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NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Fogarty International Center Activities

PLEASE NOTE: The application period for this initative is now closed.

NIH has received new funds for Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), Pub. L. No. 111-5. The NIH has designated at least $200 million in FYs 2009-2010 for a new initiative called the NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research.

This new program will support research on topic areas that address specific scientific and health research challenges in biomedical and behavioral research that would benefit from significant 2-year jumpstart funds.

The NIH has identified a range of Challenge Areas that focus on specific knowledge gaps, scientific opportunities, new technologies, data generation, or research methods that would benefit from an influx of funds to quickly advance the area in significant ways. Each NIH Institute, Center, and Office has selected specific Challenge Topics within the broad Challenge Areas related to its mission. The research in these Challenge Areas should have a high impact in biomedical or behavioral science and/or public health.

Clarification regarding foreign components

NIH anticipates funding 200 or more grants, each of up to $1 million in total costs, pending the number and quality of applications and availability of funds. In addition, Recovery Act funds allocated to NIH specifically for comparative effectiveness research (CER) may be available to support additional grants. Projects receiving these funds will need to meet this definition of CER: “a rigorous evaluation of the impact of different options that are available for treating a given medical condition for a particular set of patients. Such a study may compare similar treatments, such as competing drugs, or it may analyze very different approaches, such as surgery and drug therapy.” Such research may include the development and use of clinical registries, clinical data networks, and other forms of electronic health data that can be used to generate or obtain outcomes data as they apply to CER.

The application due date is May 1, 2009.

Broad Challenge Areas and Specific Challenge Topics

Note: Those marked with an asterisk (*) are the highest priority topics; however, applicants may apply to any of the topics.

For Fogarty, the Challenge Topics are:

(01) Behavior, Behavioral Change and Prevention

01-TW-101* Novel strategies to improve health care access for stigma-related conditions.

Design and evaluate pilot interventions to improve access to health care for stigma-related health conditions, identify the qualitative characteristics of successful interventions, and demonstrate successful interventions that can be scaled up or generalized to other stigmatized public health problems and/or to other populations and cultures. Develop valid and reliable methods and measures for assessing stigma as an impediment to access to health care services that allow for comparisons over time and locations. Read more.

Contact: Dr. Xingzhu Liu, 301-496-1653, liuxing@mail.nih.gov

01-TW-102* Improving health through ICT/mobile technologies: enhancing patient compliance.

Develop theory-based social and behavioral principles that influence the utility of evidence-based interventions using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to effect patient compliance and adherence. Test effectiveness, feasibility and scalability of an ICT approach in real-world settings, including development and use of intermediate and end-point health outcomes measures. Read more.

Contact: Dr. Xingzhu Liu, 301-496-1653, liuxing@mail.nih.gov

01-OD(OBSSR)-101 Tools for studying cultural phenomena.

Development of new tools for: the measurement of culturally-shared mental phenomena (e.g., representations, scripts, prejudices); studying mechanisms by which these phenomena are transferred and adapted across individuals; and advancing research on the distribution and transmission of cultural phenomena within populations.

OBSSR Contact Christine Bachrach, 301-496-9485, cbachrach@nih.gov; Fogarty Contact: Dr. Aron Primack, 301-496-1653, aron_primack@mail.nih.gov.

(02) Bioethics

02-OD(OSP)-102 Ethical issues in health disparities and access to participation in research.

Research is needed to assess the under-representation in biomedical and clinical research of U.S. minority populations, underserved populations, and populations who may be vulnerable to coercion or undue influence, to identify barriers to participation in research and to develop approaches for overcoming them. Additionally, studies are needed to assess the impact and ethical considerations of conducting biomedical and clinical research internationally in resource-limited countries.

OD(OSP) Contact: Abigail Rives, 301-594-1976, rivesa@od.nih.gov; Fogarty Contact: Barbara Sina, 301-402-9467, sinab@mail.nih.gov.

02-OD(OSP)-105 Ethical issues raised by the blurring between treatment and research.

The distinction between clinical practice and research is growing less clear, a trend that may be more pronounced with respect to genetic information and medical records research. Studies are needed to better understand the ethical issues associated with this trend. Examples of studies include those to identify how this blurring in roles affects traditional human subjects protections, including, for example, essential practices such as informed consent, conceptions of the doctor/patient and investigator/subject relationship, and privacy protections.

OD(OSP) Contact: Abigail Rives, 301-594-1976, rivesa@od.nih.gov; Fogarty Contact: Barbara Sina, 301-402-9467, sinab@mail.nih.gov.

(04) Clinical Research

04-TW-101* Examining the clinical and mechanistic link between diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease in low- and middle-income countries.

The rising epidemic of obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes has placed societies at dramatically elevated risks for atherosclerotic disease. Epidemiologic studies involving global populations exposed to different environmental and genetic risk will improve understanding of the complex clinical and mechanistic links between diabetes and heart disease, and help create the next generation of control measures.

Contact: Dr. Aron Primack, 301-496-1653, aron_primack@nih.gov

(06) Enabling Technologies

06-OD(OBSSR)-101 Using new technologies to improve or measure adherence.

New and innovative technologies to improve and/or measure patient adherence to prescribed medical regimens and utilization of adherence-enhancing strategies in clinical practice would greatly enhance the health impact of efficacious treatments and preventive regimens. This challenge invites the development of new technologies to measure or improve patient adherence.

OBSSR Contact: Lynn Bosco, 301-451-4286, boscol@od.nih.gov; Fogarty Contact: Dr. Xingzhu Liu, 301-496-1653, liuxing@mail.nih.gov.

(10) Information Technology for Processing Health Care Data

10-TW-101* Innovative information and communication technologies to enhance capabilities of U.S. institutions in global health research and research training.

Develop culturally adaptive, interoperable data management, long-distance communication, and distance learning applications that can enhance productivity and quality of active U.S.-international research and research training collaborations. Read more.

Contact: Dr. Flora Katz, 301-496-1653, katzf@mail.nih.gov

(15) Translational Science

15-TW-101* Models to predict health effects of climate change.

Quantitative and predictive models of effects of climate change on disease burden and health outcomes are needed. Approaches may include statistical, spatial or other modeling methods to quantify the current impacts of climate on a diversity of communicable or non-communicable diseases, or project impacts of different climate and socio-economic scenarios on health. For example, new and innovative approaches to develop projections of changes in disease burden in specific regions or populations will facilitate public health planning. Existing databases on population and environmental variables, such as air quality and climatologic episodes should be used to test the utility of these models where possible. Read more.

Contact: Joshua Rosenthal, 301-496-1653, joshua_rosenthal@nih.gov

For general information on Fogarty implementation of NIH Challenge Grants, contact:

MARIA "MILI" FERREIRA
Program Assistant
301-594-9778
ferreima@mail.nih.gov

For Financial or Grants Management questions, contact:

RHEA HUBBARD
Grants Management Specialist
301-496-5710
hubbardrhea@mail.nih.gov

Learn more from HHS about implementing the Recovery Act.
Learn more about NIH programs that issue grants under the Recovery Act.

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