Advancing resilience science through cross-domain integration: Proceedings of an NIH workshop

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements hosted a workshop titled Advancing the Biomedical Science of Resilience: A Discussion of Measures and Metrics on September 24-25, 2024. The workshop convened NIH program staff and researchers from academia and federal agencies to propose and identify measures and metrics that capture protective factors contributing to resilience across the lifespan. Various perspectives on resilience were thoroughly discussed, including those related to cellular, physiological, psychosocial, community, and environmental domains, reflecting the complexity and multidimensionality of resilience science. Central to the workshop were discussions to examine characteristics of resilience studies across domains and to explore outcome-specific measures and metrics and study designs needed to validate those outcomes and accurately measure resilience in biomedical research. The workshop concluded with a panel discussion on the challenges of advancing the science of resilience and the need for robust frameworks for studying the concept. This article presents the proceedings from that workshop and outlines strategies for advancing and strengthening the science of resilience through greater integration across research domains. Leadership in convening diverse perspectives and fostering multidisciplinary dialogue, such as through consensus-building activities and collaborative forums, will be important for advancing shared frameworks and understanding resilience across the lifespan.