Key Dates

Related Announcements

• January 20, 2024 -  NCCIH Multi-Site Feasibility Clinical Trials of Mind and Body Interventions (R01 Clinical Trial Required). See PAR-24-083
• January 20, 2024 -  Feasibility Clinical Trials of Mind and Body Interventions for NCCIH High Priority Research Topics (R34 Clinical Trial Required). See PAR-24-084
• January 18, 2024 - Modular R01s in Cancer Control and Population Sciences (R01 Clinical Trial Optional). See PAR-24-122
• December 21, 2023 - Investigator Initiated Clinical Trials of Complementary and Integrative Interventions Delivered Remotely or via mHealth (R01 Clinical Trial Required). See PAR-24-086
• December 21, 2023 - Data Coordinating Center for NCCIH Multi-Site Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trials of Mind and Body Interventions (Collaborative U24 Clinical Trial Required). See PAR-24-087;
• December 21, 2023 - Clinical Coordinating Center for NCCIH Multi-Site Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trials of Mind and Body Interventions (Collaborative UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial Required). See  PAR-24-090
• December 20, 2023 - Stephen I. Katz Early Stage Investigator Research Project Grant (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See PAR-24-075
• December 15, 2023 - Cancer Prevention and Control Clinical Trials Grant Program (R01 Clinical Trial Required): See PAR-24-072
• October 27, 2023 -  Notice of Information to Publish “Notice of Special Interest: Developing and Testing Multilevel Physical Activity Interventions to Improve Health and Well-Being.” See NOT-OD-24-021
• December 23, 2022 - Early and Late Stage Clinical Trials for the Spectrum of Alzheimer’s Disease/Alzheimer’s Related Dementias and Age-Related Cognitive Decline (R01 Clinical Trial Optional). See PAR-23-081
• October 17, 2022 - NCMRR Early Career Research Award (R03 Clinical Trial Optional). See PAR-23-029
• September 9, 2022 - NINR Areas of Emphasis for Research to Optimize Health and Advance Health Equity (R01 Clinical Trial Optional). See PAR-22-230
• September 9, 2022 - NINR Areas of Emphasis for Research to Optimize Health and Advance Health Equity (R21 Clinical Trial Optional). See PAR-22-231
• May 10, 2022 - Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R01 Clinical Trial Optional). See PAR-22-105
• May 10, 2022 - Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R21 Clinical Trial Optional). See PAR-22-109
• December 22, 2021 - Research on Current Topics in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Related Dementias (R01 Clinical Trial Optional). See PAR-22-093
• December 22, 2021 - Research on Current Topics in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Related Dementias (R21 Clinical Trial Optional). See PAR-22-094
• October 12, 2021 - Exploratory Grants in Cancer Control. See PAR-21-341
• April, 6, 2021 -  Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Developing and Testing Multilevel Physical Activity Interventions to Improve Health and Well-Being: See NOT-OD-21-087 
• March 12, 2021 - Modular R01s in Cancer Control and Population Sciences. See PAR-21-190
• May 7, 2020 - NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Required). See PA-20-194
• May 7, 2020 - NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See PA-20-195
• May 7, 2020 - NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required). See  PA-20-196
• May 5, 2020 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Required). See PA-20-183
• May 5, 2020 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required). See PA-20-184
• May 5, 2020 - NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See PA-20-185

Issued by

Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives, Office of Disease Prevention (ODP)

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

All applications to this funding opportunity announcement should fall within the mission of the Institutes/Centers. The following NIH Offices may co-fund applications assigned to those Institutes/Centers.

Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR)

Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS)

Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH)

Purpose

The Office of Disease Prevention and participating Institutes, Centers and Offices (ICOs) are issuing this Notice to highlight our interest in highly innovative multi-level interventions to increase and maintain health-enhancing physical activity in a wide range of population groups, including populations that experience health disparities, children, older adults, and persons at risk for mental/behavioral health conditions, and any subpopulations that can be characterized by the intersection of two or more of these descriptors. Relevant physical activity intervention research includes translational research for pilot, exploratory, or developmental work in preparation for full-scale, fully powered efficacy studies, as well as studies seeking to adopt existing evidence-based interventions in a new context (e.g., population, setting, etc.). Research studies should be based on well-established theory, existing data, and/or evidence-based interventions. Furthermore, studies may focus on establishing efficacy, effectiveness, or dissemination and implementation of multi-level interventions.

Key Definitions:

Populations that experience Health Disparities (HD Populations): Populations defined in section 464z-3(d)(1) of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 285t(d)(1) as health disparity populations based on higher overall rates of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality, or survival rates in the population as compared to the health status of the general population. NIH-designated U.S. health disparity populations currently include Black Americans and African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, underserved rural populations, sexual and gender minorities, and people living with disabilities.

Multi-level Intervention: For this NOSI, a multi-level intervention is an intervention that impacts determinants at two or more socio-ecological levels of influence (e.g., individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, or societal).

Level of Influence: For this NOSI, levels of influence are the socio-ecological levels (e.g., individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, or societal) at which specific determinants operate to influence risk [and protective] factors and subsequent health outcomes [see NIMHD Research Framework for examples of health determinants at different levels of influence]. To constitute an intervention at the interpersonal, organizational, community, or societal level, the intervention must directly alter determinants at that level, rather than just be delivered in a setting at that level or help individuals manage the consequences of determinants at that level. For example, an intervention to promote better physical activity among school-aged children by adjusting available activity options in the school curricula would be an organizational-level intervention; an intervention providing physical activity information to students within the schools would be an individual-level intervention.

Background:

Physical activity is an important health behavior that is associated with numerous health conditions and outcomes. The evidence reviewed for the second edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans  (2018) indicates physical activity a) fosters normal growth and development, b) can make people feel, function, and sleep better, and c) reduces the risk of many chronic diseases. This evidence about the health benefits of regular physical activity is well established. Yet, according to these guidelines and the Healthy People 2030 overview on physical activity, only 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 5 adolescents in the United States meet physical activity guidelines for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.

The U.S. Global Burden of Disease Collaborators (2019) note low physical inactivity as a leading risk factor associated with mortality in the United States.  As such, several calls for multi-level physical activity intervention research have been published by national public health panels and organizations (Sallis, J. F. (2018). Needs and Challenges Related to Multilevel Interventions: Physical Activity Examples. Health Education & Behavior, 45(5), 661–667. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48615163). The Community Preventive Services Task Force issued recommendations for future research to provide an evidence base for physical activity programs that target schools, families, workplaces, and built environments. The White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health (Pillar 4 - Supporting Physical Activity for All) highlights the need for increasing awareness of the benefits of physical activity, conducting research on, and measuring physical activity.

Similarly, the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Midcourse Report, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), highlights the need to promote strategies seeking to increase physical activity among older adults.

Equitable physical activity promotion is critical to prevent exacerbation of existing health disparities.   Research frameworks, such as the NIMHD Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Framework and the NIA Health Disparities Research Framework, are systematic approaches by which population-specific determinants for overall physical health and well-being can be identified, measured, operationalized, and analyzed. The NIMHD Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Framework can be used to address the complex and multi-faceted nature of minority health and health disparities, including research that spans different domains of influence (biological, behavioral, physical/built environment, sociocultural environment, health care system) as well as different levels of influence (individual, interpersonal, community, societal) within those domains. The NIA Health Disparities Research Framework outlines four key domains of analysis related to disparities research–environmental, sociocultural, behavioral, and biological—with priority focus areas in each level.  Moreover, implementation research frameworks, such as Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR); Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARiHS); and Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation Maintenance (RE-AIM), have been used to describe, guide, and  inform key implementation processes and determinants. Rigorous research study designs (e.g., experimental, quasi-experimental, observational, modeling, cluster randomization, stepped-wedge, Type III hybrid effectiveness, etc.), also offer tremendous benefit in multi-level intervention studies. The NIH Stage Model offers a framework for considering when an intervention is ready for widespread implementation and emphasizes attention to the principles or mechanisms of action – at any level of analysis – that account for an intervention’s effects.

Current evidence indicates that integrated physical activity interventions aimed at a minimum of two levels consistent with socio-ecological models, may be effective to get people moving. Higher chances of sustaining healthy physical activity and related behavior change can occur when an ecological approach is integrated in the prevention strategy.

Research Objectives:

This Notice encourages translational research aimed at developing and testing multi-level physical activity interventions to improve health and well-being. At a minimum, the proposed study must:

1. Identify physical activity as the primary outcome.  Additional primary or secondary outcomes may also be included
2. Inform development of or test an intervention(s) that addresses determinants at two or more socio-ecological levels

Intervention settings can include, but are not limited to, healthcare settings, worksites, households, schools, green spaces, parks and recreation centers, justice settings, other community organizations or settings, including entire communities. Studies proposing to assess  multi-level interventions can include experimental designs or natural experiments assessing policy implementation and effects. Built environment or worksite policy interventions at an organizational level may be paired with individual intervention components to promote physical activity.  

This NOSI seeks research focused on all developmental stages across the lifespan, and in diverse populations, particularly those at high risk for sedentary behavior, those at high risk for health conditions or injuries associated with inactivity, and those that have poor access for safe places to be active. Populations of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Sedentary or inactive individuals or groups of all ages
• Persons or groups at high risk for health conditions associated with inactivity (e.g., overweight, obesity, etc.)
• Person with health conditions that might be improved by physical activity (e.g., cancer, mental health, substance use)
• NIH-designated populations who experience health disparities in the United States, including racial and ethnic minority groups (Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders), people with disabilities, people with lower socioeconomic status, sexual and gender minorities, and underserved rural populations
• Populations eligible for or receiving food and nutrition assistance programs (e.g., Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Child Nutrition Programs and Women Infants and Children Program, and other food distribution programs) or other social services
• Populations in child welfare and justice programs
• Individuals residing in residential facilities (e.g., nursing homes, etc.) or those who are incarcerated.
• Persons with physical, developmental, or intellectual disabilities
• Populations in environments that pose barriers to physical activity (e.g., geographic areas that lack walkable neighborhoods, etc.)
• Populations in communities with a high burden of health disparities (e.g., geographic regions, such as the Mississippi Delta, U.S.Territories, Appalachia, low-resource rural, or low-resource urban neighborhoods, etc.) with low physical activity levels
   

This NOSI encourages feasibility and pilot research, as well as efficacy and effectiveness research on new or adapted interventions. To maximize comparisons across datasets or studies, and facilitate data integration and collaboration, researchers funded through this NOSI are encouraged to use the following resource:

• Data Harmonization for Social Determinants of Health via the PhenX Toolkit: Investigators involved in human-subject studies are strongly encouraged to employ a common set of tools and resources that will promote the collection of comparable data on social determinants of health (SDOH) across studies. In particular, human-subject studies should incorporate SDOH measures from the Core and Specialty collections that are available in the Social Determinants of Health Collection of the PhenX Toolkit (www.phenxtoolkit.org).
   

Investigators who conduct original and innovative biomedical, social, behavioral, clinical, or population-based research directed toward eliminating health disparities are invited to apply to this NOSI. Research shows that diverse teams working together outperform homogenous teams. Scientists and trainees from diverse backgrounds and with different life experiences bring different perspectives, creativity, and individual enterprise to address complex scientific problems. Diverse teams of scientists will lead the way to develop more innovative inclusive research that will more broadly enhance public health. Fostering diversity by addressing underrepresentation in the scientific research workforce is a key component of the NIH strategy to identify, develop, support, and maintain the quality of our scientific workforce. It is expected that research programs will include a diverse group of scientists, including individuals from underrepresented backgrounds as per NOT OD 20-031 (Notice of NIH's Interest in Diversity).

Study Design

Design, Analysis, and Sample Size Considerations for Studies to Evaluate Interventions:

Investigators seeking to evaluate the effect of an intervention on a health-related biomedical or behavioral outcome may propose a study design in which groups are randomized to conditions. Examples of groups include families, clinics, schools, worksites, or communities. The comparison condition should be justified based on the state-of-the-science for the intervention and the nature of the research question. Designs that might be proposed for studies that randomize groups or deliver interventions to groups include parallel group- or cluster-randomized trials, individually randomized group treatment trials, stepped-wedge group- or cluster- randomized trials, multiple baseline designs, and other quasi-experimental designs. Special methods are required for analysis and sample size calculation when participants are assigned in groups or clusters or when participants receive some part of their intervention in a group or cluster, or via a shared interventionist. Applicants will need to show that their methods are appropriate given their plans for assignment of participants and delivery of interventions. Additional information is available at https://researchmethodsresources.nih.gov/ .

Investigators must carefully review the specific research interests of NIH Institutes and Centers that are participating in this NOSI.

IC Specific Application and Submission Information:

NIH ICs have separately advanced notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs) relevant to this NOSI. These NOFOs might be specific to each IC mission area. Applicants must select the IC and associated NOFO to use for submission of an application in response to the NOSI. The selection must align with the IC requirements listed in order to be considered responsive to that NOFO.

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH):

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health has a strategic research goal to study complementary health approaches to promote or restore health, prevent disease, as well as foster well-being, resilience, and symptom management across the lifespan. NCCIH's strategic plan is available at: https://www.nccih.nih.gov/about/strategic-plans-and-reports. For this NOSI, NCCIH is particularly interested in applications that propose to develop, adapt, test, and/or implement interventions that incorporate a complementary and integrative health approach as part of the multi-level intervention for promoting and/or adhering to physical activity. Complementary and integrative health approaches of interest include those with physical and/or psychological therapeutic inputs, often called mind and body approaches (e.g., acupuncture, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, meditation or mindfulness, hypnosis, music-based interventions, art therapy, spinal and/or joint manipulation, or massage therapy). Also of interest are multi-component interventions such as a combination of two or more complementary health approaches or integrated approaches to care in which a complementary health approach is used in combination with standard care. For more details on NCCIH’s approach to funding clinical trials, please see https://nccih.nih.gov/grants/funding/clinicaltrials. Investigators are strongly encouraged to discuss their research plans with NCCIH program staff prior to submitting their application. 

National Cancer Institute (NCI):

The National Cancer Institute is interested in applications of multi-level physical activity interventions that have implications for outcomes across the cancer continuum, from primary cancer prevention through cancer treatment symptom management and into cancer survivorship. The National Cancer Institute is especially interested in multi-level physical activity interventions that have the potential for adoption, implementation, and sustainability in real-world settings, both community-based and within cancer treatment centers. Proposals that test interventions with an objective to reduce health disparities are especially encouraged, as are interventions involving pediatric cancer survivors and policies that may affect their physical activity.

The proposed intervention must include physical activity change as a primary endpoint and be designed to test statistically significant differences in the outcome based on the intervention over a one or more-year intervention or follow-up period. Intervention development studies may propose less than one year intervention or follow-up period.  Secondary outcomes of interest include implementation feasibility information, prevention of secondary conditions (such as obesity, decrement in skeletal muscle strength and functioning, aerobic fitness, decline in bone health, or declines in mental or behavioral health) and related biomarkers of health, and amelioration of cancer treatment symptoms or toxicities affecting physical and cognitive function. Where inclusion of obesity as secondary outcome occurs, the intervention should principally aim to improve physical activity or reduce sedentary behavior and include rationale for health benefit independent of weight loss. Reduction of sedentary behavior as a secondary outcome is permitted, but applications should identify primary change in physical activity (e.g., increase in light activity).

National Institute on Aging (NIA):

A strategic research goal (https://www.nia.nih.gov/about/aging-strategic-directions-research) of NIA is to develop effective interventions to maintain health, well-being, and function and prevent or reduce the burden of age-related diseases, disorders, and disabilities, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease related dementias, and other age-related chronic conditions. This includes research on interventions to promote adherence to behavioral regimens aimed at promoting healthy aging, such as physical activity. NIA applications submitted in response to this NOSI are strongly encouraged to articulate their research aims using the NIH Stage Model framework and to identify goals consistent with the Stages I through V of the translational intervention development pipeline. Applicants are also encouraged to apply approaches and tools for assessment of behavioral mechanisms developed under the NIH Common Fund’s Science of Behavior Change (SOBC) Program (https://commonfund.nih.gov/behaviorchange).

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS):

NIAMS is interested in applications testing the adoption, implementation, and sustainability, in real-world settings, of multi-level physical activity interventions that have implications for the primary and secondary prevention of arthritic and other rheumatic, musculoskeletal and skin diseases. Studies among underserved, vulnerable, diverse and health disparities populations are encouraged. For this NOSI, NIAMS will accept non-mechanistic clinical trials under the relevant NOFOs in Application and Submission Information. Applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss their research plans with NIAMS program staff prior to submitting their application.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD):

NICHD supports research that addresses healthy development and growth of infants and children, improves outcomes related to fertility and pregnancy, and promotes the health, productivity, independence, and well-being of people with disabilities across the lifespan. NICHD is particularly interested in projects that establish the effectiveness and scalability of interventions that promote physical activity shown to improve health outcomes in the foregoing populations, sustain participation in physical activity, and considers context, including the needs, motivations, sustainability, and barriers to participation. NICHD encourages applications that propose interventions across multiple levels of the socio-ecological model, including individual and community contexts. Applications should leverage unique insights from members of the populations of interest as research team members or in paid advisory roles.

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD):

NIMHD is interested in supporting research on multi-level physical activity interventions for health disparity populations that are deliverable and sustainable at settings where these populations live, work, play or receive health care. Intervention design should be based on theories from minority health and health disparities science. Research projects must focus primarily on one or more health disparity population (African Americans/Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos, American Indians/Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, underserved rural populations, sexual and gender minority populations and persons living with health disparities). Of priority are projects that focus on racial and ethnic minority populations and/or low socioeconomic (SES) status person, as well as the intersectionality of race and ethnicity and/or low SES with rural populations or sexual and gender minority groups and people with disabilities.  Settings of interest include but are not limited to low-resourced urban neighborhoods and communities, rural communities, small municipalities, and/or delivered within health care settings for medically underserved, e.g., Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) or Tribal healthcare centers or with disparity populations within any health care system. NIMHD is interested in interventions that include components that address the neighborhood social environment (e.g., social cohesion, social capital, collective efficacy, community resilience), structural barriers and facilitators (e.g., neighborhood safety, safe paths for walking), or strategies that mitigate against unintended policy level consequences (e.g., displacement of persons with low SES due to gentrification). NIMHD is also interested in novel behavior change strategies that target decision-making processes (impulsive/executive decision systems) to follow through with healthy choices under conditions of high stressors (e.g., poverty, discrimination, or financial insecurity), incorporating cultural resiliency and protective factors and culturally tailored interventions and/or technology. For multi-levels and domains of interest refer to the NIMHD Research framework, https://nimhd.nih.gov/about/overview/research-framework.html.

National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR):

The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) supports research aligned with our mission and strategic priorities, conducted by scientists from any discipline. NINR discovers solutions to health challenges through the lenses of health equity, social determinants of health, population and community health, prevention and health promotion, and systems and models of care. Drawing on the strengths of nursing’s holistic, contextualized perspective, core values, and broad reach, NINR funds multi-level and cross-sectoral research that examines the factors that impact health across the many settings in which nurses practice, including homes, schools, workplaces, clinics, justice settings, and the community. Observational, intervention, and implementation research are of interest.

Office of Disease Prevention (ODP):

The Office of Disease Prevention is interested in co-funding applications for multi-level physical activity interventions that have strong implications for disease prevention, promise for broader adoption and use, and that showcase innovative and appropriate design, measurement, and analysis methods. The ODP Strategic Plan highlights prevention research priority topics that emerge as key areas that could be addressed through this NOSI.

The Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) is the lead office at the NIH responsible for assessing, facilitating, and stimulating research in disease prevention. In partnership with the 27 NIH Institutes and Centers, the ODP strives to increase the scope, quality, dissemination, and impact of NIH-supported prevention research. The ODP is interested in providing co-funding support for research that has strong implications for disease and injury prevention and health equity and that includes innovative and appropriate research design, measurement, and analysis methods.  For this NOSI, the Office of Disease Prevention is interested in co-funding applications for multi-level physical activity interventions that have strong implications for disease prevention, promise for broader adoption and use, and that showcase innovative and appropriate design, measurement, and analysis methods. For additional information about ODP’s research priorities and interests, please refer to the ODP Strategic Plan, ODP only accepts co-funding requests from NIH ICs. Please reach out to the appropriate Scientific/Research Contact(s) listed for questions regarding research priorities. 

Office of Dietary Supplements(ODS):

The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) advances and disseminates research on dietary supplements to foster knowledge and optimize health across the lifespan.  Dietary supplements are products intended to supplement the diet, intended to be taken by mouth, and contain one or more dietary ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs or other botanicals, biotics, and other dietary substances.   For this NOSI, ODS is interested co-funding applications that include dietary supplements as part of multi-level physical activity interventions to improve health and well-being.  For example, where dietary supplements are used as part of a healthy diet along with physical activity (and potentially additional levels of intervention).   Other examples include dietary supplements marketed for improving strength, physical performance, or resilience, or for addressing increased nutritional needs associated with different life stages.  Studies incorporating the use of dietary assessment tools that capture dietary supplement intake are strongly encouraged. 

The ODS does not award grants but co-funds applications and/or research projects, therefore, applications must be relevant to the objectives of at least one of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers (IC) listed in this announcement. Please contact the relevant IC Scientific/Research Contact(s) listed for questions regarding IC research priorities and funding.

Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR):

OBSSR (https://obssr.od.nih.gov/) is the lead office at the NIH responsible for enhancing the impact of health-related behavioral and social sciences research (BSSR) by coordinating BSSR conducted or supported by the NIH and integrating these sciences within the larger NIH research enterprise. OBSSR is interested in research on social and environmental factors related to health as well as interventions, natural experiment evaluation, research on underlying mechanisms, and measurement tools and analytic methodologies relevant to BSSR.

For this NOSI, OBSSR is particularly interested in multi-level analyses that integrate biological, behavioral, and social/structural level impacts on health and the integration of innovative methodologies into such analyses, including a consideration of potential biases in these approaches. OBSSR is also interested in the development and testing of interventions that seek to promote maintenance or sustainment of health behaviors, including physical activity. OBSSR also values team science that incorporates a broad range of disciplines and community engaged research approaches.

OBSSR provides co-funding only in conjunction with another NIH Institute or Center (IC); the Office itself does not award or manage grants. Therefore, to secure OBBSR co-funding, applications must be relevant to the objectives of OSSR as well as at least one of the participating ICs listed in this announcement. Please contact the relevant IC Scientific/Research Contact(s) listed for questions regarding IC research priorities and funding.

Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH):

ORWH encourages submissions considering sex (the biological variable), gender (socially constructed and enacted roles and behaviors which occur in a historical and cultural context and vary across societies and over time), and their intersections with other social determinants of health, such as:

• Developing and testing culturally competent & gender-responsive interventions to mitigate disparities in physical activity
• Community-engaged research to develop and test interventions to increase physical activity
• Developing and testing interventions to enhance women’s and girls’ physical activity across the life course, including during adolescence, pregnancy and the postpartum period, and the menopausal transition
• Evaluating interventions to address built environment-related barriers that constrain physical activity among low-resource populations of women

Application and Submission Information

This NOSI applies to due dates on or after 6/5/2024 and subsequent receipt dates through 11/14/2027.

Submit applications for this initiative using one of the following notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs) or any reissues of these announcements through the expiration date of this notice.

Applicants must select the IC and associated NOFO to use for submission of an application in response to this NOSI. The selection must align with the IC requirements listed to be considered responsive to that NOFO. Non-responsive applications will be withdrawn from consideration for this initiative. In addition, applicants using NIH Parent Announcements (listed below) will be assigned to those ICs on this NOSI that have indicated those NOFOs are acceptable and based on usual application-IC assignment practices. The following types of projects would generally not be appropriate and may be deemed non-responsive:

• Projects that do not include physical activity as one of the primary outcomes.
• Projects that do not develop or test interventions that are multi-level (e.g., that aim to impact determinants at two or more socio-ecological levels of influence (individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and societal)

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-OD-24-058” (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.

Investigators planning to submit an application in response to this NOSI are strongly encouraged to contact and discuss their proposed research/aims with Program staff/Scientific Contacts listed on this NOSI well in advance of the application receipt date to better determine appropriateness and interest of the relevant Institute.

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

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to the contacts in Section VII of the listed notice of funding opportunity with the following additions/substitutions:

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

Bramaramba Kowtha MS, RDN
Office of Disease Prevention (ODP)
Telephone: 301-435-8052
Email: bramaramba.kowtha@nih.gov

Jennifer N. Baumgartner, Ph.D.
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
Phone: 301-402-4084 
Email: jennifer.baumgartner@nih.gov

Frank Perna, Ed.D., Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone: 240-276-6782
Email: pernafm@mail.nih.gov

Heather Bowles, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone:  240-276-6794
Email: heather.bowles@nih.gov

Lyndon Joseph, Ph.D.
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Telephone: 301-496-6761
Email: josephlj@mail.nih.gov

Stephanie M. George, Ph.D., MPH, MA
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
Telephone: 301-594-4974
Email: stephanie.george@nih.gov

Toyin Ajisafe, Ph.D.
National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Telephone: 301-827-9242
Email: toyin.ajisafe@nih.gov

Nancy L. Jones, Ph.D., M.S.
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
Telephone: 301-594-8945
Email: nancy.jones@nih.gov

Julia Seay, PhD
National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
Telephone: 240-328-4512
Email: julia.seay@nih.gov

Sydney O’Connor
Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR)
Telephone: 301-496-6460
Email: sydney.o’connor@nih.gov    

Patricia A. Haggerty, PhD
NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS)
Phone: 301-529-4884
Email:  patricia.haggerty@nih.gov 

Elizabeth Barr, Ph.D.
Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH)
Telephone: 301-402-7895
Email: elizabeth.barr@nih.gov 

Annina Catherine Burns
Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) 
Phone: 301-402-1770
E-mail: annina.burns@nih.gov