards and data models for interoperability and reproducibility in clinical and translational research.
  • Transform healthcare data sharing and use for research, creating a learning health system.
  • Advance emerging technologies, such as multimodal AI, federated research networks, and notable new computing paradigms (quantum computing)
  • Build data science and AI talents to maintain U.S. leadership in data science.

Major Accomplishments

  • Significantly increased cloud adoption by supporting 2,700+ projects, including GenAI applications and HPC workloads such as Cryo-EM macromolecular structure reconstruction.
  • Created an efficient identity and access management system (single sign-on) used by more than 15 NIH data asset systems
  • Built an NIH-wide program to enhance a collection of >100 NIH-funded data repositories and knowledgebase resources to adopt consistent capabilities, services, and metrics for greater impact.  
  • Catalyzed NIH-wide collaboration to develop and implement Common Data Elements (CDEs) in 24 projects with 10 NIH ICOs and promoted health IT exchange standards (FHIR) across more than 15 national clinical research networks.
  • Developed new programs to support advanced AI technologies (multimodal AI) and established a significant AI capacity across 659 institutions and organizations.
  • Established and led the DATA Scholar Program, which has brought 31 data experts to the NIH for a 2-year fellowship to drive high-impact projects, advancing health research through the creation of data tools, quality assessment, disease prediction, and data standardization.

Office Leadership

Susan Gregurick, Director
Belinda Seto, Deputy Director
Shu Hui Chen, Administrative Deputy Director

This page last reviewed on April 23, 2025