Restructuring for the long game: Facility utilization, programmatic sustainability, future readiness task forces

When aging infrastructure and tightening federal funding converge, animal research programs need more than gut instinct to guide capital and operational decisions—they need structured governance. Sally Thompson-Iritani describes how two advisory bodies, the Animal Research Task Force and the Emerging Technologies Task Force, have been chartered to conduct evidence-based evaluations of facility utilization, building maintenance requirements, workforce readiness, and program sustainability across UW's animal care and use enterprise. She outlines the task force model, the data frameworks applied to assess long-term programmatic value, and how the process is generating formal recommendations on digitization, 3Rs integration, and infrastructure investment that leadership can act on with confidence.