The Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), along with Institutes and Centers (ICs) of NIH participating in this Notice, announce the availability of administrative supplements to IDeA awards to expand research and research capability in the IDeA states to address important issues of women’s health with a special interest in maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. The proposed research must address at least one of the strategic goals of the 2019-2023 Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women's Health Research "Advancing Science for the Health of Women".

Background

ORWH is the first Public Health Service office dedicated specifically to promote women's health research within and beyond the NIH scientific community. ORWH was established in September 1990 by Congressional mandate. Congress assigned a far-reaching leadership role for ORWH by mandating that ORWH serves as the focal point for coordinating women’s health research at NIH. ORWH crafts and implements the NIH Strategic Plan for Women's Health Research in partnership with NIH ICs and co-funds research on the role of sex and gender on health. ORWH also collaborates with NIH ICs, the NIH Office of Extramural Research, and the NIH Office of Intramural Research to monitor adherence to NIH's inclusion policies, which ensure that women and minorities are represented in NIH-supported clinical research.

ORWH's interdisciplinary research and career development initiatives stimulate research on sex and gender differences and provide career support to launch promising women's health researchers. These programs set the stage for improved health for women and their families and career opportunities and advancement for a diverse biomedical workforce.

The Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program is congressionally mandated and administered by NIGMS. It supports research and research capacity building in states that historically have had low levels of NIH funding through a variety of funding mechanisms. The IDeA program has been instrumental in increasing the pool of Early Stage Investigators (ESIs) from IDeA states who apply for NIH research project grants and in strengthening research infrastructure in those states.

Residents in IDeA states, especially those living in rural areas, often have less access to health care and suffer from poorer health outcomes, including health outcomes for women and children, than the average American. For example, several IDeA states are among the states with the highest maternal and infant mortality rates. These administrative supplements aim to increase research specifically directed at women’s health and health disparities and to expand the capacity of IDeA states to conduct women’s health research .

Research Objectives

This NOSI encourages a broad range of research addressing important issues of women’s health with a special interest in maternal and infant mortality and morbidity, as well as their underlying causes.

Eligibility

Eligibility for this supplement program is limited to current awardees of the following NIGMS programs:

The Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) program, which supports the establishment and development of innovative, state-of-the-art biomedical and behavioral research centers at institutions in IDeA-eligible states through awards for three sequential five-year phases.

The IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) program, which supports a statewide biomedical research development network in each IDeA-eligible state that partners research-intensive institutions with primarily undergraduate institutions, community colleges and tribally controlled colleges and universities, providing access to biomedical research experiences for promising undergraduate students.

The IDeA Program Infrastructure for Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR), which enhances the ability of IDeA state institutions and investigators to develop competitive clinical and translational research programs and address health conditions that affect the medically underserved and/or are prevalent among populations in IDeA states.

Only one supplement request per COBRE, INBRE, or IDeA-CTR grant will be accepted. Each request may include more than one research project, which must be within the scope of the parent grant and appropriate for the duration of one year. Active awards with project end dates in FY 2021 or later are eligible but the award may not be in a terminal no-cost extension or going into a no-cost extension in FY 2020.

IC-Specific Considerations

NICHD: NICHD supports a broad range of research addressing important issues in women’s health, including maternal and infant mortality and morbidity (https://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/fundedbyNICHD). Of particular interest is how maternal mortality and its causes relate to race/ethnicity (especially among American Indian/Alaska Native populations), age and other demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, and nutrition during pregnancy; and in the development of novel and effective pharmacotherapeutic strategies to improve clinical outcomes for mothers and infants. Other areas of interest include discovery/validation of biomarkers that 1) predict adverse pregnancy outcomes or 2) predict medication levels in breastmilk; studies of maternal, neonatal and infant outcomes of pregnancy in infertile couples, stratified by male/female factors and infertility cause, especially endometriosis; and studies of fertility status as a biomarker for women’s overall health.

Application and Submission Information

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

• PA-18-591 - 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-18-591 must be followed, with the following additions:

• Application Due Date: April 30, 2020 by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization.
• The process for Streamlined Submissions using eRA Commons cannot be used for this initiative.
• For funding consideration, applicants must include NOT-GM-20-017 (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.
• Requests can be for no more than $200,000 in direct costs exclusive of Facilities and Administrative costs on sub-contracts.
• Requests may be for one year of support only.
• The Research Strategy section of the application is limited to 6 pages and must clearly describe the significance of the project.
• Only existing awardees of NIGMS programs described in the Eligibility section of this Notice are eligible to apply.
  • Research project(s) proposed in the supplement application must be led by COBRE Research Project Leaders, COBRE or IDeA-CTR Pilot Project Leaders, or the INBRE Developmental Research Project Program investigators presently or previously supported by the current five-year parent award.
  • Co-Project Leads are allowed for collaborative projects.
  • The PD/PIs of the parent awards cannot serve as Project Leads for the proposed research, nor use the supplemental funds to support their own research.

Applications that are not responsive to the terms of this Notice will be not be considered for this initiative.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to notify the NIGMS contact listed below that a request has been submitted in response to this FOA in order to facilitate efficient processing of the request.