OSP Senior Leadership Team

Lyric Jorgenson, PhD

NIH Associate Director for Science Policy

Lyric Jorgenson, PhD, is the Associate Director for Science Policy at NIH and the Director of the Office of Science Policy. As an internationally recognized expert in science policy, she is a key member of the NIH senior leadership team and the principal policy advisor to the NIH Director. Dr. Jorgenson specializes in conceptualizing and developing policies and initiatives that drive vital biomedical research forward in a responsible manner. 

As the NIH’s top policy advisor, Dr. Jorgenson scans the research landscape to proactively identify areas where national research policies and programs are needed for NIH to achieve its health mission. Dr. Jorgenson’s leadership has been instrumental in creating policies that protect and promote the U.S. bioeconomy, maximizing public access to federally funded research projects, safeguarding research participant protections, and enabling technological innovation to flourish responsibly. Dr. Jorgenson is especially dedicated to ensuring that all voices have an opportunity to meaningfully engage in policy development and implementation. Her philosophy is that evidence-based policy must be responsive to the needs of both the scientific community and the public which funds NIH through its tax dollars.

Prior to her appointment as the NIH Associate Director for Science Policy, Dr. Jorgenson held numerous senior leadership roles across the U.S. Government. In 2016, she was selected by then Vice President Joe Biden to serve as the Deputy Executive Director of the Cancer Moonshot. In this role she directed and coordinated cancer-related activities and leveraged investments across sectors to dramatically accelerate progress in defeating cancer. Before joining the Vice President’s office, she spearheaded the creation of several world-class research initiatives, including President Obama’s BRAIN Initiative and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).

Dr. Jorgenson has authored numerous articles about NIH policy initiatives in leading peer-reviewed publications including JAMA, Nature Biotechnology, and Neuron. She was also selected to serve as guest editor for the Cancer Journal on a special Cancer Moonshot edition. She is frequently interviewed by media outlets and contacted by Congressional offices to discuss NIH policy positions and has received more than a dozen awards for her service.  A Midwest native, Dr. Jorgenson earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Denison University in Ohio and a PhD from the Graduate Program for Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.