NEI's Audacious Goals Initiative

Abstract

In 2013, the National Eye Institute (NEI) launched a program with an unconventional goal. The NEI challenged the ophthalmic and vision research community to seek creative and pioneering initiatives that would fundamentally advance research over the next 10 to 15 years. The response was overwhelming, with >500 researchers and clinicians submitting ideas. The NEI centered the initiative around well-defined prizes rather than grants, drawing in the expertise and perspectives of people not typically involved in vision research. Both physicians and research scientists were among the winners and almost half of submissions came from people who had never received funding from the National Institutes of Health. In addition to harnessing new perspectives, the initiative’s fresh approach removed the constraints that go hand in hand with grant writing and allowed more room for imagination. Researchers did not have to worry about being incremental and safe in their ideas in order to ensure funding, and could instead be ambitious and truly audacious. A total of 474 eligible applications were winnowed down to 81 by clinicians and scientists, who provided input to a panel of judges through numerical scores, letter grades, and technical comments. Using the same judging methods as the technical advisors, a federal judging panel selected 10 winning entries. Next, in February 2013, the NEI convened a meeting of international thought leaders in vision research. The 10 top ideas had scientist leaders representing the ideas as discussion facilitators, and scientists from vastly different backgrounds met in different rooms at the NEI with the facilitators to discuss these 10 ideas. The process itself was audacious and transformative, with farreaching discussions and reports from each session. The invited scientists narrowed the 10winners into 3 high-priority areas of research. The 10 winning ideas (Table 1) are characterized by their relevance, boldness, feasibility, farreaching scope, and potential to be transformative. The NEI senior staff consulted with the National Advisory Eye Council to identify a single audacious goal: Regenerating neurons and neural connections in the eye and visual system. Two research areas were also designated as high priority: Molecular therapy for eye disease and intersection of aging and biological mechanisms of eye disease. The first area of high-priority research, molecular therapy for eye disease, focuses on the development of treatments through the modification and delivery of genetic information. The past several years have seen the advent of new technologies for precise gene correction in vivo and the unraveling of the genetic underpinning of many eye diseases, transforming this idea from a far-off vision to a realistic goal. Although the idea of performing treatments at the molecular level has driven research on blinding eye