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ORIP Director’s Message

Biomedical research, like other complex human endeavors, benefits from robust and adaptive infrastructure and resources. ORIP supports the NIH mission by providing a variety of research infrastructure and related programs that benefit researchers supported by many NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs). ORIP also supports specialized biomedical research training for veterinary scientists.

ORIP is part of the NIH Office of the Director (OD), Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI), which identifies scientific research gaps and emerging opportunities, as well as arising public health challenges. The trans-NIH nature of ORIP activities demands close collaboration among ORIP divisions (Division of Comparative Medicine and Division of Construction and Instruments), DPCPSI, and the entire NIH to optimize infrastructure support of studies for a wide range of diseases across the basic, translational, and clinical research continuum. ORIP collaborates with NIH ICOs to develop and maintain infrastructure that strengthens their existing programs, advances areas of emerging science, and underpins new initiatives. In partnership with the ICOs, ORIP creates and maintains a variety of resources to advance biomedical research, ranging from animal models and biomaterials, to scientific instruments and equipment, to human expertise. In addition to its many collaborations across the NIH, ORIP strives to form creative collaborations with other federal and nongovernmental entities that have a stake in advancing research infrastructure and resources.

About the Director

 Dr. Franziska B. Grieder, DVM, Ph.D.

Dr. Franziska B. Grieder, DVM, Ph.D., was appointed Director of ORIP in January 2013. Dr. Grieder attended veterinary school at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in viral pathogenesis from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Prior to coming to the NIH, Dr. Grieder was a faculty member in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, in the School of Medicine of the Uniformed Services University, where she maintains a faculty appointment. Dr. Grieder’s research focused on viral pathogenesis using mouse models to investigate neuroimmune mechanisms.

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