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Issued by

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

Purpose

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research is inviting comments and suggestions to guide the drafting of the next NIH Research Plan on Rehabilitation on behalf of the NIH Medical Rehabilitation Coordinating Committee.

Background

In 2021, the National Institutes of Health published the second Research Plan on Rehabilitation (an update of the 2016 Plan with the same themes) which outlined the priorities of the Institutes and Centers to advance rehabilitation science. Since that time, NIH has promoted multiple initiatives, workshops, and funding opportunities aimed at advancing the priorities within the research plan. Moreover, the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has presented annual updates on the changes in the portfolio following the publication of the research plan to the National Advisory Board for Medical Rehabilitation Research (https://www.nichd.nih.gov/about/advisory/nabmrr).

Given the changing research landscape since the 2016 plan themes were established, the NIH would like to entertain new themes for the 2026 Research Plan on Rehabilitation. This request for information is the first of several opportunities for researchers, consumers of rehabilitation, and care-partners to provide input to NIH on the proposed research plan. 

Information Requested

The NIH Medical Rehabilitation Coordinating Committee is tasked with creating a research plan every five years, as required by the 21st Century Cures Act (42 USC 285g-4) and is seeking guidance from the community of stakeholders involved in this research. Specifically, the NIH requests feedback on the following:

• The community’s perception of progress towards achieving the priorities specified in the previous research plans,
• Potential priorities or areas of research to consider in the next research plan,
• Current priorities that should be retained and continued,
• Emerging areas of science that will impact the research plan on rehabilitation,
• Potential focus areas for concentrated work in medical rehabilitation research. 

The feedback garnered from this request for information will be reported at the May 2024 meeting of the National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research and will be incorporated into the next Research Plan on Rehabilitation that is planned for 2026 publication.

How to Submit a Response

All comments must be submitted electronically to [email protected].

Responses (no longer than 300 words in Microsoft Word or PDF format) must be received by 11:59:59 (ET) by the response date noted above. Please indicate "RFI Response" in the subject line of the email. You will receive an electronic confirmation acknowledging receipt of your response.

Responses to this RFI are voluntary. Do not include any proprietary, classified, confidential, trade secret, or sensitive information in your response. The responses will be reviewed by NIH staff, and individual feedback will not be provided to any responder. The U.S. Government will use the information submitted in response to this RFI at its discretion. The U.S. Government reserves the right to use any submitted information on public NIH websites, in reports, in summaries of the state of the science, in any possible resultant solicitation(s), grant(s), or cooperative agreement(s), or in the development of future funding opportunity announcements.

This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation, grant, or cooperative agreement, or as an obligation on the part of the Federal Government, the NIH, or individual NIH Institutes and Centers to provide support for any ideas identified in response to it. The Government will not pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for the U.S. Government’s use of such information. No basis for claims against the U.S. Government shall arise as a result of a response to this request for information or from the Government’s use of such information. 

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Please direct all inquiries to:

Theresa Cruz, PhD 
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) 
Telephone: 301-496-0295 
Email: [email protected]