Overview: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) collaborated with the Trans-NIH Resilience Research Working Group to host a workshop titled "Advancing the Biomedical Science of Resilience: A Discussion of Measures and Metrics" on September 24-25, 2024. The workshop aimed to propose and identify measures and metrics that capture protective factors contributing to resilience, and thereby optimizing health across the lifespan. With 193 participants registered for either virtual or in-person attendance, the workshop attracted NIH program staff and resilience researchers from academia, industry, and other federal agencies.
The two-day event featured a diverse lineup of speakers presenting various perspectives on resilience across different domains. This approach aimed to encapsulate the complex nature of resilience by exploring it through community, environmental, psychological, physiological, molecular, and cellular lenses.
The workshop's primary focus was the two think-tank sessions, where participants, both virtually and in-person, gathered in small groups to discuss plenary presentations and their own work. The first session examined the key characteristics of resilience studies and their variations across domains. The second session centered on outcome-specific measures and metrics of resilience, along with the study designs needed to validate these measures. Key takeaways on capturing resilience outcomes are summarized in Figures 1a and 1b. Although the session's list of across-domain measures and metrics was not exhaustive, discussions highlighted interconnections between domains, as described in the NIH Resilience concept model. The workshop concluded with a panel discussion addressing challenges and barriers to advancing resilience science. The panel emphasized the need for harmonized language, experimental design protocols, and frameworks for identifying and measuring resilience outcomes across domains.
Figure 1a: Resilience System
Figure 1b: Cross-domain measurement categories
Next Steps: The workshop resulted from ODS collaborations with various NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs).
Figure 2 illustrates the NIH ICOs involved in planning the workshop and serving as moderators or facilitators. Beyond establishing multidisciplinary collaborations, the workshop aimed to boost research community engagement, particularly with early career investigators, through two flash-talk sessions. Moving forward, quarterly meetings of the Resilience Research Scientific Interest Group (SIG) will enhance engagement and networking opportunities among early career investigators, multidisciplinary researchers, and partner organizations. Additional next steps include an ODS-led journal supplement, where workshop speakers will form subcommittees to author articles related to the workshop theme. ODS will also explore partnerships with NIH ICOs to foster multi-domain resilience research collaborations, as highlighted by the workshop.
Figure 2: NIH ICOs that are members of the NIH Resilience Working Group. ICOs highlighted in purple participated in the workshop planning.