Key Dates

NOT-MH-20-065, Notice of Intent to Publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement for Practice-Based Suicide Prevention Research Centers (P50 Clinical Trial Optional)

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

The NIMH intends to reissue and extend the Advanced Laboratories for Accelerating the Reach and Impact of Treatments for Youth and Adults with Mental Illness (ALACRITY) Research Centers program. The ALACRITY Centers program is intended to support high-impact, practice-based research with near-term potential to significantly advance clinical practice and generate knowledge that will fuel transformation of mental health care in the United States.

This Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop meaningful collaborations and responsive projects.

The FOA is expected to be published in Summer/Fall, 2020with an expected application due date in May, 2021.

This FOA will utilize the P50activity code. Details of the planned FOA are provided below.

This Notice encourages investigators with expertise and insights into this area of practice-based effectiveness and services research to begin to consider applying for this new FOA.

In addition, collaborative investigations combining expertise in clinical and mental health services research, behavioral and social science, health informatics and data science,communications technology, health systems engineering, decision science, and other emerging areas will be encouraged and these investigators should also begin considering applying for this application.

Among the areas of research encouraged in this initiative are programs of research focused on:optimizing the effectiveness of existing interventions; improving the delivery and quality of evidence-based services; and accelerating the implementation and continuous improvement of new practices in diverse, real-world health care settings. This FOA encouragesresearch designed to improve the translation of existing knowledge of strategies for the prevention and treatment of mental health problems affectingamong children, adolescents, and/or adults (including older adults).

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will invite applications for center grants to support Advanced Laboratories for Accelerating the Reach and Impact of Treatments for Youth and Adults with Mental Illness (ALACRITY) Centers. The purpose of these research Centers is to support transdisciplinary teams of clinical and mental health services researchers, behavioral scientists, social scientists, health information and communications technologists, health systems engineers, decision scientists, and mental health stakeholders (e.g., service users, family members, clinicians, payers) to engage in high-impact studies that will significantly advance clinical practice and generate knowledge that will fuel transformation of mental health care in the United States.

Successful ALACRITY Centers will address major mental health problems observed among children, adolescents, and/or adults (including older adults), and foster innovative research aimed at: optimizing the effectiveness of preventive and/or therapeutic interventions for mental disorders within well-defined target populations/settings, improving delivery and quality of evidence-based services, and accelerating the diffusion, implementation, and continuous improvement of new practices in diverse settings. Center-supported research should reflect a deployment-focused model of intervention and services design and testing that takes into account key characteristics of the settings and providers where optimized mental health interventions and services will be implemented.

The ALACRITY Centers program is intended to support research that maximizes synergies across disciplines and has a high potential for increasing the public health impact of existing and emerging mental health interventions and service delivery strategies. The Centers are intended for transdisciplinary projects that could not be achieved using standard research project grant mechanisms. Support is provided both for individual research projects and for cores that are critical for the integration across ALACRITY components. Centers are expected to provide plans for rapid, widespread sharing of relevant data, methods, and resources that will promote near-term improvements in clinical practice, as well as plans that further advance research focused on intervention effectiveness and/or services. A strong vision of how the ALACRITY Center will advance the field beyond the goals of the individual projects is essential for successful applications.

ALACRITY Centers are also intended to provide opportunities for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and investigators in early stages of independent careers to participate in interdisciplinary research.

Applicants interested in submitting applications to support transdisciplinary programs of practice-based research focused on identification, prevention, and treatment of suicide risk, specifically, are directed to NOT-MH-20-065 ("Notice of Intent to Publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement for Practice-Based Suicide Prevention Research Centers (P50)".

This Notice encourages transdisciplinary teams of investigators with expertise and insights into suicide prevention to consider applying for this FOA.

Applications are not being solicited at this time.

Please direct all inquiries to:

Joel Sherrill, Ph.D.
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
(301)-443-2477
jsherril@mail.nih.gov