Key Dates

Related Announcements

• July 30, 2025 - Request for Information: Extending the Response Date for Inviting Feedback on the Proposed NIH Research Plan on Rehabilitation Scientific Themes FY26-FY30. See NOT-HD-25-029.

Issued by

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

Purpose

This Request for Information (RFI) is intended to gather broad public input on the draft research themes for the NIH Research Plan on Rehabilitation FY26-FY30. It is issued by the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research, part of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), on behalf of the NIH Medical Rehabilitation Coordinating Committee.

Background

The NIH Medical Rehabilitation Coordinating Committee (MRCC) is in the process of updating the NIH Research Plan on Rehabilitation, as required by Public Law 114-255 and is seeking guidance from the communities involved in or who may benefit from this research. This is the second RFI in the process to seek input from the field. See NOT-HD-24-003. The draft Themes have been informed by a subcommittee of the National Advisory Board for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NABMRR), NIH subject matter experts, NIH portfolio analysis, and the previous RFI from February 2024.

The NIH Medical Rehabilitation Coordinating Committee seeks comments in response to the NIH Research Plan on Rehabilitation FY26-FY30 draft themes described below. The draft themes were also shared during the December 2, 2024, NABMRR meeting and can be reviewed by accessing the recording at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=55268 (presentation starts at 4:48:00).

Draft Themes

THEME 1: BASIC AND MECHANISTIC STUDIES

For most disabling health conditions, there are opportunities to expand the foundational knowledge of the complex, person-specific recovery from injury or disease. Additionally, clinicians and researchers often lack the ability to predict individual patient responses to subsequent rehabilitation therapies. Deeper understanding of biological phenotypes and responses to rehabilitation interventions will lead to more targeted treatments.

Potential Objectives:

• Support -omics, cellular, and systems level research to understand and predict individual recovery from disabling disease or injury.
• Advance precision medicine approaches for rehabilitation by supporting the development and use of biomarkers associated with specific injuries, illnesses, and disorders to guide prescription of rehabilitation interventions.
• Investigate the timing and type of physiological and behavioral mechanisms for adaptive and maladaptive changes associated with disabling conditions.

THEME 2: SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

Social determinants of health are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, and age that affect a wide range of health and quality-of-life risks and outcomes. Rehabilitation research must incorporate these whole-person dimensions of a person’s lived experience to effectively improve health and function.

Potential Objectives:

• Use rehabilitation principles to understand and mitigate systemic causes of poor health outcomes experienced by people with disabilities.
• Study the barriers and facilitators to rehabilitation and routine preventive health services for people with disabilities.
• Understand and address the impact of comorbidities on rehabilitation.
• Examine the impact of the care delivery environment (i.e. inpatient, outpatient, skilled nursing facility, community, or home) on rehabilitation outcomes.

THEME 3: REHABILITATIVE AND ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Technology plays a significant role in restoring function to people with disabilities, allowing them to live independently and participate in activities of their choosing. NIH-supported researchers play a role in user-centered technology development and translation.

Potential Objectives:

• Support early-stage technology development for rehabilitation.
• Develop the evidence base for device usage in low-resource settings.
• Leverage the resources of the NIH Small Business Program to advance technology transfer and commercialization of products.
• Increase access to rehabilitation services through telehealth and remote assessment, delivery of care, and adherence monitoring.

THEME 4: IMPLEMENTATION RESEARCH

For rehabilitation-related scientific discoveries to reach consumers, researchers must engage in dissemination and implementation research. Partnerships with providers, payers, and regulators are needed to move discoveries from the lab to the clinic or home.

Potential Objectives:

• Work with consumers of rehabilitation to ensure that proposed therapies and devices are desired, acceptable, cost-efficient, and easy to use.
• Include people with lived experience of disability in the design, review, conduct, and dissemination of research.
• Invest in pragmatic studies that show reproducibility of efficacy studies in real-world settings, and plan for adoption and sustainability needs at the beginning of trials.
• Engage with continuing medical education and professional societies to translate findings into practice.

THEME 5: TRAINING, CAREER DEVELOPMENT, AND INFRASTRUCTURE

A robust future in rehabilitation research requires a well-trained workforce and infrastructure to support the next generation of scientists.

Potential Objectives:

• Continue to develop training programs that provide researchers and clinician scientists at all career stages with access to cutting-edge approaches and methodologies and the insight needed to apply these approaches to advance rehabilitation science.
• Support individual training and career development awards from rehabilitation researchers, as well as early career awards and pilot funding though infrastructure programs.
• Develop infrastructure to support collaborative opportunities and team-science approaches for rehabilitation researchers across domains of expertise and career stages to create a robust, self-sustaining network.
• Train rehabilitation researchers in the ethical use of artificial intelligence.

Information Requested

Upon reviewing the proposed themes and objectives, please submit your feedback on the following topics: :

• The appropriateness of the proposed themes and objectives to capture the current direction of and provide inspiration for future research projects.
• The appropriateness of the proposed themes and objectives to meet the needs and priorities of consumers of rehabilitation research.
• Suggestions for noticeable gaps or missing opportunities to be included.

The information collected from this RFI will be used to refine the research plan, which will be presented to the National Advisory Board for Medical Rehabilitation Research in May 2025.

Submitting a Response

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 below. Please indicate "RFI Response" in the subject line of the email. You will receive an electronic confirmation acknowledging receipt of your response.

Responses will be accepted through July 28, 2025

Responses are voluntary and may be submitted anonymously. Responders are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. Submitted information will not be considered confidential. Responses may be shared publicly on an NIH website. Please do not include any personally identifiable or other information that you do not wish to make public. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response.

This request is for information and planning purposes only and should not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the United States Government. The NIH will not make any awards based on responses to this RFI or pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for the Government’s use of such information.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Theresa Cruz, Ph.D.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Telephone: 301-496-9233
Email: [email protected]