Throughout her career she has developed, implemented, and managed large, diverse, multidisciplinary scientific programs in areas including infectious diseases, cancer, and genomics, and has developed strategic alliances between academic, healthcare and commercial organizations to leverage resources and capacity across institutions to enhance the translation of innovative technologies from the bench to the market.
Dr. Jodi Black is the Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Extramural Research, where she leads and supports the development of innovative initiatives, program and grants management policy and processes, and the small business and extramural technology development programs. Throughout her career she has developed, implemented, and managed large, diverse, multidisciplinary scientific programs in areas including infectious diseases, cancer, and genomics, and has developed strategic alliances between academic, healthcare and commercial organizations to leverage resources and capacity across institutions to enhance the translation of innovative technologies from the bench to the market.
Dr. Black’s involvement with the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program at NIH provides an example of an individual’s continued commitment to maximizing the program’s potential within an agency and for the companies receiving funding. In 2010, Dr. Black organized a team to optimize the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)’s investment in SBIR/STTR programs based on the Enhancing the Return on the NHLBI’s SBIR/STTR Investment Team (ERNSIT) report, and convened the NHLBI Accelerated Innovations Program Working Group (AIPWG). Recommendations from AIPWG led NHLBI to develop the NIH Centers for Accelerated Innovations (NCAI) Program’s Funding Opportunity Announcement.
Dr. Black’s involvement in the development and promotion of SBIR/STTR did not end there: in 2011, she established the new Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination (OTAC), where she served as Acting Director until 2015. OTAC develops and implements strategic approaches to enhance the return on SBIR/STTR funds, serves as a focal point for the research community for information about small business and other technology development opportunities, and facilitates strategic alliances between the federal and private sector stakeholders. Under Dr. Black’s guidance and leadership, the NIH Centers for Accelerated Innovations (NCAI) program was launched in September 2013 as a public-private partnership with a 7-year joint commitment of $42 million by the NHLBI and $23 million by non-federal funders. The success of the network led to an expansion in 2015 to span the entire NIH mission with a 3-year, $9 million additional commitment to fund the Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hubs (REACH) program. Initial success and ongoing ecosystem needs spurred the recent renewal of the program through the Reauthorization Act, allowing NIH to further expand the network with five new sites in September of 2019.
In 2019, Dr. Black proposed and secured approval to form a new business unit within the NIH Office of the Director, Office of Extramural Research. SEED (Small business Education and Entrepreneurial Development), officially known as the Office of Biomedical Entrepreneurship and Innovation, supports the early-stage product development pipeline by integrating support for the academic proof-of-concept consortium and the SBIR/STTR programs, and by facilitating strategic alliances between federal and private sector stakeholders.