Council Minutes — April 2025

The 154th Meeting
National Advisory Council on Aging
Apr. 22, 2025

CONTENTS

1. REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS
2. CALL TO ORDER
3. REPORT: WORKING GROUP ON PROGRAM
4. ADJOURNMENT
5. CERTIFICATION

Attachment A: Roster of the National Advisory Council on Aging
Attachment B: Director’s Status Report to Council

The 154th meeting of the National Advisory Council on Aging (NACA) was convened on Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2025, at 1 p.m. by videoconference. Dr. Richard J. Hodes, director, National Institute on Aging (NIA), presided.

In accordance with the provisions of Public Law 92–463, the meeting was closed to the public on Tuesday, April 22, from 3 to 4 p.m. for the review, discussion, and evaluation of grant applications in accordance with the provisions set forth in Sections 552(b)(c)(4) and 552(b)(c)(6), Title 5, U.S. Code, and Section 10(d) of Public Law 92–463. 1 The meeting was open to the public on Tuesday, Apr. 22, from 2 to 3 p.m.

I. REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS

This portion of the meeting was closed to the public, in accordance with the determination that it concerned matters exempt from mandatory disclosure under Sections 552(b)(c)(4) and 552(b)(c)(6), Title 5, U.S. Code and Section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. Appendix). 2

A total of 3,013 applications requesting $8,053,319,496 for all years underwent initial review. The Council recommended 1,530 awards for a total of $4,606,584,021 for all years. The actual funding of the awards recommended is determined by the availability of funds, percentile ranks, priority scores, and program relevance.

II. CALL TO ORDER

Dr. Kenneth Santora welcomed members to the open session of the 154th NACA meeting. Hodes called the meeting to order at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2025.

1. Dr. Hodes recalled the significant contributions of Dr. Victor Molinari to NIA and the scientific community. Dr. Molinari was a renowned leader and mentor in aging, psychology and geropsychology research, complemented by his service as the director in the Department of Psychology at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston, and his prior role as an emeritus professor of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida. He served as a NACA member from 2009 to 2012 and contributed substantially to NIA Councils during his years.

   Dr. George Martin was a renowned expert in connective tissue biology. He was recognized by his significant contribution to the Intramural Research Program in NIH and the broader scientific community through his leadership in multiple roles, including as a lab chief and scientist emeritus in National Institute of Dental Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), the Scientific Director of NIA from 1989 to 1994, Senior Vice President for Scientific Affairs and R&D at FibroGen, and President of Riptide Bioscience.

   Dr. Hodes provided two important updates. The first update confirmed that NIH is under a full year of continuing resolution. The second update addressed the two bills, the “NAPA Reauthorization Act” and the “Alzheimer’s Accountability and Investment Act” that were signed into law in October of 2024. These bills extend the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) through 2035. The NAPA legislation expands the size of the advisory committee and extends the requirement for NIH, on behalf of the NIH director, to submit a professional budget annually through 2035.

   Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in February 2025. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was appointed as the new National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director in April 2025. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is a trained physician, researcher, and health economist who joins NIH from the medical school of Stanford University. His research has focused on population aging and chronic disease, and he was a long-term grantee funded by NIA for some 20 years. Dr. Hodes expressed the perspectives to pursue NIA priorities as part of the NIH direction under Dr. Jay Bhattacharya’s leadership.

   Dr. Hodes welcomed the new leadership of NIA’s Division of Aging Biology (DAB), Dr. Viviana Perez Montes. Dr. Montes has more than 18 years of professional experience in aging biology and geroscience, including as a principal investigator, tenured faculty, program manager, and innovative leader. She rejoined NIA after departing in 2022 to join the Hevolution Foundation, where she served as the Vice President of geroscience. During her time at NIA, Dr. Perez Montes was a Program Director within DAB’s Cell Biology Branch, where she played an instrumental role in driving numerous successful initiatives, such as managing the Cell Biology Program and serving as a member of the leadership team for the NIH Common Fund Cellular Senescence Network (SenNet).

   Dr. Hodes announced additional new NIA leaderships, and they are:

   Acting NIA Deputy Director: Dr. Ken Santora

   Acting Executive Officer (EO): Ms. Lisa Portnoy

   Acting Division of Neuroscience (DN) Director: Dr. Jennie Larkin

   Acting Chief Administrative Officer: Ms. Taryn Mabe

   Acting Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD) Director: Dr. Mark Cookson

   Acting Office of Planning, Analysis, and Evaluation (OPAE) Director: Ms. Kate Nagy

   Dr. Hodes addressed several crucial concerns from the Council members: (1). Transition of all scientific reviews from Institutes and Centers (ICs) to Center for Scientific Review (CSR), (2). Transition of scientific priorities, and (3). Concerns about the proposed Indirect Costs.

   Dr. Longo shared concerns over maintaining a high quality of scientific review (focused scientific and mechanism expertise) as all NIA scientific review are transferred to CSR. He questioned how Council members can monitor the quality of review with this change. Dr. Hodes explained that this transition was part of a reorganization consolidation in the interest of economy and efficiency to move all scientific review into CSR. NIA is currently in the process of transitioning ICs’ Scientific Review Officers (SROs) to CSR to meet the needs of CSR review. Drs. Hodes and Santora both commented that the Special Emphasis Panels (SEPs) will continue, at least throughout the summer. Dr. Longo raised a follow-up question regarding how quality of review can be measured to which Dr. Hodes responded by mentioning that CSR leadership would be invited for a future discussion. Dr. Santora noted that there was a set evaluation process in CSR involving both internal and external evaluation committees. With the transition the evaluation methods will likely be changed.

   Dr. David Reuben inquired about the clarification on scientific priorities of the federal government. To answer this question, Dr. Hodes mentioned: population health, preventing chronic disease, extension of life and quality of life. He also commented that the new NIH Director has a long history of support from the following research topics: population diversity and heterogeneity, and integrity and reproducibility of science.

   Dr. Sanjay Asthana noted concern about the proposed F&A costs (Indirect Costs) that play a pivotal role for institutions to support researchers and related programs. Dr. Hodes responded that NIH played no role in determination of Indirect Costs, and that NIH had no direct input on how indirect costs were set. Dr. Santora commented that there are regulations in place according to the Grants Policy Statement for how indirect costs and subawards /subcontracts/consortium costs are calculated.

2. Sept. 17-18, 2025 (Wednesday and Thursday), Building 45 — Natcher

   Jan. 27-28, 2026 (Tuesday and Wednesday), Virtual

   May 12-13, 2026 (Tuesday and Wednesday), Building 45 — Natcher

   Sept. 15-16, 2026 (Tuesday and Wednesday), Building 45 — Natcher

3. The minutes of the September 2024 Council meeting were considered. A motion to approve the minutes was made, seconded, and passed unanimously.

III. REPORT: WORKING GROUP ON PROGRAM

Dr. Santora, Executive Secretary of the National Advisory Council on Aging, led the FY 2022 – 2024 NIA Triennial Clinical Research Report. No concept or contract clearances were presented or discussed.

1. The NIA leads federal research on aging and the health and well-being of older individuals. The NIA Triennial Clinical Research Report provides data and findings from NIA’s intramural and extramural clinical studies conducted between FY 2022 and FY 2024.

   Main highlights of the report are:

   NIA Clinical Research studies including Phase 3 Clinical Trials have a significant increase in female population in FY 2024, compared to the FY 2022 and FY 2023.

   Enrollment by Race have a significant increase in Asian and Black African population in NIA’s Phase 3 Clinical Trials in FY 2023 and FY 2024, compared to the FY 2022.

   Enrollment by Ethnicity has a decreasing trend in Hispanic population in NIA’s Clinical Research studies including Phase 3 Clinical Trials from FY 2022 to FY 2024.

   This report was presented at the January 2025 Council, to comply with the congressional mandate (under the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, Public Law 103-43) and concurred by the National Advisory Council on Aging members.

IV. ADJOURNMENT

The open session of the 154th meeting of the National Advisory Council on Aging adjourned at 3 p.m. on Apr. 22nd. The next meeting is scheduled for May 13-14, 2025.

V. CERTIFICATION

I hereby certify that, to the best of my knowledge, the foregoing minutes and attachments are accurate and complete. 3

Richard J. Hodes, M.D.
Chairman, National Advisory Council on Aging
Director, National Institute on Aging

Prepared by Kenneth Santora, Ph.D.
With assistance by Rose Li & Associates, Inc.

Footnotes

1. For the record, it is noted that members absented themselves from the meeting when the Council discussed applications (a) from their respective institutions or (b) in which a conflict of interest may have occurred. This procedure only applied to applications that were discussed individually, not to “en bloc” actions. (Back to text)
2. As required under section 2(d)(2) of Public Law 111-375. (Back to text)
3. These minutes will be approved formally by Council at the next meeting on Jan. 28-29, 2025, and corrections or notations will be stated in the minutes of that meeting. (Back to text)