Related Announcements

PA-20-185 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PAR-20-150 - NIMHD Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program including secondary data analyses of existing datasets (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)

PAR-21-275 - The Role of Work in Health Disparities in the U.S. (R01 Clinical Trials Optional)

PAR-21-080 - Addressing the Etiology of Health Disparities and Health Advantages Among Immigrant Populations (R01 Clinical trial not allowed)

Issued by

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Purpose

The purpose of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to stimulate novel epidemiological research to address key knowledge gaps within and between subpopulations of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. These populations are frequently aggregated in research, potentially masking important social and health differences. Given clear heterogeneity in ancestry, culture, immigration patterns among Asian Americans, socioeconomic position, and acculturation into American life, a critical need exists for epidemiological research to enhance our understanding of the interplay of environmental exposures, lifestyle, behavioral, genomics, social, neighborhood, and biological factors that impact the health of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander subpopulations.

Background:

Asian Americans comprise over 6% of the United States (US) population and represent the fastest growing population group, more than doubling in size from 10.5 million persons in 2000 to more than 23 million in 2020. Asian Americans trace their ancestry to at least 19 countries in East and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders trace their origins to the original peoples of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia, and are the third fastest growing US population group with over 1 million persons. The trans-NIH workshop, Identifying Research Opportunities for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Health, held from March 30, 2021 to April 1, 2021 reported a general paucity of fundamental epidemiological data on prevalence, incidence, and factors of risk and resilience across most domain areas as a major theme emerging from the workshop. Therefore, an urgent need exists to distinguish potential mechanisms, etiology, and pathways by which risk exposures impact health outcomes in these understudied population groups.

Research Objectives:

The objective of this notice is to encourage fundamental epidemiological research geared toward understanding the inter-relationships of biological, lifestyle/behavioral, environmental, and sociocultural factors and how these factors may impact health disparities and outcomes in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander subpopulations. Epidemiological inference is enhanced with variation in study designs; therefore, investigators may leverage a range of design methods in response to this NOSI, including electronic health record databases, registries, cohort studies, and cross-sectional surveys. Applications may propose leveraging existing studies or data, or may propose new data collection.

To be considered responsive to this NOSI, applicants must propose to study at least one specific subpopulation of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Applicants may propose to also include a non-Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander population group as a comparator or proposed innovative analytical methods for within group comparisons as appropriate.

IC Specific Application and Submission Information:

Applicants must select the IC and associated Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to use for submission of an application in response to this NOSI. The selection must align with the IC requirements listed in order to be considered responsive to that FOA. Non-responsive applications will be withdrawn from consideration for this initiative. In addition, applicants using NIH Parent Announcement (listed below) will be assigned to those ICs on this NOSI that have indicated that PA-20-185 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) is acceptable and based on usual application-IC assignment practices.

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the listed funding opportunity announcements must be followed, with the following additions:

• For funding consideration, applicants must include NOT-HL-23-001 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

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

The National Cancer Institute encourages applications that will elucidate and advance our understanding of factors (individual, neighborhood/community, structural, institutional, biological, physical, geographic, occupational, historical, social, and environmental) that impact cancer risk and outcome across the cancer control continuum for diverse populations. When possible, responsive applicants should leverage existing data resources (e.g., electronic health records, registries, cancer epidemiology cohorts) and/or conducting relevant data collection to enhance understanding of the cancer burden in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander subpopulations to inform prevention and intervention strategies. Of special considerations are applications that collect culturally-appropriate and psychometrically sound measures (https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/improving-health-research-on-small-populations-a-workshop) or those using novel analytical methods or approaches, such as conducting within-group comparisons, to advance understanding of varying cancer incidence and mortality in Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.

Specific topics of interest include, but not limited to:

• Studies investigating the influence of environmental, lifestyle, behavioral, sociocultural/structural, clinical (e.g., comorbid conditions) and cancers that disproportionately affect Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.
• Studies that evaluate the multi-level protective and/or risk factors that determine differences in cancer incidence and/or mortality among or within different Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander subpopulations or compared to other non-Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander racial/ethnic groups.
• Evaluate how differences in pre- vs. post-migration environmental exposures and other factors in immigrants/first-generation residents compared to US-born second-generation residents influence cancer risk and the extent of the differences between those who migrate as adults vs. those who migrate as children.
• Evaluate how cancer incidence/mortality changes for immigrants/first-generation residents through the years as migration trends have changed over time for potential research hypotheses and/or potential targets of intervention.
• Studies of immigrant populations in the US versus those remaining in their country of origin and geographic comparisons to understand the influence of the acculturation/assimilation process on cancer risk and outcome.
• Explore how traditional heritage diets may increase/decrease cancer risk and outcome, and how dietary changes associated with acculturation relate to cancer burden.
• Studies that develop models to generate causal explanations for how factors such as early life adversity, education, employment, and health behaviors influence cancer risk and outcome.
• Studies that explore how stress and/or markers (e.g., allostatic load) of stress impact cancer risk and outcome.
• Among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander cancer patients and survivors, examine associations within race/ethnicity, sex, and geographic-related variables and overall survival, physical health, mental health, and other post-diagnostic health-related outcomes.

National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)

NHGRI supports approaches, and technologies that will accelerate genomic research that helps to understand structure of genomes, the biology of genomes, and the biology of disease; that will use genomics to advance the science of medicine; and that will incorporate genomics to improve the effectiveness of healthcare.

In general, NHGRI supports studies that provide generalizable methods and knowledge. Applications for studies relevant only to a particular disease or organ system should be directed to the appropriate Institute or Center. Applications whose primary scientific objective is to understand a single biological or behavioral process, the pathophysiology of a disease, or the mechanism of action of an intervention, will not be in scope for NHGRI. Approaches that are comprehensive across the genome or are generalizable across variants, tissues, diseases, or function may be in scope for NHGRI to the extent they address the research mission of NHGRI’s Extramural Divisions:

• Division of Genome Sciences: https://www.genome.gov/about-nhgri/Division-of-Genome-Sciences
• Division of Genomic Medicine: https://www.genome.gov/about-nhgri/Division-of-Genomic-Medicine
• Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Research: https://www.genome.gov/Funded-Programs-Projects/ELSI-Research-Program-ethical-legal-social-implications

Priority areas:

Statistics or epidemiology

• Addressing genetic/genomic variation, heterogeneity, and prediction accuracy across Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islander subpopulations.
• Modeling differences in genetic and genomic risk prediction related to health or disease, such as those defined by genetic diversity, disease subtypes or sex, across Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander subpopulations.
• Integrating genetic/genomic variation with existing risk stratification models to identify individuals at particularly high or low risk of disease, or at the extremes of health status.

Population genetics

• Incorporating polygenic risk models that are tailored to Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.
• Using population genetics to study why genetic/genomic variation differs across populations and how to account for these differences.

Computational or functional genomics

• Incorporating functional genomic information with other risk factors to understand disease risk in subpopulations of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.
• Developing network or pathway approaches to integrate information on genotype, phenotype, and other omics to predict polygenic risk.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) encourages submission of applications to fill knowledge gaps on topics within the mission of NHLBI. Of particular interest are studies elucidating patterns of acculturation within and across multiple generations; discrimination, neighborhood context, and other social determinants of health and how these factors may impact cardiometabolic risk; characterization of sleep patterns and risk of obstructive sleep apnea; and the association of immigration patterns and cardiometabolic risk in second generation adolescents.

Specific topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• What is the relationship among sociocultural, environmental, and behavioral risk factors with metabolic disorders (i.e., glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, ectopic and visceral fat) in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander subpopulations?
• How do dietary factors in traditional diets relate to blood pressure?
• What are the multi-level risk and protective factors for clinical cardiovascular disease and how do multi-omic biomarkers predict risk and/or prognosis in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander subpopulations?
• How do pre-migration environmental exposures affect lung health trajectories in first-generation immigrants?
• What is the prevalence and source of tobacco use and their association with the incidence of COPD and cardiovascular diseases in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander subpopulations?

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) promotes genetic, molecular, biological, behavioral, social, and economic research related to aging and life-course health, including research on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). ?A strategic priority of NIA is the understanding of health differences and development of strategies to improve the health status and well-being of older adults in diverse populations, such as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. NIA encourages comparisons between Asian American and Pacific Islander subpopulations, such as Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean, as well as research on factors affecting health and longevity, such as cultural affiliation, socioeconomic and geographic inequality, gender differences, discrimination, resilience, and stress, among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

NIA interests in this area include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Use of cross-national data to compare Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders with comparison populations in countries with people of similar ancestry to illuminate the mechanisms through which biological, genetic, environmental and sociocultural factors influence outcomes related to aging, including cognitive outcomes.
• Comparison of subethnic groups (e.g., nativity, country of family origin, generation status, acculturation) among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and how these influence cognitive aging and dementia, the aging process, and morbidity and mortality.
• Longitudinal research on social, cultural and behavioral factors among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders over the life course, such as early life adversity, education, employment, and health behaviors, using models to generate causal explanations for how these factors influence cognitive aging and dementia, the aging process, and morbidity and mortality.
• Mechanistic research to elucidate how social and behavioral mechanisms and processes (e.g., experiences of stigma, bias, discrimination; structural racism; response to adversity; and inequity in opportunity or access to resources) interact with biological processes to produce disparate life expectancy, cognitive decline and dementia, morbidity or disability in Asian American and Pacific Islander subpopulations.
• Research on resilience and protective factors among Asian American and Pacific Islander- subpopulations that produce increased life expectancy, successful cognitive aging, and lower morbidity or disability in Asian American and Pacific Islander-American populations, such as cultural affiliation and social support.
• In addition to considering other theories, models and/or frameworks, research is encouraged to consider the NIA Health Disparities Framework.
• Research to add genetic data to existing or newly collected cohorts in the light of existing or novel AD/ADRD phenotypes that would allow analyses of how specific genetic variants or polygenic risk scores contribute to the risk of, or protection against, AD/ADRD and to the trajectory of cognitive performance.
• Research to enhance the potential of community-based cohort studies to enable precision medicine for AD/ADRD by, for example: 1) expanding the types of cross-sectional and longitudinal ante- and post-mortem-biospecimen data collection needed to generate multiple layers of omics data; and 2) incorporating dense molecular endophenotyping (e.g., genomic, epigenomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and microbiomic).
• Research on the impact of health care services, the health care system, and long-term supports and services (LTSS), including organizational influences, on the health and well-being of older persons with chronic disease, disability, and AD/ADRD, and on their care providers.
• Research on the occurrence and management of geriatric complaints, syndromes, or multi-factorial problems (e.g., fatigue, pain, frailty, unexplained anemia, urinary incontinence, falls, mobility disorders).
• For translational geroscience, research to generate evidence that might connect specific hallmarks of aging to late-life functional decline or increase of comorbidities.
• Research to ascertain differences in risk factors for age-related conditions at different ages, at different stages of disease progression, and in the presence or absence of co-existing conditions.

Applications are expected to factor sex as a biological variable into research designs, analyses and scientific reporting. Applicants should review the Strategic Directions for Research, 2020 2025. Applications whose research focuses on AD/ADRD should also review the AD/ADRD Research milestones for more information on research priorities.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences encourages submissions of applications that are within the mission of NIEHS, which is to discover how the environment affects people to promote healthier lives. Exposures of interest include, but are not limited to, chemicals that people are exposed to via air, water, food, or direct dermal exposure (e.g., personal care products), including air pollutants, pesticides, metals, industrial chemicals, nanomaterials, environmental tobacco smoke, certain microbial products, and certain physical agents, such as environmental radiation. Applications examining the impacts of climate change on health are encouraged and could include a focus on weather extremes (e.g., prolonged or excessively high heat waves, droughts, severe unseasonal cold spells) and extreme weather-related disasters (e.g., hurricanes, storm surges, floods, wildfires) attributed to our changing climate.

Specific topics of interest include but are not limited to environmental epidemiology studies:

• Characterizing environmental health disparities among Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander subpopulations.
• Investigating exposures at the intersection of the physical, chemical, built, and social environments, including social determinants of health, and how these exposures affect health outcomes in Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander subpopulations.
• Examining the linkages between structural racism and discrimination, environmental exposures, and health outcomes in Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander subpopulations.
• Examining resilience among Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander subpopulations in the context of climate change and climate change-related disasters.

The NIEHS strongly supports research conducted in partnership with communities. Studies that utilize community engaged and/or citizen science approaches done in partnership with Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities and/or community-based organizations are strongly encouraged. Applications that utilize report-back methods to increase the environmental health literacy within these subpopulations are also strongly encouraged.

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)

The mission of the NIMHD is to lead scientific research to improve minority health and reduce health disparities. NIMHD supports the study of many aspects of minority health and health disparities from biological and population sciences to clinical, behavioral, and translational research, as well as research on health care services, health systems. NIMHD focuses on the full continuum of causes of health disparities and the interrelation of these causes. Projects must include studies on health advantages and or health disparities in Asian American (AA), Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (NHPI) subpopulations in the United States, including the US territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and US Virgin Islands). Studies must disaggregate between Asians and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders and when possible, within each of these distinct racial groups. Comparison groups/populations may also be included as appropriate for the research questions posed.

Projects are also expected to focus on human and population-based studies in the biomedical, clinical, population, behavioral or social sciences. This can include research with human participants and/or secondary analyses of existing human data or specimens collected in research or clinical settings to investigate mechanisms underlying resilience or susceptibility to disease.

NIMHD encourages projects that use approaches encompassing multiple domains of influence (e.g., biological, behavioral, sociocultural, environmental, physical environment, health system) and multiple levels of influence (e.g., individual, interpersonal, family, peer group, community, societal) to understand and address health disparities (see the NIMHD Research Framework for more information).

• Studies of the role of social determinants of health (including place of birth, years living in the U.S., health risk/protective factors before and after moving to the U.S., immigrant experiences), nutrition, lifestyle (including religion and spiritual practices) on different health assessments (e.g., biomarkers of most common chronic conditions) across different Asian American and Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander subpopulations
• Development and validation of acculturation instruments for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander subpopulations that include items beyond those that are language-based
• Interplay of social, cultural, environmental, and biological factors that affect health disparities and health advantages in the U.S. and its territories.
• Mechanisms by which specific risk and protective factors associated with the immigration experience influence a particular health condition among Asian American subpopulations.
• Influence of intergenerational family and household composition on where family members chose to seek health care and how adherence to treatment affect various health outcomes.
• Studies on structural factors and discrimination that affect minority health and health disparities among various subpopulations.
• In-depth studies of similarities and differences in demographic and sociocultural factors and their relationship to prevalence of multiple chronic conditions, early disease stage or pre-disease stage (e.g., prediabetes) across Asian American and Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander subpopulations.
• Clinical epidemiology (based on clinical/health care system datasets) analyses on prevalence of coexisting multiple chronic conditions, treatment and control and utilization of recommended health care services; research on population-specific clinical presentation of diseases and their complications.
• Studies that identify and characterize pathways and mechanisms through which work or occupation influences health outcomes and health status, and how work functions as a social determinant of health.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is committed to reducing the disproportionate burden of neurological diseases experienced by underserved groups of society, including racial and ethnic minoritized, rural, and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, by funding a spectrum of research from basic science through clinical studies. Based on low numbers of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander population groups in NIH sponsored clinical studies, the NINDS is encouraging the submission of applications to address knowledge gaps on topics related to neurological disorders and care in these sub-populations.

NINDS is particularly interested in:

• Stigma, bias, and/or discrimination at the patient, provider, community, and/or systems level that contribute to neurological disorder health disparities experienced within Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander subpopulations.
• Factors contributing to disparities in acute, long-term, and rehabilitation care of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander subpopulations with vascular disease, vascular cognitive impairment, dementia, epilepsy, TBI, pain, and other neurological disorders.
• The contribution and interplay of acculturation, discrimination, social cohesion, and other social determinant factors with behavioral and lifestyle factors to neurological morbidity or mortality among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander population groups.
• Studies measuring the direct contributions of social determinants of health driving neurological disease in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander subpopulations.

A letter of intent and communication with NINDS program staff prior to submission of an application is strongly encouraged. Observational studies should be theory-based to enable the future development of actionable items and evidence-based interventions.

Application and Submission Information

Submit applications for this initiative using one of the following funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) or any reissues of these announcement through the expiration date of this notice.

NCI FOAs for this NOSI

NHGRI FOAs for this NOSI

NHLBI FOAs for this NOSI

NIA FOAs for this NOSI

NIEHS FOAs for this NOSI

NIMHD FOAs for this NOSI

NINDS FOAs for this NOSI

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the funding opportunity announcement used for submission must be followed, with the following additions:

• For funding consideration, applicants must include NOT-HL-23-001 (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.

Applications nonresponsive to terms of this NOSI will not be considered for the NOSI initiative.

Inquiries

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

Robb Rowley, MD
Division of Genome Medicine
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
Telephone: 301-827-9126
Email: Robb.Rowley@nih.gov

Ye Yan, PhD
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Telephone: 301-480-6779
Email: ye.yan@nih.gov

Dallas W. Anderson, PhD
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Telephone: 301-402-6693
Email: dallas.anderson@nih.gov

Lindsey Ann Martin, PhD
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Telephone: 984-287-4036
Email: Lindsey.Martin@nih.gov

Rina Das, PhD
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
Telephone: 301-496-3996
Email: dasr2@mail.nih.gov

Richard T. Benson, MD, PhD
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
(301)-827-9071
Richard.Benson@NIH.gov

Tram Kim Lam, MPH, PhD
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone: 240-276-6967
Email: lamt@mail.nih.gov

Examine your eRA Commons account for review assignment and contact information (information appears two weeks after the submission due date).

Financial/Grants Management Contact(s)

Deanna L Ingersoll
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
Phone: 301-435-7858
E-mail: deanna.ingersoll@nih.gov

E-Bijan Cox
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Telephone: 301-480-8628
Email: e-bijan.cox@nih.gov

Heidi Young
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Phone: 301-451-8789
Email: heidi.young@nih.gov

Jenny L Greer
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Phone: 984.287.3332
E-mail: jenny.greer@nih.gov

Priscilla Grant
National Institute On Minority Health And Health Disparities (NIMHD)
Phone: 301-594-8412
E-mail: pg38h@nih.gov

Chief Grants Management Officer
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Email:ChiefGrantsManagementOfficer@ninds.nih.gov

Crystal Wolfrey
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone: 240-276-6277
Email: wolfreyc@mail.nih.gov