Established in 2004, the Centers for Excellence in Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) Research (CEER) program, supports transdisciplinary teams addressing ELSI of genetics/genomics and trains new ELSI scholars. By design, CEERs would produce pragmatic solutions to ELSI questions and establish research groups that would be self-sustaining after the 8–10-year funding period. Eleven full Centers were funded; nine were renewed. As NHGRI funding of the CEER program concludes in 2024, this presentation evaluates the program’s training accomplishments and trans-disciplinary work. Transdisciplinarity was assessed using publications and investigators’ academic specialties. CEERs published 518 papers across 258 journals; we grouped journals into four broad categories: medicine, genomics, law and ethics, and other. Each CEER published substantial proportions of its papers in at least two categories, indicating broad interests and expertise. A more granular journal topic index from PubMed revealed that CEERs published in journals covering 107 topics (mean=22 topics/site). Analyses of investigators’ academic backgrounds speaks to transdisciplinary teams. Training outcomes were assessed by recording trainees’ positions and funding after completing training. Among 152 CEER trainees, 59% continued in ELSI related fields as of December 2023. A total of 72% of K-grant applications and 67% of R-grant applications from former CEER trainees were funded. Combining the 57 CEER trainees who applied for NIH K- or R- grants, 37 received at least one grant. CEER trainees’ funding success rates compare favorably to overall success rates of K- and R01 applications submitted to NHGRI between 2013-2022, suggesting the benefits of CEERs’ career development efforts.
Authors: Sarah Anstice, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institute of Health; Dave Kaufman, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institute of Health
