Hutter Selected As OSC Director

Dr. Carolyn Hutter

Dr. Carolyn M. Hutter has been appointed director of the NIH Office of Strategic Coordination (OSC), part of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives in the NIH Office of the Director (OD).

OSC plans, manages and oversees activities funded by the NIH Common Fund, with a budget of nearly $700 million that supports bold scientific programs that catalyze discovery across all biomedical and behavioral research. These programs create a space where investigators and multiple NIH Institutes and Centers collaborate on innovative research expected to address high-priority challenges for the NIH as a whole and make a broader impact in the scientific community.

Hutter brings more than 20 years of experience in genetics and epidemiology as well as managing large research collaborations. She is currently director of the Division of Genome Sciences at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). In this role, Hutter leads NHGRI’s efforts in basic genomics research funding and program management. From her leadership position at NHGRI, she has gained extensive experience with all stages of Common Fund programs. She has worked with leadership across the agency to shape the initial concept and funding opportunities for several Common Fund programs and also has been involved in the renewal or transition of Common Fund programs.

She received a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics-biology from Brown University; a master’s in genetics from Cornell University; a master’s in biostatistics and a doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Washington, Seattle.

Hutter began her career at NIH as a program director in the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program at the National Cancer Institute and in the Division of Genomic Medicine at NHGRI. She has held leadership roles in several large-scale consortia, specifically The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), NHGRI Clinical Sequencing Evidence-Generating Research Program and the early stages of the All of Us Research Program.

Prior to joining NIH, she led and conducted laboratory, computational and epidemiologic research in population genetics, genetic association analysis and cancer prevention. As a senior staff scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Hutter helped establish the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium (GECCO), a collaborative effort involving researchers from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.