Key Dates
None
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) intends to publish a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to solicit applications for the new Advancing Cancer Control Equity Research through Transformative Solutions (ACCERT) Consortium. Up to four (4) Research Centers and one (1) Coordination Center will be funded as part of the ACCERT Consortium’s effort to address the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on adverse cancer control outcomes.
The Coordination Center will 1) facilitate communication across ACCERT Centers and provide meeting support; 2) lead efforts to manage and share consortium-wide data; 3) connect research centers with capacity building and training opportunities and disseminate synthesized research products, findings, and tools; 4) stimulate and coordinate consortium collaborative activities; and 5) evaluate the impact of the consortium.
The NOFO is expected to be published in Summer 2023 with an expected application due date in early Fall 2023. Details of a pre-application webinar will be announced after the publication of the NOFO. The NOFO is expected to use the U24 mechanism; clinical trial is optional. This Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants with meaningful community collaborations time to develop responsive projects, and with relevant expertise and insights to consider applying for this new NOFO.
Potential applicants are encouraged to view the presentation of this initiative to the Joint Virtual Meeting of the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors (BSA) and the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB), available at: (https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=48653) beginning at 1 hour, 8 minutes. Presentation slides are downloadable at https://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/joint/1222/Oh.pdf.
Recent data indicate that while cancer mortality has declined overall, not all populations have benefited from such progress. Cancer disparities are often the result of historical, social, and structural inequities with implications across the cancer control continuum. Specifically, SDOH are the unfair and avoidable factors that influence health. This includes the conditions of the environment in which people are born, grow, live, learn, work, play, and age that impact health outcomes, and operate at multiple levels of influence (e.g., individual, family, community, systems, and population levels). Examples of SDOH with the potential to adversely affect cancer prevention and control include housing instability, transportation barriers, structural racism and discrimination, language accessibility, health literacy, food access and insecurity, limited physical activity opportunities, and poor air and water quality. Cancer control equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to prevent and detect cancer, receive quality care, and survive cancer with optimal quality of life.
Achieving cancer control equity requires a concurrent emphasis on developing interventions that address the multilevel influences of SDOH on adverse cancer outcomes; collaboration across multiple sectors and partners to leverage community insights and assets; and fostering meaningful community engagement with and building capacity among those disproportionately affected by cancer. In this manner, health equity is not only the goal or outcome, but the approach, process, and methods by which the research is conducted. Community engagement, as an approach to addressing health equity, is well-documented and effective in addressing historical power imbalance, building trust, improving participation in research, as well as enhancing acceptability, feasibility, and uptake of interventions both within and beyond the health care system. This NOFO requires meaningful community engagement in the development and testing of multilevel SDOH interventions.
Objectives and Scope
The Coordination Center will be expected to handle the operational logistics, contribute scientific inputs as a participating member of the ACCERT Consortium, and provide administrative and scientific support for ACCERT Centers. The Coordination Center will work with the funded ACCERT Centers and NCI Program Staff to bring together expertise and data relevant to the funded research. The Coordination Center should be able to connect available resources, foster collaborative efforts, build partnerships, and disseminate research products and programs of the ACCERT Consortium.
All applicants must include the following main components:
1. Administrative Component. The Coordination Center must be able to provide close coordination of transdisciplinary research efforts of the ACCERT Consortium. This role will require strong leadership and administrative support, scientific insight, and capacity to bring diverse teams together.
2. Data Coordination Component. The Coordination Center will be responsible for Consortium-wide data coordination and data sharing in collaboration with funded ACCERT Centers. The main goal of this component is to facilitate data sharing across the ACCERT Consortium.
3. Integration and Dissemination Component. The Coordination Center must be able to integrate and disseminate innovations in community engagement, research methods, capacity building, and training modules within the ACCERT Consortium, as appropriate, and facilitate efforts to disseminate findings.
4. Collaboration Component. The ACCERT Consortium is required to participate in Consortium-wide Collaborative Activities. The Collaboration Component will be responsible for coordinating across each ACCERT Center in their Consortium-wide Collaborative Activities (i.e. collaborative research to be developed and conducted by funded ACCERT Centers post-award). Funding for the Consortium-wide Collaborative Activities will be supported in part by restricted Collaborative Funds.
5. Evaluation Component. The Coordination Center must have the capacity to enable evaluation mechanisms promoting timely, corrective actions. The Evaluation Component will closely collaborate with the Steering Committee (see below), members of the ACCERT Centers, and NCI program staff, as appropriate. An evaluation system is expected to be integrated into the design and operations of the Coordination Center.
Funding Information
Up to $500,000 in FY 2024
One
$500,000 in direct costs per year
93.399
Private Institution of Higher Education
Nonprofit with 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institution of Higher Education)
Small Business
For-Profit Organization (Other than Small Business)
State Government
Indian/Native American Tribal Government (Federally Recognized)
County governments
Independent school districts
Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities
Indian/Native American Tribally Designated Organization (Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
U.S. Territory or Possession
Indian/Native American Tribal Government (Other than Federally Recognized)
Regional Organization
Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government
Applications are not being solicited at this time.
Inquiries
Amanda M. Acevedo, PhD
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone: 202-763-9299
Email: [email protected]
April Y. Oh, PhD. MPH
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone: 240-753-3154
Email: [email protected]
and Human Services (HHS)
