Group items tagged

Purpose This FOA is intended to support research on lupus through a longitudinal study designed to follow an established, US-based., population-based cohort with lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus {SLE} and skin lupus) of all ages to determine over time: o The treatment, health care access, and natural history (severity, morbidity, mortality, etc.) of cohort members, o Factors (including genetic and other biological factors such as antibody levels) associated with these outcomes, and o The above by categories of research interest (e.g., age, gender, race/ethnic group). Knowledge of such information for lupus, which is associated with strong age/sex/race disparities and has had little public health research, can help identify missed opportunities for better treatment, help identify new disease phenotypes based on progression of disease, and help identify factors associated with progression that may play a role in secondary and tertiary prevention. 

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages applicants to develop innovative research applications on prescription drug abuse, including research to examine the factors contributing to prescription drug abuse; to characterize the adverse medical, mental health and social consequences associated with prescription drug abuse; and to develop effective prevention and service delivery approaches and behavioral and pharmacological treatments. Applications to address these issues are encouraged across a broad range of methodological approaches including basic science, clinical, epidemiological, and health services research to define the extent of the problem of prescription drug abuse, to characterize this problem in terms of classes of drugs abused and combinations of drug types, etiology of abuse, and populations most affected (including analyses by age group, race/ethnicity, gender, and psychiatric symptomatology). Studies on individual- and patient-level factors, prescriber factors, and/or health system factors are encouraged, as are studies on all classes of prescription drugs with high abuse liability, including analgesics, stimulants, sedative/hypnotics and anxiolytics. Researchers are further encouraged to study the relationship between the prescription medication, the indication for which the medication was prescribed (e.g., pain, sleep disorder, anxiety disorder, obesity), and the environmental and individual factors contributing to abuse.

The Communities Building Healthier Environments for a Stronger Nation Initiative ('Communities Initiative') intends to demonstrate the effectiveness of community-based networks in improving health outcomes among racial and ethnic minority and/or other disadvantaged populations. This program seeks to improve health outcomes through the establishment of integrated networks that collaboratively employ evidence-based disease management and preventive health activities; build the capacity of communities to address social determinants and barriers to healthcare access; and increase access to and utilization of preventive health care, medical treatment, and supportive services. The Communities Initiative specifically targets the unmet healthcare and supportive service needs of racial and ethnic minority populations at highest risk for poorer health outcomes. Health services provided under the Communities Initiative will not be denied to any person based on race, color, or national origin. Populations at highest risk include, but are not limited to, individuals who are newly diagnosed and lack a medical home; individuals who experience difficulty in adhering to a prescribed medical treatment plan; individuals with a chronic disease that is not well managed; and individuals that are unstably housed. Specific health areas to be addressed by the Communities Initiative include asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B or C, obesity/overweight, and mental disorders. Community health programs are required to address social determinants of health, and improve coordination of health, social, and supportive services to significantly improve health outcomes among minority and/or disadvantaged communities. Applicants must choose two but no more than three chronic conditions

The NSF ADVANCE program provides grants to enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and to mitigate the systemic factors that create inequities in the academic profession and workplaces. Systemic (or organizational) inequities may exist in areas such as policy and practice as well as in organizational culture and climate. For example, practices in academic departments that result in the inequitable allocation of service or teaching assignments may impede research productivity, delay advancement, and create a culture of differential treatment and rewards. Similarly, policies and procedures that do not mitigate implicit bias in hiring, tenure, and promotion decisions could lead to women and racial and ethnic minorities being evaluated less favorably, perpetuating historical under-participation in STEM academic careers and contributing to an academic climate that is not inclusive. All NSF ADVANCE proposals are expected to use intersectional approaches in the design of systemic change strategies in recognition that gender, race and ethnicity do not exist in isolation from each other and from other categories of social identity. The solicitation includes four funding tracks: Institutional Transformation (IT), Adaptation, Partnership, and Catalyst, in support of the NSF ADVANCE program goal to broaden the implementation of systemic strategies that promote equity for STEM faculty in academic workplaces and the academic profession.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) today announced a new program to recruit and retain early-career scientists who are from gender, racial, ethnic, and other groups underrepresented in the life sciences, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Through an open competition, HHMI plans to select scientists early in their training to become Hanna H. Gray Fellows. Each fellow will receive funding for up to eight years, with mentoring and active involvement within the HHMI community. In this two-phase program, fellows will be supported from early postdoctoral training through several years of a tenure-track faculty position. In the first competition cycle, HHMI will select up to 15 fellows and invest a total of up to $25 million for their support over eight years.

he overall goal of this initiative is to enhance our understanding of fundamental biological mechanisms involved in disease conditions that disproportionately affect health disparity populations and develop therapies or interventions that can directly or demonstrably contribute to the reduction or elimination of health disparities. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) solicits applications to conduct: 1. Biological and genetic research to explore disease mechanisms or pathways that influence health outcomes in minority and health disparity populations. 2. Clinical and translational research linking basic science discovery with effective treatment or clinical practice to improve health outcomes in minority and health disparity populations. Projects investigating the etiology, physiology, genetic risk factors, molecular pathways, gene-environmental interactions, pharmacogenomic and personalized medicine in health disparity populations are particularly encouraged.

The ADAA Career Development Travel Awards are given to help early career professionals who have a research interest in anxiety disorders and depression, such as basic and clinical neurobiology, psychopharmacology, anxiety comorbidities, clinical psychology, genetics, neuroimaging, epidemiology, comparative effectiveness, multicultural issues, public health, as well as other areas. The awards also familiarize and engage aspiring professionals with the membership and work of the association.

There are 5.4 million individuals who self-identify as American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) in the US, and there are 567 federally registered tribes. While characterized by many strengths and resiliencies, as a whole, AI/AN populations experience significant disparities compared to the general population across a range of health conditions and outcomes, including infant mortality, alcohol-related mortality, substance abuse, unintentional injury, homicide, suicide, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, obesity, chronic kidney disease, asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, selected cancers, and other chronic diseases. Premature death rates, while decreasing in other US racial/ethnic minority populations over the past 15 years, are increasing among AI/AN populations. However, the examination of data on AI/AN populations in aggregate may obscure the significant heterogeneity within the AI/AN population due to tribal affiliation, geographic region, and other factors. For example, gastric cancers affect AI/AN populations in different parts of the country at different rates ranging from 6.1/100,00 in the Eastern US to 24.5/100,000 in Alaska. At the same time, national survey and epidemiological studies often do not report data on AI/AN populations because the numbers are too small or AI/AN individuals are folded into the highly heterogeneous "Other" category, thus not available to interpret any health outcomes specific for AI/AN populations. For these reasons, there is a critical need to build a more comprehensive evidence base regarding the health of AI/AN populations.

NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) is a comprehensive national initiative designed to enhance U.S. leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) discoveries and innovations by focusing on broadening participation in these fields at scale. The vision of NSF INCLUDES is to catalyze the STEM enterprise to collaboratively work for inclusive change, which will result in a STEM workforce that reflects the population of the Nation. The initiative is developing a National Network composed of NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilots, NSF INCLUDES Alliances, an NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub, NSF-funded broadening participation projects, other relevant NSF-funded projects, scholars engaged in broadening participation research, and other organizations that support the development of talent from all sectors of society to build an inclusive STEM workforce.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support innovative approaches to identifying, understanding, and developing strategies for overcoming barriers to the adoption, adaptation, integration, scale-up and sustainability of evidence-based interventions, tools, policies, and guidelines. Conversely, there is a benefit in understanding circumstances that create a need to stop or reduce ("de-implement") the use of interventions that are ineffective, unproven, low-value, or harmful. In addition, studies to advance dissemination and implementation research methods and measures are encouraged. Also listed under R21