niddk strategic plan for research

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Meet the Director: Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers is a prominent researcher in the treatment of sickle cell disease.

How does an expert on blood diseases become the head of a “diabetes institute”? That’s a question Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), hears a lot. Since 2007, he has led NIDDK’s staff of nearly 600 people. He also made his own monumental contributions to sickle cell disease research. NIH MedlinePlus Magazine asked Dr. Rodgers about entering medicine and addressing health disparities, and he told us what advice he would give young researchers starting in the field today.

What drew you to study medicine?

I grew up in New Orleans. My father was a high school health and physical education teacher. My mother was a public health nurse, so I developed a love for science and health at an early age. Many of my mother’s patients were from low-income households and often unable to come to clinics during the work week. She would sometimes visit their homes on weekends to provide care, give vaccinations to their kids, and that sort of thing. Seeing her give quality and compassionate care to all instilled in me a spirit of service to others, particularly to those who are medically underserved.

Then in high school, I had three close friends who had sickle cell disease. At that time, little could be done for this condition. Patients [with sickle cell disease] typically have periodic bouts of extreme bone and joint pain. All that could be done at that time was to give them strong pain medicines. Blood transfusion was also sometimes given to patients [for sickle cell anemia]. But very little could prevent or cure the disease. One of my friends died while I was still in high school, and the other two while I was in college. This experience drove me to medicine and hematology [the study of blood diseases].

How did you end up at NIDDK?

During my medical residency at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, several mentors there suggested that I come to the National Institutes of Health. It was a cool place to do research in many fields, including in sickle cell disease. I contacted the head of the sickle cell disease branch in the Extramural Research Program at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and they referred me to Dr. Alan Schechter [Chief of the Molecular Medicine Branch at NIDDK]. He had published an article on the status of research on sickle cell disease. I interviewed with his boss, I was offered a position that I accepted, and the rest is history.

How did your research impact therapies for sickle cell disease?

Dr. Schechter and I worked together to help develop hydroxyurea. This was the first effective, FDA-approved therapy for sickle cell anemia in adults. It dramatically improved patients’ lives and their overall survival. The FDA approved hydroxyurea for adults in 1998 and then for children in 2017, because the earlier results were so promising. Thinking back now, had this drug been available when I was in high school, I still might have my friends to talk to today.

If people respond to it, hydroxyurea is a great drug for reducing a number of symptoms, including pain frequency, and increasing life expectancy. But it doesn’t actually cure the disease. To cure sickle cell disease, you have to replace the stem cells in the bone marrow. [From 2004 to 2013, our team, led by Dr. John Tisdale and Dr. Matt Hsieh] developed ways to use bone marrow stem cell transplants to expand the possibility of curing the disease.

  NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin Rodgers speaks during a 2013 Senate hearing on diabetes on behalf of the JDRF Children's Congress.

You were recognized for this work while also serving as Director of NIDDK. What have you learned about yourself as a leader?

What I’ve discovered is that it is good to be able to multitask. When you’re a researcher in the laboratory, you focus on particular conditions that you may—if you’re lucky—be able to make a major imprint on. Being an administrator for science, grants, contracts, and more, you can make a lasting contribution potentially to millions, perhaps hundreds of millions, of people worldwide.

How are you tackling health disparities within that mission area?

Many of these conditions disproportionately affect certain racial, ethnic, and socially disadvantaged groups. For example, rates of diabetes are highest among Native American and Alaska Native populations, followed by non-Hispanic Black people. You’re four times more likely to develop kidney failure if you’re African American compared to other populations. And those groups have also been hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.

But we have promoted health equity for quite some time. NIDDK supported research to develop better technology to manage type 1 diabetes. Because some minority groups are less likely to use these technologies, we funded several new grants to advance equitable diabetes technology usage and identify barriers to using these effective interventions.

"One must continue to learn and be in the position to take full advantage of the next technologies." –Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers

What advice would you give to younger researchers considering a career at NIH?

In five to seven years, even the things young scientists learned in medical school or during their early research career could be proven substantially out of date or even wrong. One must continue to learn and be in the position to take full advantage of the next technologies.

We’re training our students, particularly in the medical and scientific fields, to address questions with technologies that haven’t been invented yet. We want to solve problems that we’re not yet aware of. It’s even more important now to continue being a lifelong learner.

How do you promote NIDDK’s research to the public?

What’s important is not only the research itself, but that the results that come from public investment in research are effectively disseminated—this means to the general public, health care providers, patients, and policymakers. To that end, I’m proud to say that our website tends to be one of the most frequently visited websites across the federal government.

We also put on a weekly syndicated radio show that I host called Healthy Moments . Its goal is to provide listeners with reliable, science-based healthy lifestyle tips. Over the past decade, we’ve grown to about 60 million listeners, particularly in areas with the highest rate of conditions within NIDDK’s mission.

What do you do for fun when you’re not working?

I have two grown sons, and when I get to see them and their friends, I enjoy an occasional round of golf with them. Before the pandemic, my wife and I also enjoyed traveling. I look forward to cautiously resuming some of these travel activities in the post-pandemic space. We had scheduled for 2020 to visit the Maldives and some of the islands near Italy, so those might be among the first places we visit. Southeast Asia is definitely on the bucket list as well.

Boosting health equity at NIDDK

Strategic plan for research.

Published in 2021, this five-year plan is meant to guide NIDDK’s mission to better understand biological and environmental contributors to health and disease. Many diseases under NIDDK’s mission are connected. Understanding outcomes of one condition could teach researchers about another. The plan also makes recommendations to diversify the biomedical workforce, and to diversify participation in clinical trials. Read the full plan here .

Health Disparities and Health Equity Research Implementation Plan

Expected to publish this spring, this is the first plan of its kind from NIDDK. Researchers and community members nationwide are working together to identify needed research on health equity and health disparities. This research can impact NIDDK’s work tackling specific diseases and conditions. The plan will also include strategies to put this research into action. NIDDK hopes these diverse perspectives will help researchers understand the role of health disparities in illness and treatment for patients from underrepresented, disadvantaged, or racial and/or ethnic minority communities. Learn more about this plan .

Alternative accessible version (pdf)

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

February 07, 2023

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2024 21st Century Scholars Program Mentors

Meet our program mentors.

Program mentors are seasoned NIH scientific extramural staff with demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; outstanding mentoring experience; and passion for fostering professional and personal growth among early-career staff. (Bios are as of March 2024)

Robert Rivers, Ph.D.

Program director, office of minority health research coordination (omhrc), national institute of diabetes and digestive and kidney diseases (niddk).

Dr. Robert Rivers is a Program Director in the Office of Minority Health Research Coordination (OMHRC) at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). He leads programs that focus on addressing diseases and disorders that disproportionately impact the health of racial and ethnic minority populations. Additionally, he manages programs and a grant portfolio that fosters the recruitment and training of the next generation of researchers. He holds a B.S. in chemistry from Kentucky State University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Cambridge, and he is a former AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Lauren Ullrich, Ph.D.

Program director, office of programs to enhance neuroscience workforce diversity, division of extramural activities, national institute of neurological disorders and stroke (ninds).

Dr. Lauren Ullrich (she/her) helps coordinate the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s (NINDS)   diversity activities, focusing on funding opportunities supporting graduate students, postdocs, and faculty, as well as mentoring networks across critical career transition points. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. in neuroscience from Georgetown University, researching memory in early Alzheimer's disease for her thesis, and she also published on teaching, pedagogy, and professional development in science. She received her B.A. from Swarthmore College in psychobiology. Prior to coming to NINDS as an AAAS Science & Technology Fellow, she worked for the Society for Neuroscience in a range of policy and programmatic areas, including government and public affairs; scientific rigor and reproducibility; workforce and training; and animals in research.

Elaine Sierra-Rivera, Ph.D.

Scientific review officer and chief, endocrine and metabolic systems (ems) review branch center for scientific review (csr).

Dr. Elaine Sierra-Rivera is Chief of the Endocrine and Metabolic Systems (EMS) Review Branch at the Center for Scientific Review (CSR). EMS reviews applications addressing molecular, cellular, and higher order hormone-regulated processes in physiology and pathophysiology. This group specifically includes research related to disorders of the endocrine system, diabetes, obesity, nutrition, and metabolic disorders, as well as research related to the biology of reproduction and disorders of fetal and neonatal life. After receiving her Ph.D. in cancer biology/radiation biology at the University of Iowa, she joined the pathology department at Brown University as a research associate. She then went to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, where she was an assistant professor. She has previously served as the Deputy Chief of CSR’s Oncological Sciences Integrated Review Group and participated in many important CSR and trans-NIH initiatives such as the NIH Senior Leadership Program, and both the NIH SRO Technical Competencies Committee and the CSR Diversity Committee (co-chair for both).

David Shurtleff, Ph.D. (Super Mentor)

Deputy director, acting scientific director, national center for complementary and integrative health (nccih).

Dr. David Shurtleff is Deputy Director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). He is also the acting Scientific Director and acting Chief for both the Clinical Investigations Branch and the Pain and Integrative Neuroscience Branch, Division of Intramural Research. He served as acting Director of NCCIH from October 2017 to November 2018. His career at NIH has focused on providing leadership and fostering an extensive research portfolio in the basic behavioral and neurosciences—cognitive studies, behavioral economics, decision theory, and risk-taking—and a broad spectrum of research that has contributed to cutting-edge research related to drug abuse, addiction, and their treatment. He holds a B.S. degree from the University of Massachusetts. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in experimental psychology from American University. Among his many honors and awards are the NIH Director’s Award for outstanding leadership, vision, dedication, and oversight in developing the NIH Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Grand Challenge, and the NIH Director’s Award for outstanding contributions to the development and advancement of diverse programs in basic neuroscience and behavioral research.

News Center

Empowering research faculty: georgia tech’s strategic plan.

Georgia Tech is supporting career growth for its research faculty, who do critical work at the heart of the research enterprise.

The word faculty is often synonymous with tenure-track professors — the individuals who teach courses and run major labs with their surnames in the title. But while groundbreaking discoveries regularly happen at Georgia Tech, the people doing the day-in, day-out research aren’t always visible.

Research faculty are non-tenure track faculty who carry out crucial research in labs, centers, and departments across campus. They are the lifeblood of research enterprises at major universities like Georgia Tech, but their work often occurs behind the scenes.

To support these essential employees, Georgia Tech launched an initiative to recognize and develop research faculty, who comprise 60% of the nearly 4,400 total faculty currently employed at the Institute. It is part of the second phase of Research Next , the strategic plan for Georgia Tech’s research enterprise.  

Maribeth Coleman , interim assistant vice provost for Research Faculty, and Michelle Rinehart , vice provost for Faculty, were appointed as co-chairs of a Research Next implementation team tasked with finding ways to recognize, support, and retain research faculty. Building on years of effort and collaboration with campus partners, the group took on several projects to improve the research faculty experience and environment at Georgia Tech.  

“Research faculty are critical members of the Georgia Tech community, and their contributions to our billion-dollar research enterprise and the state’s economic development cannot be overstated,” Rinehart said. “We wanted to understand what it’s like for research faculty as they come on board at Georgia Tech, what the hiring process is like, and how we as an Institute can more effectively mentor and develop research faculty in terms of advancing in their careers.”

At the outset, the implementation team identified and examined several facets of the research faculty experience. They reviewed policies in the faculty handbook, giving special attention to existing guidance for promotion and career growth for research faculty.

Promotion guidelines are generally clear for tenure-track faculty. Research faculty, on the other hand, are often not actively encouraged to seek promotion, and may not even know that promotion is an option, according to Rinehart and Coleman. One issue is that funding for research faculty often comes from external research dollars. At least nine months of a tenure-track faculty member’s salary, however, comes from the state budget.

“When you’re constantly having to bring in all of your own salary, as research faculty do, it can be a stressful experience,” Coleman said. “It can also mean you’re more isolated, because you’re focused on bringing in those research dollars that will help you keep your position. But we want research faculty to know that we want them to build their careers here.”

To address these issues, the team developed reference materials and workshops for research faculty seeking promotion. The workshops are offered on a regular basis, and resources and recordings are available on the Georgia Tech faculty website . The team also created educational materials for promotion committees, often composed of tenure-track faculty who are unfamiliar with the research faculty experience.  

“We saw a need for better consistency across campus with regards to guidance for research faculty promotion committees,” Rinehart said. “Tenure-track faculty need guidance on not just how to properly hire research faculty, but also in how to mentor and retain them.”

According to Coleman and Rinehart, the implementation team’s most significant achievement was the launch of a research faculty mentoring network . The mentoring network connects junior research faculty mentees with senior research faculty mentors who have grown their careers at Georgia Tech.

“When new tenure-track faculty arrive, they are usually assigned a mentor within their School or department, but that method doesn’t generally work for research faculty,” Coleman said. “There may not be a large research faculty community in their unit, and research faculty roles and responsibilities vary significantly from person to person. For this reason, the mentoring network is meant to foster cross-pollination and build community across units.”

The mentoring network is a collaboration with MentorTech , a program run by Georgia Tech Professional Education. The program is ongoing, and enrollment is always open. 

To foster inclusivity and belonging, the team established an orientation program for research faculty, modeled after the tenure-track faculty orientation. The Provost’s Office hosted the inaugural research faculty orientation in Fall 2023. Because research faculty are hired throughout the year, the team decided the orientation should take place semiannually. The second orientation took place on March 13. 

In addition to the workshops, mentor network, and orientations, the implementation team also launched a program to welcome research faculty in a personal way. When a new research faculty member is hired, another more senior research faculty member is assigned to welcome them in person, provide them with important information for getting oriented to campus, tell them about relevant professional opportunities, and give them Georgia Tech-branded swag.

“All of this work is about recognizing that research faculty are a tremendously valuable part of our community,” Rinehart said. “They also really enhance our reputation internationally.”

According to Coleman, research faculty can sometimes be viewed as disposable, because of their support from grants that may be limited in time and scope. But she believes that line of thinking is a disservice to both the individual and the Institute.

“It’s important that we recognize the value of research faculty, nurture them, and retain them long term,” she said. “We need to make it possible for people to spend their careers here, as I have, and help make sure research faculty positions at Georgia Tech can be both viable and fulfilling long-term careers.”

To read more about Georgia Tech's strategic research initiatives, visit the Research Next website .

Catherine Barzler, Senior Research Writer/Editor

[email protected]

March 26, 2024

Related Announcements

• December 8, 2023 – Notice of Special Interest: Health Influences of Gender as a Social and Structural Variable. See Notice NOT-OD-24-038
• February 6, 2023 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Addressing Health Disparities Among Immigrant Populations Through Effective Interventions. See Notice NOT-MD-23-003
• February 6, 2023 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Addressing the Etiology of Health Disparities and Health Advantages Among Immigrant Populations. See Notice NOT-MD-23-002 .
• October 6, 2020 - NIAMS Policy for Acceptance of Clinical Trial Applications and Participation in Parent R01 and R21(Clinical Trial Required) Announcements. See Notice  NOT-AR-21-009
• October 8, 2019 - Consolidated Notice on NCCIH Clinical Trials Policies  NOT-AT-20-001
• April 16, 2019  - NHLBI Limitations on Clinical Trial Applications Submitted to the NIH Parent (R01 Clinical Trial Required) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). See Notice  NOT-HL-19-690
• December 18, 2017 -  Notice of NINDS Policy for Submission of Applications and Participation in PA-18-345 "NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01) - Clinical Trial Required". NINDS Only accepts Clinical Trial Applications Proposing Mechanistic Studies for Clinical Trial Parent R01. See Notice  NOT-NS-18-011

Office of AIDS Research ( OAR )

National Eye Institute ( NEI )

• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute ( NHLBI )

National Human Genome Research Institute ( NHGRI )

National Institute on Aging ( NIA )

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism ( NIAAA )

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ( NIAID )

• National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases ( NIAMS )

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering ( NIBIB )

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development ( NICHD )

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders ( NIDCD )

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research ( NIDCR )

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases ( NIDDK )

National Institute on Drug Abuse ( NIDA )

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences ( NIEHS )

National Institute of General Medical Sciences ( NIGMS )

National Institute of Mental Health ( NIMH )

• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke ( NINDS )

National Institute of Nursing Research ( NINR )

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities ( NIMHD )

National Library of Medicine ( NLM )

Fogarty International Center ( FIC )

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health ( NCCIH )

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences ( NCATS )

National Cancer Institute ( NCI )

All applications to this funding opportunity announcement should fall within the mission of the Institutes/Centers. The following NIH Offices may co-fund applications assigned to those Institutes/Centers.

Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives, Office of Disease Prevention ( ODP )

Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research ( OBSSR )

Office of Dietary Supplements ( ODS )

Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office ( SGMRO )

Office of Data Science Strategy ( ODSS )

In alignment with the  White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research , the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is issuing this Notice of Special Interest to highlight interest in receiving research applications focused on diseases and health  conditions that predominantly affect women (e.g., autoimmune diseases; depressive disorders, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (ADRD), gender-based-violence), present and progress differently in women (e.g., cardiovascular disease; HIV; reproductive aging and its implications), or are female-specific (e.g., uterine fibroids; endometriosis; menopause).

For consideration under this NOSI, applications must have a central focus on the health of women, as demonstrated through specific aims that EITHER   explicitly address a particular condition in women OR  focus on one of the high priority topics below. In either approach,  intersectional and/or multidimensional approaches that consider the health of women in context (e.g., projects accounting for social and structural variables—including  race ,  ethnicity ,  socioeconomic status   , and  State  and  Federal policies — that affect women’s health) are strongly encouraged. For consideration under this NOSI, projects are not required to exclusively focus on women. However, studies that include more than one sex or gender should be designed and powered to make generalizable conclusions about women and enable sex or gender difference comparison.

High priority topics across NIH include but are not limited to:

• Projects that investigate the influence of sex-linked biology, gender-related factors, or their intersections on health.
• Projects that investigate how physical, mental, and psychological health outcomes interact with structural factors to either mitigate or exacerbate health disparities, and aim to create behavioral interventions to address these issues.
• Projects that advance the translation of research advancements and evidence in women’s health into practical benefits for patients and providers
• Projects to inform and develop multi-sector partnerships to advance innovation in women's health research
• Research to increase public awareness of the need for greater investment in and attention to women’s health research, as well as women’s health outcomes across the lifespan
• Projects that advance research to reduce health disparities and inequities affecting women’s health, including those related to race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, disability, and exposure to environmental factors and contaminants that can directly affect health
• Dissemination and implementation research to increase uptake of evidence-based interventions   that advance women’s health
• Projects addressing topics identified in the  Women’s Health Innovation Opportunity Map

Investigators must carefully review the specific research interests of NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) that are participating in this NOSI.

Investigators proposing NIH-defined clinical trials are encouraged to visit the  Research Methods Resources  website for information about developing statistical methods and study designs. For more information about conducting group randomized trials (GRTs), please visit the  Pragmatic and Group-Randomized Trials in Public Health and Medicine website.   

The following Institutes/Centers only accept  mechanistic studies that meet NIH's definition of a  clinical trial . See Related Notices section below.

Note :  Not all NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) participate in Parent Announcements. Applicants should carefully note which ICs participate in this announcement and view their respective areas of research interest at the  R01 Clinical Trial Required IC-Specific Scientific Interests and Contact website . Applicants should also carefully note which ICs accept only mechanistic trials. ICs that do not participate in this announcement will not consider applications for funding.

IC Specific Application and Submission Information

NIH ICs have separately advanced notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs) relevant to this NOSI. These NOFOs might be specific to each IC mission area. Applicants must select the IC and associated NOFO to use for submission of an application in response to the NOSI. The selection must align with the IC requirements listed in order to be considered responsive to that NOFO.   

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

• Research to increase our understanding of sex and gender differences in cancer, particularly those that occur in both women and men, including sex-stratified risks based on genomic analysis of sex chromosomes as appropriate
• Fundamental research on gynecologic cancers that are rare, have increasing incidence, and/or documented disparities (e.g. uterine serous carcinoma), including the development of models for these cancers if none currently exist
• Prevention, screening, and early detection research in women, including primary prevention research; research to increase education, awareness, and adherence associated with screening guidelines; and development of assays for the screening and early detection of cancers that currently lack effective screening tests (e.g. endometrial and ovarian cancers)
• Research to understand how comorbidities, informal caregiving support, or social determinants of health, impact cancer prevention, screening, development, progression, response to treatment, and survivorship in women
• Research to identify novel treatments for gynecological cancers that have limited treatment options and/or poor survival rates
• Research to increase our understanding of the influence of intersectionality (acknowledging that individuals have multiple, interconnected social identities [e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, class, age, sexual orientation, disability, etc.], and these identities intersect to shape their unique experiences and positions within society) in the context of prevention, screening, care, treatment, and survivorship of individuals with cancer
• Research to understand how the physiologic effects of menopause (including peri- and post-menopause) and subsequent treatment of menopause symptoms influence susceptibility to cancer risk

National Eye Institute (NEI)

• Research aimed at understanding vision related disorders, whether inherited or acquired, that affect women disproportionately (such as Sjogren’s Disease and dry eye)
• Research to enhance understanding of sex- and gender-specific elements influencing the development of ocular diseases.
• Research aimed to address persistent disparities in ocular health and diseases among women.
• Research on autoimmune diseases (such as autoimmune uveitis), including causes and therapeutic strategies, that disproportionately affect vision in women.
• Research to identify complex interconnections among environmental factors, genetic predispositions, and socio-behavioral elements—such as stress, health disparities, and inequitable access to healthcare—and understanding how these elements collectively influence ocular health in women.
• Research on understanding the differences in the ocular microbiome based on sex.
• Research on the impacts of menopause, the menopausal transition, and treatments related to menopause in ocular health and diseases (such as glaucoma, cataract, AMD, dry eye).

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

• Research that advances precision medicine of heart, lung, blood, and sleep (HLBS) prevention and treatment in women across the lifespan – applicants are encouraged to propose projects that use the existing multi-dimensional (e.g., clinical, omics, and imaging) data across several cohort/clinical studies in NHLBI’s  Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program and NHLBI’s  BioData Catalyst cloud-based ecosystem to further stimulate the development and use of systems biology approaches with artificial intelligence/machine learning- (AI/ML) based novel analytic tools to enhance predictive models, diagnostics, and clinical decision support.
• Research on prevention and health promotion aspects of women’s HLBS health research, particularly projects related to healthy weight, nutrition including maintaining iron status and prevention of iron deficiency anemia, physical activity, blood pressure management, and sleep during the reproductive years and before entering pregnancy.
• Research to better understand mechanisms and resilience to chronic debilitating HLBS diseases and multimorbidity in women.
• Studies exploring the influence or interaction of environmental factors (including psychosocial, socioeconomic, and sociocultural determinants of health) in development, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic HLBS disorders in women.
• Community-engaged research that increases trust in science, addresses social determinants of health (SDoH), promotes HLBS health equity of women in underserved communities, and meaningfully, respectfully and appropriately engages community partners throughout the research process.
• Development of technologies for remote, mobile or handheld monitoring of diseases that primarily affect women such as, high blood pressure, anemia, and high-risk pregnancy. Also, of interest is diagnostic technology that can provide earlier diagnosis for diseases primarily affecting women or that affect women differently such as heart failure or early diagnosis of preeclampsia.
• Dissemination and Implementation (D&I) studies to identify, develop, and/or test strategies for overcoming barriers to the adoption, adaptation, integration, scale-up, and sustainability of evidence-based interventions, practices, programs, tools, treatments, guidelines, and policies.
• D&I studies that engage communities to design and test multilevel strategies to overcome environmental, social, community, structural, and healthcare system factors that lead to or are associated with disparities (or inequities) for HLBS conditions that primarily or disproportionately impact women.
• Research that promote effective interventions addressing traditional, female-specific, and female-predominate risk factors for CVD and to control hypertension in women, specifically young women of reproductive age and including those in the early stages of pregnancy in primary care settings.
• Research that focuses on pulmonary diseases with higher prevalence in women or where the morbidity is greater in women and potentially understudied in women including, but not limited to: asthma, autoimmune diseases with pulmonary complications, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) or rare lung diseases
• Delineate behavioral, psychosocial, physiological and molecular/genetic mechanisms underlying sex/gender differences in sleep and circadian regulation, health, resilience and deficiency/disorders across the lifespan.
• Elucidate sleep and circadian based mechanisms contributing to the etiology and pathophysiology of heart, lung and blood diseases and conditions in women across the lifespan including adolescence, pregnancy and menopause.
• Identify phenotypic signatures and biomarkers specific to improving the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of sleep and circadian deficiency and condition in women across the lifespan. Strategies includes but are not limited to leveraging data repositories (e.g., National Sleep Research Resource), big data, EHR, machine learning/AI, and other computational methodologies.
• Determine multilevel factors underlying disparities in women’s sleep health and sleep-related heart, lung and blood diseases in underrepresented minority groups.
• Research on blood diseases and disorders such as Iron-Deficiency Anemia and Von Willebrand disease and hemophilia carriers who face unique bleeding risks due to menstruation and pregnancy and autoimmune blood disorders that more commonly affect women such as Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia, Thrombophilia, and Immune thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP)
• Research on female specific aspects of sickle cell disease including reproductive health, menstruation health, and different clinical presentations and severity for women.

National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)

• Projects to enhance understanding of the genomic basis of female-specific conditions.
• Projects to enhance understanding of sex- and gender-specific drivers of disease.
• Projects to improving access to and utilization of prenatal screening and genetic testing among women in order to improve obstetric outcomes, especially in underrepresented groups.

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

• Basic and applied research on sex-specific aging processes, particularly studies that apply intersectional approaches.
• Research to prevent or forestall disease and disability and to extend healthy lifespan among older women.  Especially sought is research taking a life-course approach to identify and mitigate or eliminate health disparities and/or promote health equity.
• Research to address persistent disparities in women’s health, disease, and healthcare access and quality, especially for population groups that have been underrepresented in the biomedical and health science research.
• Multidisciplinary mechanistic research on the impact of sex differences on the trajectories of aging and diseases in peripheral organs, individualized prevention, and responsiveness to pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions. 
• Mechanistic research to benchmark results of preclinical studies (e.g., MoTrPAC) that demonstrated sex differences in the function of multiple organ systems, to human physiology in the context of aging.
• Implementation science research to test potential approaches for promoting uptake of evidence-based practices among practitioners and among women themselves, including women from populations that have historically been underrepresented in health-related research.
• Research on women’s reproductive aging, including the long-term effects of pregnancy and maternal morbidity on aging, and mechanistic/validation studies to better understand aging of the female reproductive system.
• Research on the menopausal transition, particularly mechanistic studies of the biological underpinnings; identifying the earliest signs of the transition; understanding and addressing health impacts, including cognitive, affective, and psychosocial changes, associated with the transition; and developing and testing non-hormonal treatments for menopausal symptoms.
• Research on female-specific etiologies, presentation, and treatment strategies for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (ADRD), including the intersection of these conditions with other age-related health conditions to which older women are vulnerable.
• Research using computational and bioinformatics approaches for predictive modeling to understand AD/ADRD disease trajectories in women.
• Research on women’s health issues related to caregiving in both formal and informal contexts.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

• Research focused on mental health, including alcohol and other substance use disorders
• Research on health issues that affect young women, including the etiology, prevention, and treatment of alcohol misuse, particularly since alcohol misuse among certain subpopulations of young women has increased and now exceeds their male counterparts for the first time, and because alcohol misuse increases young women’s risk for alcohol-related pathology compared to young men
• Research to understand the mechanisms through which common environmental factors influence resilience and disease among women across the lifespan (e.g., alcohol contributes to more than 200 diseases and injury-related conditions, including cancer)

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

• Research on autoimmune diseases, including causes, prevention, treatments, and curative strategies, that disproportionately affect women.
• Research examining the immune system and its response to disease across the lifespan, including at critical timepoints such as puberty, pregnancy, perimenopause, and postmenopause.
• Projects to develop new or enhance existing prevention and treatment strategies and their implementation to address the disproportionate burden of STIs, HIV and reproductive tract infections in women, including transgender women.

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)

• Research on the sex-specific pathophysiology of sex differences in arthritis, musculoskeletal, rheumatic and skin diseases, particularly those that affect women disproportionately such as autoimmune diseases
• Research on the mechanisms by which sex-specific factors such as sex hormones, sex-specific gene products (e.g., X and Y chromosome products), and other factors (e.g., pregnancy, environmental exposures) influence immune functions, including leveraging existing data sets, such as the  Accelerating Medicines Partnership
• Research on prevention and management of osteoarthritis, particularly projects that leverage the  Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI)  to explore the cause of sex and gender disparities in osteoarthritis
• Research on osteoporosis, especially projects to better understand bone loss, develop osteoporosis treatments, and reduce delays in diagnosis potentially through expanding the knowledge about the influence of genetics, socioeconomics, and other factors on the condition.
• NIAMS has a special interest in arthritis, musculoskeletal, rheumatic and skin disease research that includes women from  NIH-designated health disparities populations  and specific populations that have been historically underrepresented in biomedical research

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)

• Engineered biology approaches using synthetic biology, biomaterials, and microphysiologic systems
• Point of care devices, wearable/implantable sensors, and digital health platforms
• Biomedical imaging technologies, interventional devices, and computational models/methods

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

• Understand the fundamental biology of female anatomy, physiology, genetics, and hormones.
• The incidence, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of gynecologic disorders including uterine fibroids, endometriosis, adenomyosis, benign ovarian cysts, abnormal uterine bleeding, reproductive tract abnormalities, female pelvic floor disorders, and gynecologic pain.
• Maternal morbidity and mortality, including pregnancy as a stress test for later health issues (e.g., hypertension, heart failure, diabetes).
• The role of autoimmune conditions in pregnancy and maternal health.
• Research to address the health impacts of violence against women and girls, particularly survivors from marginalized and underserved communities.
• Understudied secondary health conditions experienced by women with physical disabilities.
• Projects that study the basis for sex differences in bone mass and strength evident in childhood and adolescence.
• Studies that aim to identify the genetic factors along with the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for the acquisition of bone from birth through adolescence in girls.
• Identifying approaches to prevent, treat, and reverse bone loss associated with delayed puberty or hypogonadism in adolescent girls.
• Contraception and family planning.
• Research on conditions diagnosed in childhood with a predilection for young girls such as Rett Syndrome and Turner Syndrome.
• Studies to understand biological, psychosocial, and environmental factors that impact menarche (including early onset) and menstrual health.
• Studies of how menstruation and the menstrual cycle can affect, or be affected by, vaccination or medical therapies.
• The development of novel and effective pharmacotherapeutic strategies to improve clinical outcomes for women and mothers.
• Studies of fertility status as a biomarker for women’s overall health.

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

• Expanding the understanding of sex differences impacting hearing loss, balance disorders, taste and smell abnormalities, voice disorders, speech, and language disorders.
• The prevalence, incidence, and natural history of hearing loss, balance disorders, taste and smell abnormalities, voice disorders, speech disorders, and language disorders in women.
• The physiological and psychological factors that contribute to the development or progression of communication disorders in women.
• The impact of communication disorders on women’s overall health and well-being.
• Improving the understanding of inherited or acquired hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language disorders that affect women disproportionately to inform treatments.
• The development and evaluation of interventions or treatment strategies, including pharmacological, behavioral, social, surgical and technology-driven approaches, for preventing, mitigating, or treating conditions impacting women in NIDCD mission areas.

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)

• Research to identify potential sex differences in dental, oral, and craniofacial diseases/conditions, especially those that contribute to susceptibility and disparate treatment outcomes for women
• Research on the prenatal environmental and physical stressors experienced by women during pregnancy that affect their child's dental, oral, and craniofacial tissues through altered maternal physiology
• Research on salivary disorders, Sjögren’s disease, and other oral manifestations of autoimmune/rheumatologic conditions
• Research on temporomandibular muscular and joint disorders (TMD) and other acute and chronic dental and orofacial pain conditions
• Oral health disparities in women across lifespan, including pregnant women and menopausal women.
• Oral health measures and data science approaches that focus on dental, oral, and craniofacial outcomes to understand multi-morbidities and whole person health of women.
• Impact of innate (hormonal) and social factors (violence, trauma) on oral and craniofacial structures.

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

NIDDK encourages research on sex/gender differences, sexual and gender minority-related research and race/ethnic diversity, see  NOT-DK-22-003.html . Examples of research areas within the mission of NIDDK include:

• Benign urologic and hematologic conditions and disorders
• Acute and chronic kidney disorders
• Chronic conditions of the digestive system with significant sex disparities
• Autoimmune liver diseases and liver diseases of pregnancy
• Research on disorders of gut brain interaction (e.g., irritable bowel syndrome)
• Research focused on better understanding the natural history of dysglycemia and obesity in pregnancy and the postnatal long-term metabolic effects of dysglycemia and obesity in pregnancy on both mother (such as the progression to type 2 diabetes) and offspring (metabolic imprinting and programming)
• Research on how sex differences contribute to physiology and pathophysiology of organ systems of interest to NIDDK
• Sex differences in diabetes and obesity treatment outcomes
• Sex and gender interactions in diabetes, obesity, and associated organ complications relevant to the mission of NIDDK
• Sex-linked biology and gender factors on HIV-associated organ complications relevant to the mission of NIDDK

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

• Research to identify biological and social determinants and biomarkers that would predict risk of depression, substance use disorder, and overdose during pregnancy/postpartum period to prevent mortality.
• Research that examines the physiological effects of cannabis use during pregnancy on the central nervous system and peripheral systems of the pregnant individual as well as its influence on the progression of pregnancy.
• Research that identifies phenotypic differences between males and females that use commonly misused substances, laying the groundwork for investigating the biological mechanisms behind these differences to inform prevention and treatment approaches.
• Research to understand sex differences in the effects of drugs, including cannabis, on immune function.
• Research that examines sex and gender differences in the neurobiological and behavioral aspects of substance use disorder.
• Research to develop and test interventions for engaging women who use drugs in HIV prevention care.
• Research to develop and test interventions aimed at delaying or preventing a return to substance use in the postpartum period among individuals who refrained from substance use during pregnancy.
• Research that addresses relevant service needs and implications of polysubstance use (e.g., stimulants, cannabis, alcohol) among pregnant/postpartum individuals with substance use disorder.
• Research that tests novel and efficient service delivery models for substance use disorder and comorbid conditions with high prevalence (e.g., HIV/HCV, PTSD, trauma history, chronic stress, chronic pain) among women who use or misuse drugs, or are diagnosed with substance use disorder.   
• Research that tests innovative models of service delivery to address maternal and family needs for individuals experiencing substance use disorder during pregnancy and in the postpartum period, with an emphasis on reducing mortality and providing recovery-oriented, family-centered care.
• Research that seeks to understand changes and variations in state and local policy environment that may affect access, utilization and retention in substance use treatment and related services for pregnant, postpartum, and parenting individuals with substance use disorder.
• Research that develops and tests models that address and overcome barriers specific to women in accessing healthcare.
• Research to identify risk/resiliency factors to substance use and mental health disorders unique to girls and young women using existing datasets (including data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study).
• Research on the role of puberty in brain and neurocognitive development using existing datasets (including data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study).

Key elements applicants should consider when proposing services research include: diverse and/or multi-disciplinary teams, including meaningful engagement of relevant practitioners and community stakeholders in study conceptualization, design, execution, and interpretation; potential scalability and sustainability of the proposed intervention; and the role of health disparities and inequities and their relevance to the phenomena, populations, settings, interventions, or services being studied.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

• Research on the role of environmental factors in fertility declines,
• Research to identify how environmental factors are combining with genetic and socio-behavioral factors including stress, health disparities, and inequitable access to healthcare to affect fertility and reproductive success
• Research focused on chronic women’s health conditions including uterine fibroids, PCOS, and those related to menstruation and menopause that cause suffering and economic loss to millions of women and disparately impact women of different racial populations
• Research to investigate the impacts on human development of environmental exposures including PFAS, phthalates and other endocrine disruptors, air pollution, and others during the prenatal and preconception periods should be prioritized.
• Research on autoimmune disease, including the role of climate change in increases in autoimmunity, and projects attending to the disproportionate effects on racial and ethnic minority populations
• Research on impacts of dietary/nutrition factors on women’s health
• Research on the impact of climate change on diet/nutrition, for example, by reducing the nutritional quality of foods, presenting challenges to food security and quality in extreme weather events, and affecting food costs and availability, all of which create health risks for women, including developing girls and pregnant women.

National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)

• Research in the NIGMS mission areas ( https://nigms.nih.gov/about-nigms/who-we-are/overview  ) aimed at elucidating the basis of sex and gender-related differences including in relevant research organisms.

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

• Research on underlying mechanisms, including biological, environmental, behavioral, cognitive, and psychosocial mechanisms, associated with risk and resilience for mental illnesses that disproportionately affect women with respect to onset, reoccurrence, morbidity, and mortality (including suicide).
• Research on the prevention and treatment of mental illnesses and the access, quality, utilization, and implementation of evidence-based mental health services for women and girls.
• Research examining sex differences and sex- and gender-specific influences on mental illnesses in women during different stages of life (e.g., puberty, adolescence, pregnancy and postpartum, menopause and later life).
• Research addressing the social determinants of women’s mental health, with an emphasis on elucidating ways to eliminate mental health disparities that disproportionately impact women from racial and ethnic minoritized communities.
• Research that uses an intersectional, data-driven approach to improve HIV prevention and treatment outcomes in women, including interventions and implementation strategies for addressing mental health, trauma and violence, stigma, and other social and structural determinants of health.
• Research that uses data science approaches to identify sex- or gender-specific differences in clinical, behavioral, and cognitive phenotypes to advance clinical decision-making in HIV.

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)

• Research focused on reducing racial and ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality, especially in postpartum care.
• Prevention of new HIV infections among women and optimal treatment for women living with HIV who are from minoritized populations or from lower socioeconomic status groups.
• Research to understand the well-being and social function, clinical care, psychosocial-biological interactions, social determinants of health, and epigenetics/epigenomics links to the health of women and girls from populations that experience health disparities, at different stages of life beyond maternal, perinatal/peripartum, and postpartum care.
• Studies that examine, develop, test and/or evaluate healthcare models focused on the health of women at different stages of life beyond reproductive, pregnancy and postpartum care.
• Studies that develop, test and/or evaluate healthcare-based and/or community-engaged research interventions focused on reducing health/healthcare disparities and attaining optimal health outcomes (equity) in women with multiple chronic conditions.
• Research that explores mechanisms or mediating factors of healthy aging among women from populations that experience health disparities.
• Research that explores longevity experienced by women from some populations that experience health disparities and its implications on prevention and healthcare guidelines, and maintaining independence and dignity.
• Studies that develop, test and/or evaluate care coordination strategies for older women from populations that experience health disparities. These could address: challenges or breakdowns in care, multiple care transitions, care team functioning, and care setting infrastructure.
• Effect of healthcare and public policies on timely access, utilization, care coordination and attainment of recommended care experienced by postmenopausal and older women, especially across different regions (e.g., rural compared to urban settings, U.S. territories compared to the U.S. mainland)
• Studies that explore effectiveness of existing protocols to detect/report neglect, mistreatment or abuse of older women and their effect on healthcare disparities and wellbeing.
• Studies that explore effectiveness of existing healthcare settings protocols to detect/report mistreatment, abuse or violence against women of all ages from populations that experience health disparities, and especially those who are not born in the U.S. or whose primary language is not English, and their effect on health outcomes.
• Studies that examine healthcare systems and clinical and community infrastructures and services influencing health outcomes and health disparities in women living with disabilities.
• Developing, testing and/or evaluating interventions in the health care settings that mitigate ageism, racism, and/or other forms of discrimination, prejudices, and stereotypes against older women.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

• Research on neurological conditions that have specific health implications for women (e.g., epilepsy and stroke risk during and after pregnancy, recovery after spinal cord and traumatic brain injury), or disproportionately affect women (e.g., migraine, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, myalgic encephalopathy/chronic fatigue syndrome, post-acute sequelae of COVD-19, stroke, and dementia).
• Projects to enhance understanding of neurological health disparities in women among NIH-designated populations that experience health disparities (HDPs; e.g. structural sexism, gender norms, relational power dynamics, gender inequities, and/or intersectional oppression) as well as intersectionality with other NIH-designated HDPs.
• Projects that identify and measure specific modifiable social determinants of health that contribute to neurological health disparities and inequities affecting women among NIH-designated HDPs

National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)

• Research to address the impact of social determinants of health and health-related social needs on women’s health
• Research to advance maternal health equity by addressing social determinants of health in communities and health-related social needs at the individual or family level
• Research to develop, test, and implement community interventions to prevent and reduce health impacts of violence against women
• Research to understand the impacts of policies, laws, regulations, programs, and practices on health equity among health disparity populations of women
• Studies that identify protective factors at multiple levels (e.g., individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, societal) that influence women’s health outcomes
• Research to understand and improve the health of women, addressing experiences shaped by the intersection of gender or gender identity with other social statuses (e.g., race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or ability)
• Implementation research to advance the scale, spread, and effectiveness of evidence-based practices/services to advance women's health equity

National Library of Medicine (NLM)

• Research aimed at developing and validating artificial intelligence algorithms trained on large-scale health data to detect early signs of sex-specific health conditions, facilitating timely interventions to improve prognosis and survival rates of diseases that disproportionately affect women.
• Research that employs machine learning and other data science approaches to analyze diverse datasets and create personalized risk assessment tools that effectively account for sex-specific characteristics and lifestyle factors.
• Research integrating artificial intelligence into precision medicine initiatives targeting women's health, focusing on identifying biomarkers, genetic variations, and other factors influencing treatment response and disease progression.
• Research utilizing natural language processing (NLP) to analyze patient-provider interactions, electronic health records, and health-related social media content, aiming to better understand health concerns, preferences, and experiences of women.
• Research assessing unintended bias related to sex and gender in biomedical data and knowledge resources, with the goal of mitigating disparities.
• Research focused on developing and implementing data and vocabulary standards (e.g., common data elements, biomedical ontologies) that account for sex-linked biological or gender-related factors or that capture concepts related to women’s health, including diseases that are unique to or disproportionately affect women (e.g., autoimmune diseases, myalgic encephalopathy/chronic fatigue syndrome, endometriosis, and post-partum depression).
• Research seeking to inform the design of personal health informatics tools that benefit women, especially women from underrepresented groups.

Fogarty International Center (FIC)

The Fogarty International Center (FIC) is interested in research and research career development grant applications proposing studies in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) focused on the health of women and girls as applicable to research goals outlined in the FIC NOFOs listed in this NOSI.  Globally, women are impacted by gender health gaps, with implications for the well-being of not only themselves but also their families, communities, and societies in general. Some of the gender health gaps may be due to climate change, poverty, cultural and societal norms, gender specific presentation or metabolism of disease processes, and gender specific conditions such as pregnancy and menopause that affect women in significant ways.  Intersectional research projects that address topics of relevance to cisgender and transgender women and gender-diverse people to understand basic biomedical, biobehavioral, and social and structural impacts on the health of this population, and development of appropriate culturally relevant interventions to mitigate adverse health outcomes, are also of interest.

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

• Projects to develop or refine tissue chips and 3-D bioprinting models targeted to women’s health and reproductive health, including by designing and conducting research on human-based cell models created from women and/or designed for research on topics specific to addressing women’s health.
• Projects to address sex and gender inclusion and risks of bias in data science (e.g., AI/ML, inclusive algorithm development, inclusion of women in datasets)

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

• Projects that develop and test interventions using complementary health approaches for managing symptoms such as perinatal and postpartum depression, stress, anxiety, pain, and sleep disturbance and assessing their impact on maternal health outcomes.
• Research on the use of complementary health approaches to support pregnant and parenting women with opioid use disorder.
• Research on the contributions of sex, gender, and the intersection of sex and gender on the mechanisms of action of complex interventions including various mind and body approaches and natural products.

All of Us   Research Program

• The  All of Us  Research Program seeks to enroll a million or more diverse individuals throughout the United States; to date, 772,000+ participants have consented to join the program, of which nearly 60% identify as a woman. A variety of data is currently available for research, including 287,000+ EHRs, 413,350+ surveys, 337,500+ physical measures, 245,350+ whole genome sequences, 312,900+ genotyping arrays, and 15,600+ wearable device records.
• All of Us  encourages use of the Researcher Workbench to study women’s health issues in the current dataset, which includes nearly 250,000 women participants, of whom 73% are underrepresented in biomedical research.
• Specific topics can be explored via the publicly available Data Browser ( https://databrowser.researchallofus.org/ ). Types of investigation among women include but are not limited to cardiovascular diseases (over 100,000), menopause-related conditions (over 47,000), pregnancy-related conditions (over 31,000), and breast cancer (over 9,000).
• Population-specific risk of disease and gender-specific risk factors: Investigate gender-specific risk factors for diseases to better understand how biological, genetic, hormonal, and socio-cultural factors contribute to health outcomes.
• Maternal and reproductive health impacts: Explore the impact of maternal and reproductive health on long-term outcomes for both women and their offspring; investigate social, biological, environmental, and lifestyle risk factors for maternal mortality in underrepresented populations.
• Leverage the longitudinal, multimodal landscape of women’s health data offered by All of Us to profile demographic features, experiences and outcomes to study health disparities among women as well as key diseases that historically impact women specifically.

NIH Office of AIDS Research ( OAR )

OAR is part of the Office of the Director, NIH, and works in partnership with the NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices in coordination of the NIH HIV Research Program and to ensure that HIV/AIDS research is aligned with the NIH Strategic Plan for HIV and HIV Related Research ( https://oar.nih.gov/hiv-policy-and-research/strategic-plan ). The OAR does not award grants but co-funds HIV-related applications and research projects that have received an award from one of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) listed in the announcement. Projects must align with at least one of the strategic goals and objectives outlined in the NIH Strategic Plan for HIV and HIV Related Research. Please contact the relevant ICO Scientific/Research Contact(s) listed with any questions regarding the ICO research priorities and funding.

Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS)

The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) supports innovative and cutting-edge research on dietary supplements to foster knowledge and optimize health across the lifespan.  This includes research on dietary supplement products or vitamins, minerals, botanicals, amino acids, and other dietary or bioactive substances, as well as their extracts, concentrates, and metabolites (constituents considered the bioactive substances in dietary supplements) .  Areas of ODS interest for this NOSI include but are not limited to research on:

• The role, function or effects of dietary supplements or their ingredients on health optimization, disease risk reduction, prevention, and related health outcomes, of adolescent girls and women.
• The use of dietary supplements in diverse populations of women, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, disability, environmental factors, and life stage.
• Micronutrient deficiencies that impact women across the lifespan, especially during preconception, pregnancy, lactation, menopause, and aging. Research on women in underserved and underrepresented populations is encouraged.
• Dietary supplements or their ingredients in neurological development, cognitive function, and stress-related disorders in women (or powered to disaggregate by sex or gender) across the lifespan. 
• Evaluating  safety, efficacy, dissolution, disintegration, and bioavailability of  bioactive ingredients in dietary supplements marketed towards women.

The ODS provides co-funding for but does not award or manage grants.  The ODS only accepts co-funding requests from NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs).  Therefore, applications must be relevant to the objectives of at least one of the participating ICs  listed in this announcement. Please contact the relevant IC Scientific/Research Contact(s) listed for questions regarding IC research priorities and funding.

Office of Disease Prevention (ODP)

The Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) is the lead office at the NIH responsible for assessing, facilitating, and stimulating research on disease prevention. 

Areas of ODP interest for this NOSI include: 

• Projects that develop and test interventions that address common risk factors for morbidity and mortality among women, including tobacco use, overweight/obesity, poor diet, physical inactivity, alcohol misuse, drug misuse, risky sexual behavior, injury and violence, infectious disease, and environmental health. 
• Research to test interventions that reduce health disparities and inequities affecting women, including those related to race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, disability, as well exposure to environmental factors and contaminants and other social determinants of health.
• Research across the life course, including studies on a variety of topics, including pregnancy and postpartum care, menopause, cognitive decline, violence, and elder abuse. 
• Projects testing interventions that address multimorbidity among women (the co-occurrence of two or more chronic diseases). 
• Projects to identify potential sex differences in tobacco and nicotine use, dependence, and cessation, especially those that identify intervention targets for factors that contribute to disparate outcomes for women.

The ODP provides co-funding for, but  does not  award or manage, grants. The ODP only accepts co-funding requests from NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs). Therefore, applications likely to receive co-funding must be relevant to the objectives of at least one of the participating NIH ICs listed in this announcement. Please contact the relevant IC Scientific/Research Contact(s) listed for questions regarding the IC’s research priorities and funding.

The SGMRO develops and coordinates health- and research-related activities for sexual and gender minority (SGM; defined for NIH research in  NOT-OD-19-139 ) populations by working directly with the NIH institutes and centers (ICs) and serves as a liaison for the research community to ensure SGM populations are considered and represented in research activities across the agency. The SGMRO does not have grant-making authority or administer grants. The office can only support grants deemed scientifically meritorious after review by one of the ICs participating in this announcement and after a co-funding request is initiated through the IC. Please reach out to the relevant scientific/research contact(s) identified in this announcement with any questions about IC-specific research priorities and funding. More SGM- and SGMRO-specific information is available in the  NIH Strategic Plan to Advance Research on the Health and Well-being of Sexual and Gender Minorities FY 2021-2025  and on the Office’s Research Resources  webpage .

For this NOSI, SGMRO encourages research to protect, maintain, or improve the health of sexual minority women, transgender men and women, and/or nonbinary and other gender diverse people assigned female at birth. When appropriate, SGMRO encourages consideration and incorporation of relevant concepts (e.g., minority stress, social safety, intersectionality, stigma), research strategies (e.g., community-led or -engaged research, trauma-informed research, strengths-based approaches), and frameworks (e.g.,  SGM Health Disparities Research Framework ,  NIMHD Research Framework ).

Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR)

The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) supports research on the structural and environmental circumstances impacting women’s health and well-being over their life course and intergenerationally, as well as the influence of individual-level social and behavioral factors on women’s health.  The Office is particularly interested in research that examines the interaction of social and behavioral influences on women’s health at multiple levels, prioritizes vulnerable populations, and addresses health disparities and inequities. As OBSSR does not accept assignment of applications or manage funded awards, investigators should contact one of the ICs listed for inquiries regarding the suitability of their proposed project for the NOFO and the IC’s research portfolio.

Application and Submission Information

All NOSIs must include the following Application and Submission Information. This NOSI applies to due dates on or after May 6, 2024, and subsequent receipt dates through November 4, 2027.

Submit applications for this initiative using one of the following notices of funding opportunity (NOFOs) or any reissues of these announcements through the expiration date of this notice.

Applicants must select the IC and associated NOFO to use for submission of an application in response to this NOSI. Applications must be aligned with one of the mission areas of the selected IC. The selection must align with the IC requirements listed to be considered responsive to that NOFO. Non-responsive applications will be withdrawn from consideration for this initiative. Applicants will be assigned to ICs based on usual application-IC assignment practices.

All instructions in the  SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the listed funding opportunity announcements must be followed, with the following additions:

• For funding consideration, applicants must include “NOT-OD-24-079 ” (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4B will not be considered for this initiative.

Applications nonresponsive to terms of this NOSI will not be considered for the NOSI initiative.

Applications nonresponsive to terms of this NOSI will be withdrawn from consideration for this initiative.

Please direct all inquiries to the Scientific/Research, Peer Review, and Financial/Grants Management contacts in Section VII of the listed notice of funding opportunity.

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

Keisher Highsmith, DrPH National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Phone: 301-402-1984 Email: [email protected]

Elizabeth Anne Barr, Ph.D. Office of Research on Women’s Health ( ORWH ) Telephone: 301-402-7895 Email:  [email protected]  

Geetha Parthasarathy Bansal Fogarty International Center (FIC) Phone: (301) 496-1653 E-mail:  [email protected]

Passley Hargrove-Grimes, Ph.D. National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Phone: 301-451-2583 Email:  [email protected]

Hongman Song National Eye Institute (NEI) Phone: 301-451-9768 E-mail:  [email protected]

Ebony B Madden National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Phone: 301-503-5620 E-mail:  [email protected]

Marrah Lachowicz-Scroggins National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Telephone: 301-435-0222 E-mail:  [email protected]

Rene Etcheberrigaray, M.D. National Institute on Aging (NIA) Phone: 301-4519789 Email: [email protected]    

Deidra Roach, M.D. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Telephone: 301-443-5820 Email:  [email protected]

Jessi Drew National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Telephone: 301-496-3915 Email:  [email protected]  

Su-Yau Mao, PhD National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) Phone: 301-594-5032 E-mail: [email protected]

Zeynep Erim National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) Phone: 301-451-4792 Email:  [email protected]          

Preethi Chander, PhD National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) Phone: 301- 827-4620 Email: [email protected]

Dena Fischer, DDS, MSD, MS National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) Phone: 301-594-4876 Email: [email protected]

Abee L. Boyles National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Phone: 984-287-3241 or 919-316-8247 Email:  [email protected]

Della White, Ph.D. National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Email: [email protected]

Larissa Aviles-Santa, MD,MPH,FACP,FACE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES (NIMHD) Phone: 301-827-6924 E-mail:  [email protected] Rebecca Eve Hommer National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Telephone: 301-827-2257 Email:  [email protected]

Sung Sug (Sarah) Yoon, RN, PhD National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) Telephone: 301-402-6959 Email: [email protected]

Allison Dennis, PhD National Library of Medicine (NLM) Telephone: 301-827-9721 Email: [email protected]

Leslie J. Marshall Office of AIDS Research (OAR) Telephone: 301-402-1839 Email:  [email protected]

Elizabeth L. Neilson, PhD, MPH, MSN Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) Phone: 301-827-5578 Email:  [email protected]

Patricia Haggerty, Ph.D. Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) Phone: 301-529-4884 Email:  [email protected]

Shuhui Chen Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) Email:  [email protected]

Christopher Barnhart Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office (SGMRO) Telephone: 301-594-8983 Email:  [email protected]  

Peer Review Contact(s)

Examine your eRA Commons account for review assignment and contact information (information appears two weeks after the submission due date).

Financial/Grants Management Contact(s)

Pam Fleming National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Phone: 301-480-1159 Email: [email protected]

Mollie Shea FIC - FOGARTY INTERNATIONAL CENTER Phone: 240-669-2960 E-mail:  [email protected]

Karen Robinson Smith NEI - NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE Phone: 301-435-8178 E-mail:  [email protected]

Deanna L Ingersoll NHGRI - NATIONAL HUMAN GENOME RESEARCH INSTITUTE Phone: 301-435-7858 E-mail:  [email protected]

Taryn Cobb National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Phone: 301-827-8025 E-mail:  [email protected]

Traci Lafferty National Institute on Aging (NIA) Telephone: 301-496-8987 Email:  [email protected]

Judy Fox National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Telephone: 301-443-4704 Email:  [email protected]

Ann Devine National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Telephone:  240-669-2988 Email:  [email protected]

Erik Edgerton NIAMS - NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ARTHRITIS AND MUSCULOSKELETAL AND SKIN DISEASES Phone: 301-594-7760 E-mail:  [email protected]

Gabriel Hidalgo, MBA National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) Phone: 301-827-4630 Email: [email protected]

Camilo Asuncion National Institute of Enverionmental Health Sciences Phone:  984-287-4521 or 609-529-2188 E-Mail:   [email protected]

Priscilla Grant, JD NIMHD - NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES Phone: 301-594-8412 E-mail:  [email protected]

Samantha Tempchin National Library of Medicine (NLM) Telephone: 301-496-4221 Email: [email protected]

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Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-2027 for Research and Innovation

The Commission has adopted the second strategic plan for  Horizon Europe . The plan, announced at the flagship  Research and Innovation Days , sets out three key strategic orientations for EU's research and innovation funding for the last three years of the programme (2025-2027):

• Green transition;
• Digital transition;
• A more resilient, competitive, inclusive and democratic Europe.

These orientations aim to address key global challenges such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, the digital transition and an ageing population.

Open strategic autonomy and securing Europe's leading role in developing and deploying critical technologies are overarching principles that apply across all three key strategic orientations.

The strategic plan raises the ambition of Horizon Europe on biodiversity and commits to a target of 10% of the Horizon Europe's total budget for 2025-2027 dedicated to biodiversity-related topics. This new commitment complements existing targets for climate expenditure (35% over the lifetime of Horizon Europe) and main digital activities (€13 billion over the same period).

The strategic plan identifies nine new  European co-funded and co-programmed partnerships : Brain Health, Forests and Forestry for a Sustainable Future, Innovative Materials for EU, Raw Materials for the Green and Digital Transition, Resilient Cultural Heritage, Social Transformations and Resilience, Solar Photovoltaics, Textiles of the Future, and Virtual Worlds.

The strategic plan also provides an overview of the achievement of  EU Missions  over their first years. As a novelty, the stategy plan introduces the New European Bauhaus (NEB) Facility.  The New European Bauhaus  is a pioneering movement that brings citizens, municipalities, experts, businesses, universities and institutions together to reimagine and jointly bring about sustainable and inclusive living in Europe and beyond. Given the cross-cutting nature of the NEB and of its R&I content, the NEB will be implemented as a cross-cluster issue in the Horizon Europe work programmes for 2025-2027. This R&I component will be complemented by a roll-out component that will be delivered through synergies with other EU programmes. Together, these two components will be referred to as the ‘NEB Facility'.

The plan addresses a number of specific issues, such as the balance of research and innovation and the integration of social sciences and humanities. On the former, the strategic plan commits to provide a balanced support to activities with a range of maturity and of technology readiness levels, ranging from knowledge-generating and early-stage research to innovation, to demonstration and first deployment activities, such as in model regions, living labs and lighthouses. It also commits to strengthen collaborative research projects with low technology readiness levels and maturity levels under Pillar II.

Effectively integrating social sciences and humanities into all clusters, including all missions and partnerships, is a key principle of the programme. This is reflected by flagging specific topics and requesting an assessment of their societal impact. Social sciences and humanities will be integrated into relevant projects, from their drafting to their selection and evaluation.

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Director's Note

At the heart of our research are the people affected by the diseases and conditions within the NIDDK mission. Our unwavering commitment energizes us and drives us forward. Whether it’s striving to uncover a cure for debilitating diseases, devising more effective prevention strategies, or pioneering innovative treatments, our dedication remains focused on the people we serve.

Central to our research strategy is the principle of community and patient engagement, described in the NIDDK Pathways to Health for All  report and Strategic Plan for Research , to embed equity into research and ultimately, improve patient care across the continuum.

An example of this patient-centric approach in action is the NIDDK-supported Kidney Precision Medicine Project (KPMP), where the indispensable contributions of “patient partners” play a transformative role in how the studies are developed and implemented. In this issue, you can read more about KPMP’s patient partners  and how their selfless motivation is helping others affected by kidney disease, as well as how the research community can use this model to pioneer innovative, tailored treatments in the future.

Cultivating empathy and engagement with people navigating diseases helps inform the design and execution of our studies and strengthens the bonds of trust and collaboration between researchers, patients, and communities.

Even at the earliest stages, when research ideas begin to take form, NIDDK workshops serve as platforms for inclusive dialogue and collaboration with patients, their families, and community members. This issue highlights the workshops NIDDK held to explore anti-obesity medications , where patients offered valuable insights into their lived experience with obesity and treatment and informed priorities for future research.

And often as researchers, our personal experience with a disease or condition motivates us to pursue a particular field of study. This issue’s Fellow Spotlight features Dr. Yu Ishimoto , who talks about his research on a genetic form of polycystic kidney disease that runs in his family.

In addition to these stories, we share research updates  on advances on a rare neurological disease called GM1 gangliosidosis, how diets affect immunity, models of human fat cells, and more. We also Get to Know Dr. Teresa Jones  and welcome and share congratulations to NIDDK staff in our Commendations & Commencements  section.

Our personal interconnectedness helps shape our paths and form the foundation for our pursuit of knowledge and medical discovery. Together, we can be persistent and empowered to pursue breakthroughs that offer hope and tangible health improvements for all.

In good health,

Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P. Director, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Follow @NIDDKgov on social media