Notice Number: NOT-ES-16-011

Key Dates
Release Date: September 13, 2016
Response Date: October 30, 2016

Related Announcements
NOT-ES-17-002

Issued by
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

Purpose

The Division of Extramural Research and Training at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) recognizes the need for a translational research framework that 1) represents the full spectrum of the research our grantees conduct, 2) captures all the nuances of environmental health research, especially at the more basic end of the research spectrum, 3) provides a common language for describing translational research in the environmental health sciences, and 4) promotes the telling of translational research stories in progress reports and other research documents.
The Division drafted a translational research framework for environmental health sciences, and a series of examples illustrating potential uses of the framework, which are available at: http://partners.niehs.nih.gov/trf. The draft builds upon several published translational research frameworks as well as specific case studies developed from a range of projects supported by the Division.

This Request for Information (RFI) seeks input on the draft framework from environmental health researchers from both the intramural and extramural perspectives, community partners who work on environmental health science projects, as well as health care workers, clinicians, regulators, and policy makers. We are also seeking input from those who have experience with creating translational research frameworks and analyzing research using these frameworks, including individuals involved with, for example, the National Institute of Health (NIH) Clinical Translation Science Awards (CTSA).
Feedback received will be used to further inform and finalize the framework.

Information Requested

This RFI targets scientific investigators and other members of the environmental health sciences and translational research communities who are interested in translational research frameworks.
Respondents are encouraged to provide their comments (both specific and general) on the proposed framework and case studies that are available http://partners.niehs.nih.gov/trf.

Examples of topics on which input is sought include the following areas:

• Applicability of the proposed translational research framework map to your translational research in environmental health sciences.
• Benefits and/or challenges related to recognizing movement both around a translational research ring as well as across translational research rings as translational.
• Elements of translational research in environmental health science that are missing from the framework.
• Suggestions for other names of the framework components.
• Other comments on the utility of this framework for guiding, managing or evaluating translational research.

Submitting a Response

Response to this RFI is voluntary. All responses must be submitted by October 30, 2016. There are two ways to submit: by email and using an online form.

If submitting by email, please send responses to [email protected]. Please include the Notice number NOT-ES-16-011 in the subject line. Please do not include any proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information in your response.

You can complete the questions online by visiting: https://www.research.net/r/trf2016_survey.

Responders are free to address any or all of the questions listed above. Submitted information will be considered confidential. The collected information will be reviewed by NIH staff, and it may be aggregated and summarized for reports made publicly on an NIH website. The NIH will use the information submitted in response to this RFI at its discretion and will not provide comments to any responder's submission.

The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in summaries of the state of the science, and any resultant solicitation(s). The NIH may use the information gathered by this RFI to inform the development of future funding opportunity announcements.

This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and should not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Federal Government, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), or individual NIH Institutes and Centers. 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:

Kristianna Pettibone, Ph.D.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Telephone: 919-541-7752
Email: [email protected]