In 1986, NIH established the Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) to promote and coordinate prevention research among NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices and other public and private entities.
ODP supports NIH and the research community in producing the highest quality prevention science with the greatest possible impact. Since its creation, ODP has led the development of initiatives and programs that support advances in prevention research; established lecture and webinar series that disseminate the work of prevention scientists; and created structured processes to identify prevention research gaps and facilitated coordination of new activities to address those gaps.
Discover more about these endeavors and other ODP work in the timeline below.
ODP Through the Decades
1980s
1986
Office of Disease Prevention (ODP): The Health Research Extension Act of 1985 mandates the position of Associate Director for Prevention. NIH creates ODP to support this new position and promote the coordination of prevention research.
NIH Prevention Research Coordinating Committee (PRCC): The newly formed position of Associate Director for Prevention assumes responsibility for the PRCC. The PRCC serves as an advisory body to the Associate Director for Prevention and makes recommendations regarding scientific, programmatic, and policy issues.
Consensus Development Program (CDP): The Office of Medical Applications Research (OMAR) is transferred from the NIH Office of the Director to ODP. A key program in OMAR is the CDP. Consensus conferences have had a major influence on public health practice in areas like breast cancer screening, knee replacement surgery, and the use of prenatal steroids for prevention of premature birth. ODP retires the CDP in 2013.
1988
Division of Nutrition Research Coordination (DNRC): DNRC is established within ODP to advise the NIH Director and others on nutrition research issues and to work with NIH to coordinate nutrition research and research training initiatives across NIH. DNRC is later transferred to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and serves as the predecessor to the Office of Nutrition Research, which becomes an independent office within the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives in 2021.
1990s
1991
Women’s Health Initiative (WHI): ODP leads the initial planning, development, and contracting for the WHI study with the support of the Office of Research on Women’s Health. The leadership responsibilities and staff of the WHI are transferred to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in 1996. WHI and its findings have changed women’s health and how medicine is practiced around the world. Information from the WHI continues to help women and their health care providers make more informed decisions, particularly about the use of hormone therapy after menopause.
1993
Office of Rare Diseases (ORD): ORD is established within ODP to serve as the federal focal point for rare disease biomedical research. ORD is renamed the Office of Rare Diseases Research in 2008 and is transferred to the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences in 2011.
1995
Robert S. Gordon, Jr. Lecture in Epidemiology: The Robert S. Gordon, Jr. Lecture in Epidemiology is established within ODP to recognize scientists who have contributed significantly to the field of epidemiology or clinical trials research. Beginning in 1998, the lecture is incorporated into the Office of Intramural Research’s Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series (WALS). Each year, ODP selects a distinguished researcher to deliver the Gordon Lecture and partners with WALS to coordinate the event.
Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS): ODS is established within ODP to promote scientific research in the area of dietary supplements as a response to a directive in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. ODS is separated from ODP and established as an independent office in DPCPSI to promote scientific research in the area of dietary supplements in 2020.
2000s
2002
Medicine in the Media: ODP develops Medicine in the Media, an annual course designed to help journalists and editors better evaluate and report on medical research. ODP retires Medicine in the Media in 2013.
2007
Mind the Gap: ODP establishes the Medicine: Mind the Gap seminar series to explore issues at the intersection of research, evidence, and clinical practice areas in which conventional wisdom may be contradicted by recent evidence. ODP renames the series Methods: Mind the Gap in 2012, with a new focus on exploring research design, measurement, intervention, data analysis, and other methods of interest in prevention science.
2008
Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI): Previously a programmatic office reporting directly to the Office of the Director, ODP is transferred to DPCPSI. DPCPSI is located within the Office of the Director.
2010s
2012
Pathways to Prevention Program: ODP hosts its first Pathways to Prevention workshop. These workshops are designed to identify research gaps in areas of broad public health importance.
2013
Tobacco Regulatory Science Program (TRSP): TRSP is created and housed in ODP. TRSP is an interagency partnership between NIH and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products to foster tobacco regulatory research. TRSP provides scientific evidence and data to inform FDA’s regulation of the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of tobacco products in order to protect public health.
Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS): The TCORS are launched by TRSP. Made up of scientists with a broad range of expertise (e.g., epidemiology, economics, toxicology, addiction, and marketing), the TCORS provide the quality and breadth of experience necessary to conduct cutting-edge tobacco regulatory research.
2014
Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2014-2018: ODP releases its first Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2014–2018: Charting the Course (PDF) to strengthen existing programs and develop new initiatives to advance prevention research at NIH. The plan represented an important shift in the core functions of the office.
2016
Prevention Scientific Interest Groups (SIGs): To address unmet prevention research needs, ODP creates five new SIGs focusing on areas where there are no existing collaborative NIH-wide or federal groups.
Pragmatic and Group-Randomized Trials: ODP releases Pragmatic and Group-Randomized Trials in Public Health and Medicine, an online course to help researchers design and analyze group-randomized trials.
2017
Early Stage Investigator Lecture: To recognize the contributions of early career prevention scientists who have not yet received a substantial NIH research award, ODP establishes and hosts its first annual ODP Early Stage Investigator Lecture.
Research Methods Resources: ODP develops the NIH Research Methods Resources website, which provides NIH and research communities with information on the design and analysis of trials that randomize groups or deliver interventions to groups.
2018
Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2019-2023: ODP releases its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2019–2023, Prevention Research: Building a Healthier Future (PDF), which builds upon prevention-related resources, tools, and initiatives developed across ODP. In 2022, Health Disparities is elevated from a cross-cutting theme to become a seventh strategic priority for ODP.
Center for Coordination of Analytics, Science, Enhancement, and Logistics (CASEL): TRSP awards the first CASEL in Tobacco Regulatory Science as the coordination and dissemination hub for all FDA-funded extramural research at NIH.
2020s
2021
Prevention in Focus: ODP establishes the Prevention in Focus webinar series, which features research talks from prevention science experts and thought leaders who are making advances in public health.
Center for Rapid Surveillance of Tobacco: TRSP awards the first Center for Rapid Surveillance of Tobacco to assess changes in use behaviors, product marketing, and the marketplace to better understand the rapidly evolving tobacco landscape in the United States.
2022
ADVANCE: ODP launches the NIH ADVANCE (ADvancing preVentive intervention reseArch in populatioNs that experienCe health disparitiEs) initiative, an NIH-wide effort to support high-impact preventive intervention research addressing social determinants of health in populations that experience health disparities.
2024
Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2024-2028: ODP releases its Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2024–2028, Prevention Research: Creating a Healthier Future for All (PDF). The plan outlines how ODP will work to increase the scope, quality, dissemination, and impact of prevention research supported by NIH over the next 5 years.