Key Dates

Related Announcements

• August 11, 2022 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Administrative Supplements for NIA-VA Mentored Physician and Clinical Psychologist Scientist Award in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and AD-Related Dementias (ADRD). See Notice NOT-AG-22-020.
• October 9, 2020 - Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional). See NOFO PA-20-272.

Issued by

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Purpose

The purpose of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to attract early stage physician-scientists and clinical psychologist-scientists from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to an Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD) research career. To accomplish this goal, the VA and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) have created a two-part opportunity for eligible VA researchers to pair with both VA- and NIA-funded mentors in the AD/ADRD field through an IK2 career development award from the VA (described in VA RFAs BX-24-030, CX-24-030, HX-24-030, and RX-24-030 ) and an administrative supplement from NIA. The research can focus on any aspect of the AD/ADRD field (e.g., disease mechanisms, biomarker discovery, diagnosis/clinical assessment, therapeutics, patient care, community care/social determinants of health, caregiver issues, and models of care). The VA RFAs and NIA NOSI will also promote developing and implementing a collaborative framework to facilitate co-funding and support of shared research priorities between NIA and the VA, enabling increased coordination between the two organizations.

Research Objectives

NIA seeks to support research focused on one or more of the following areas:

• Alzheimer's disease (AD): Includes AD diagnosis, treatment, etiology, and prevention. Mild cognitive impairment research is relevant to AD prevention research and thus is included. Cognitive decline in aging is also relevant to this category.
• Alzheimer's disease related dementias (ADRD): Includes frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Lewy body dementia (LBD), vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID), and mixed etiology dementias (MEDs).
• Related diseases: Studies that focus on traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a risk factor for AD/ADRD will be considered. Other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease with dementia, are included when AD is also being studied and when common pathways are described.
• Caregiving: Studies on family caregivers of AD/ADRD patients, as well as Alzheimer's care in nursing homes, are included.
• Basic research: Basic research on disease mechanisms, neuropathology, cognitive decline, memory loss, amyloid, tau, Lewy bodies, etc. is included when a relationship to AD/ADRD is stated.

Application Process

• Interested VA early stage physician-scientists and clinical psychologist-scientists should first enlist the support of at least two mentors. The primary mentor should be an appropriately qualified, VA-employed investigator with an active VA Merit Award. The second mentor should be an investigator in the AD/ADRD field with an active R01 or RF1 award from NIA with at least 3 years of remaining funding on the award. Scientists not funded by the VA or NIA may be included as co-mentors.
• When the mentoring team is in place, VA applicants  should submit a letter of intent (LOI) for the IK2 award to vhacoscirev@va.gov by April 15, 2024 (Summer Cycle) or October 15, 2024 (Winter Cycle). The LOI instructions are provided on pages 18-19 of the VA RFAs BX-24-030, CX-24-030, HX-24-030, and RX-24-030.
• Based on the letter of intent, NIA and the VA will invite the NIA-funded mentor to apply for an administrative supplement through PA-20-272 or its subsequent reissued equivalent to support the VA applicant's research in the NIA-funded mentor’s laboratory. Further information on the application process will be provided at that time. In brief, while the VA applicant applies for an IK2 award supported by the VA, the NIA-funded mentor applies for an administrative supplement supported by NIA.

Award Details

The IK2 award supported by the VA will provide up to $75,000 per year for the VA early stage physician-scientist's/clinical psychologist-scientist's salary, travel expenses, and limited support for research supplies.

The NIA administrative supplement solicited by this Notice will support research expenses for conducting the study in the NIA mentor's laboratory (e.g., materials and supplies, support for a technician, post-doc, and/or consultant(s)). Funding can be requested for up to 5 years, with a maximum annual award of $175,000 in direct costs. The project and budget periods must be within the currently approved project period for the existing parent award. It is anticipated that up to 10 awards will be funded. An annual progress report will be required.

Application and Submission Information

Applications for this initiative must be submitted using the following opportunity or its subsequent reissued equivalent.

• PA-20-272, "Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)"

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and PA-20-272, "Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)," must be followed, with the following additions:

• Application Due Date(s): June 10, 2024 and December 9, 2024, by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization.
• For funding consideration, applicants must include “NOT-AG-23-054” (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.
• The Research Strategy section of the application is limited to 6 pages.
• Only existing grant or cooperative agreement recipients of NIA awards are eligible to apply.
• The proposed project period must be within the project period of the parent award.
• The process for Streamlined Submissions using the eRA Commons cannot be used for this initiative.
• Applicants are strongly encouraged to notify the program contact at NIA that a request has been submitted in response to this Notice in order to facilitate efficient processing of the request. 

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Lisa A. Opanashuk, Ph.D.
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Telephone: 301-827-5422
Email: Lisa.Opanashuk@nih.gov