This notice has expired. Check the NIH Guide for active opportunities and notices.

EXPIRED


INTERDISCIPLINARY BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE CENTERS FOR MENTAL HEALTH

Release Date:  August 21, 2000 (see replacement PAR-04-004)

PA NUMBER:  PAR-00-130

National Institute of Mental Health

Letter of Intent Receipt Date:  November 27 each year
Application Receipt Date:       January 24 each year

PURPOSE

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) invites applications for 
Interdisciplinary Behavioral Science Centers for Mental Health (IBSC).  The 
purpose of these Centers is to support collaborative, hypothesis-driven basic 
research activities that will extend the most cutting-edge theories and 
approaches in basic behavioral science to incorporate current approaches in 
neuroscience.  Center activities will be driven by a basic research question 
(or set of questions) that is framed at the behavioral level (e.g., 
cognition, emotion, personality, social interaction) and that is forging 
connection with neural-level processes.  Ultimately, knowledge yielded by 
such connections will increase the explanatory power of behavioral science, 
and will enrich neuroscience by providing an ever-more-detailed understanding 
of behavioral and mental processes.  The integration of knowledge that 
results will be in the service of the fullest understanding of the complex 
and reciprocal biobehavioral processes responsible for mental health and 
mental illness.

In addition to support for Full-scale Center activities, support also will be 
available for Start-up Centers.  The goal of Start-up Centers is to support a 
preparatory period of multidisciplinary research prior to the launching of 
integrative activities on a larger scale.  Usually, this will be for those 
behavioral questions, topics, or domains for which there currently are few 
known links to neural processes.

This Program Announcement expires three years from the Release Date shown 
directly above.
 
HEALTHY PEOPLE 2010

The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving the health 
promotion and disease prevention objectives of  Healthy People 2010,  a PHS-
led national activity for setting priority areas.  This PA, Interdisciplinary 
Behavioral Science Centers for Mental Health, is related to the priority 
areas of Mental Health and Mental Disorders.  Potential applicants may obtain 
a copy of  Healthy People 2010  at http://www.health.gov/healthypeople.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Applications may be submitted by domestic, for-profit and non-profit 
organizations, public and private, such as universities, colleges, hospitals, 
laboratories, units of State and local governments, and eligible agencies of 
the Federal government.  Foreign institutions are not eligible for Center 
Grants (P50).  Racial/ethnic minority individuals, women, and persons with 
disabilities are encouraged to apply as IBSC Directors and Project 
Investigators.

MECHANISM OF SUPPORT

IBSCs will be supported by the Center Grant mechanism (P50), which provides 
funding for multidisciplinary and multi-investigator approaches to the 
investigation of specific and complex research problems requiring the 
application of diverse expertise and methodologies.

There are two levels of Center support:

(1)  Full-scale Centers are limited to $1.5 million direct costs in any one 
year.  This limit applies to new grants, non-competing continuations, and any 
subsequent competing continuations.  Support is provided for five or more 
individual research projects as well as for core support.  Support may be 
requested for a project period of up to five years.  Each Full-Scale Center 
will be limited to a maximum of ten years of support in total.

(2)  Start-up Centers are limited to $600,000 direct costs in any one year, 
including non-competing continuation years.  Support is provided for three or 
more individual research projects as well as for core support.  Support may 
be requested for a project period of up to five years.  Start-up Centers may 
be renewed only as Full-scale Centers, which then would be permitted a 
maximum of ten years of support in total.

Competitive supplements will not be considered for these Center grants.  It 
is anticipated that individual projects that are outgrowths of Center 
activity will seek independent funding through mechanisms such as research 
project grants (R01s).

Since IBSCs are defined by their multidisciplinary, integrative, nature and 
not by departmental or geographic boundaries, projects constituting a given 
Center may be based at a variety of institutions.  In an effort to allow for 
such multi-institutional involvement, for the purposes of this PA, Facility 
and Administrative Costs for such consortial and contractual arrangements 
will not be counted against the direct costs limits noted above.  However, 
these costs should be delineated as instructed in Form PHS 398 (rev. 4/98).

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

Background

A broad range of substantive domains within basic behavioral science have 
demonstrated their critical role in elucidating fundamental mechanisms 
involved in mental health and mental illness.  Examples are: cognitive 
research in attention and executive function that is fundamental to 
understanding deficits in both adult and childhood mental disorders, basic 
research in emotion that is identifying the nature and functions of both 
negative and positive emotion and mood, research in individual differences 
(including temperament) that help define both risk and protective processes, 
and research on interpersonal and social interaction that is demonstrating 
the impact of social experiences on both mental and physical health.  
Productive linkages of these behavioral science approaches to parallel 
neuroscience approaches have begun, particularly in the domains of cognition 
and emotion.  Still, much more needs to be done in all domains to elucidate 
the specific paths by which behavioral processes and social experiences 
influence and are influenced by brain function.  It is particularly 
important, as well, to examine the developmental course of these multi-
directional influences across the lifespan.  Ultimately, the full 
understanding of mental health and disorder critically depends on filling 
these gaps in our knowledge of the reciprocal mechanisms linking experience, 
behavior, and the brain.

Interdisciplinary Behavioral Science Centers (IBSCs) will support interactive 
and collaborative research environments organized to address a cohesive, 
interrelated set of hypothesis-driven research questions that are stimulated 
by knowledge and theory in basic behavioral science and that incorporate 
cutting-edge methods and techniques of both behavioral science and 
neuroscience.  In addition, Centers will be defined by diversity and cross-
disciplinarity in terms of subjects (e.g., human, non-human), designs (e.g., 
cross-sectional, longitudinal), settings (e.g., laboratory, field), and/or 
substantive domains (e.g., cognition, emotion).  Centers also will offer 
interdisciplinary research experiences for students and junior faculty.

Both Full-scale and Start-up Centers share the components and goals stated 
above and the characteristics listed below.  In Start-up Centers, however, 
collaborations are expected to be less differentiated and extensive, 
involving a more limited range of disciplinary specialties.

Center Characteristics

o  IBSCs must address an interrelated set of hypothesis-driven research 
questions in basic behavioral science that are fundamental to the 
understanding of mental health and mental illness.

o  IBSCs must be conceptualized and organized according to a 
multidisciplinary framework that extends cutting-edge theories and approaches 
in basic behavioral science to incorporate current approaches in 
neuroscience.  Expertise and technological support must be available to 
address the behavioral-neural linkages.

o  IBSCs must demonstrate synergy in their conceptualization and approach.  
The whole must be more than the sum of the parts.

o  IBSCs must address novel, innovative, and creative research questions and 
cross-disciplinary linkages.  

o  The IBSC Director must be a senior scientist with substantial research and 
scholarly experience in basic behavioral science.  S/he must have a 
demonstrated ability to organize, administer, and direct the Center.  The 
Director must be the scientific leader of the Center and must also be the 
Principal Investigator on at least one of the individual research projects 
and have a minimum time commitment of 30 percent to the Center grant 
(including both administrative and research efforts).

o  Principal Investigators of individual research projects must be 
established scientists in basic behavioral science or neuroscience research.

o  An IBSC must demonstrate a high degree of collaboration and 
interdependence among investigators, and solid evidence of integration across 
the component research projects.

o  An IBSC must provide research apprenticeship opportunities for junior 
investigators to become skilled in the strategies, approaches, and techniques 
of cross-disciplinary behavioral science and neuroscience research.  In 
addition, there should be close coordination between the Center and relevant 
predoctoral and/or postdoctoral research training programs of the 
institution.  Special attention should be given to the recruitment and 
training of minority and/or disabled students and scientists.

o  An IBSC is conceptualized and defined by its integrative, 
multidisciplinary nature and need not be limited by geographical or 
departmental boundaries.  Collaborations among different institutions are 
encouraged, if scientifically appropriate and feasible.

o  Each IBSC must have an outreach plan that makes the public aware of the 
importance and implications of the IBSC research for mental health and mental 
disorder.

Research Areas

Core areas of basic behavioral science that are relevant to the IBSC Program 
include: cognition (e.g., learning, memory, attention, language, perception, 
decision-making), emotion (e.g., experiential, expressive and/or 
physiological aspects of emotional states, emotional traits, and mood), 
personality processes and individual differences, motivation, social 
cognition (e.g., information processing, attributions, expectancies), social 
influences and processes, self-regulation, attitudes and persuasion, 
interpersonal interaction, and fundamental biobehavioral processes such as 
sleep, reproduction, and ingestion.  The substantive relevance of the chosen 
topics to the understanding of mental health and mental illness must be 
documented and described in the application.

In keeping with the integrative, multidisciplinary emphasis of the IBSC, it 
is encouraged that attention be given to connections across the above domains 
and processes, e.g., links between emotion and learning or memory, or between 
social experience and cognitive functioning.  Developmental approaches to 
understanding these domains and processes also are a priority.  In addition 
to human studies, animal models are appropriate.  Also appropriate are 
mathematical/computational modeling approaches.  In keeping with current NIH 
priorities related to Health Disparities, the broadest possible 
representation of subjects (e.g., in terms of ethnicity, sex, or age) is 
strongly encouraged.  Where possible, power should be sufficient for testing 
differences within and among groups that are likely to yield information of 
ultimate public health importance.

Neuroscience approaches relevant to the IBSC Program include examinations of 
neural systems, structures, circuits, or processes (e.g., development, 
plasticity) that are poised to inform central questions in behavioral 
science.  Techniques may include neuroimaging (e.g., fMRI, PET, SPECT, 
noninvasive optical imaging), psychophysiological methods (e.g., EEG, MEG), 
neuroendocrine methods, and neurochemical or lesion techniques.

The IBSC Program’s focus on basic behavioral science is intended to foster 
the specificity and depth of knowledge about fundamental psychological and 
neural processes likely to be involved in mental health and mental illness.  
In contrast, research that is primarily focused on clinical or applied issues 
(e.g., etiology, risk or protective factors, diagnosis, treatment, 
prevention, service delivery) is not appropriate for the IBSC Program.  
Investigators seeking avenues for the application or translation of basic 
behavioral science to such clinical issues should consult updates on the NIMH 
website (http://www.nimh.nih.gov) or e-mail Dr. Bruce Cuthbert 
(bcuthber@mail.nih.gov).

Basic neuroscience research that does not have an overriding emphasis on 
behavioral processes and research questions also is not appropriate for an 
IBSC.  Information on center mechanisms for neuroscience research may be 
found on the NIMH website (http://www.nimh.nih.gov).

Genetics research that incorporates behavioral measures in order to reveal 
the action of specific genes (e.g., random mutagenesis, QTL analysis, linkage 
studies for psychopathology) is not appropriate for an IBSC.  However, 
applications with behavioral genetic components (e.g., twin or adoption 
designs) may be considered if the primary goal is the understanding of 
experiential as well as heritable contributions to behavioral or mental 
function.

Activities Supported

To provide a suitable structure for achieving the objectives of this program, 
IBSCs may request funds for the following:

o  Individual Research Projects:  Funds should be requested to support five 
or more individual research projects in Full-scale Centers (three or more in 
Start-up Centers).  Each project should have the characteristics of a 
traditional research grant (R01), as well as demonstrate a significant 
integrative contribution to the other projects in the IBSC and to the Center 
as a whole.  If the number of projects judged to be meritorious is smaller 
than the specified minimum, this may preclude funding of the entire Center.

o  Cores:  Funds may be requested for  core  support.  Each Core must provide 
essential services to three or more approved individual research projects in 
Full-scale Centers (two or more in Start-up Centers).  Possible Cores include 
those focused on administrative, subject recruitment, measurement, 
technological, and/or data management/analysis issues.  Core support may 
involve salaries, research resources to be shared across projects, equipment 
needed to conduct the research, and incidental alteration and renovation of 
facilities consistent with Public Health Service policy.

o  Research Apprenticeships:  Funds should be requested to support the 
supervised cross-disciplinary research activities of junior faculty, 
postdoctoral staff, and/or advanced graduate students.  These individuals 
should have a high potential for a research career but require further 
supervised research experience.  These experiences should be designed in a 
way that takes advantage of the cross-disciplinary, integrative character of 
the IBSC.  Salary support, tuition, travel and research support may be 
provided.  At least five research apprenticeships must be made available per 
year in Full-scale Centers (at least three in Start-up Centers).  These 
Research Apprentice positions may not be provided to individuals receiving 
National Research Service Award support.

o  Essential Scientific Expertise:  To provide the most effective combination 
of scientific knowledge and skills, applicants may request funds to support 
scientists to augment or strengthen the skills, expertise, and capabilities 
of existing Center staff.  Although recruitment of such scientists may take 
place after the award has been made, the expertise required, the role in 
Center activities, and the time to be devoted to the Center should be 
provided in the application.  It should be emphasized, however, that such 
individuals may not serve as a substitute for a Project Principal 
Investigator after the award is made.

o  Advisory Board:  An external advisory board should serve as an important 
source of guidance from experts in the field who do not have a vested 
interest in the Center or in the research to be conducted by the Center.  
Funds may be requested to support travel of board members for meetings in the 
beginning of the second and fourth years of funding.  To avoid reducing the 
pool of potential reviewers, applicants should NOT identify prospective board 
members in the application or contact them before a funding decision is made.

INCLUSION OF WOMEN AND MINORITIES IN RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN SUBJECTS

It is the policy of the NIH that women and members of minority groups and 
their subpopulations must be included in all NIH supported biomedical and 
behavioral research projects involving human subjects, unless a clear and 
compelling rationale and justification is provided that inclusion is 
inappropriate with respect to the health of the subjects or the purpose of 
the research.  This policy results from the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 
(Section 492B of Public Law 103-43).

All investigators proposing research involving human subjects should read the 
"NIH Guidelines For Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical 
Research," which have been published in the Federal Register of March 28, 
1994 (FR 59 14508-14513) and in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, Vol. 
23, No. 11, March 18, 1994 available on the web at the following URL address: 
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not94-100.html

INCLUSION OF CHILDREN AS PARTICIPANTS IN RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN SUBJECTS

It is the policy of NIH that children (i.e., individuals under the age of 21) 
must be included in all human subjects research conducted or supported by the 
NIH, unless there are scientific and ethical reasons not to include them.  
This policy applies to all initial (Type 1) applications submitted for 
receipt dates after October 1, 1998.

All investigators proposing research involving human subjects should read the 
"NIH Policy and Guidelines on the Inclusion of Children as Participants in 
Research Involving Human Subjects" that was published in the NIH Guide for 
Grants and Contracts, March 6, 1998, and is available at the following URL 
address: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not98-024.html

Investigators also may obtain copies of these policies from the program staff 
listed under INQUIRIES.  Program staff may also provide additional relevant 
information concerning the policy.

LETTER OF INTENT

Prospective applicants are asked to submit, by November 27, a letter of 
intent that includes: a descriptive title of the proposed Center, the scale 
of the Center (Start-up or Full-scale), the name, address, and telephone 
number of the Principal Investigator, the identities of other key personnel 
and participating institutions, and the number and title of this program 
announcement.  Although a letter of intent is not required, is not binding, 
and does not enter into the review of a subsequent application, the 
information that it contains allows NIMH staff to estimate the potential 
review workload and avoid conflict of interest in review.  The letter of 
intent should be sent to Dr. Mary Ellen Oliveri, at the address listed in 
INQUIRIES, below.

URLS IN NIH GRANT APPLICATIONS OR APPENDICES

All applications and proposals for NIH funding must be self-contained within 
specified page limitations.  Unless otherwise specified in an NIH 
solicitation, internet addresses (URLs) should not be used to provide 
information necessary to the review because reviewers are under no obligation 
to view the internet sites.  Reviewers are cautioned that their anonymity may 
be compromised when they directly access an internet site.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES

Applications are to be submitted on the grant application form PHS 398 (rev.
4/98) and will be accepted on January 24.  Application kits are available at 
most institutional offices of sponsored research and from the Division of 
Extramural Outreach and Information Resources, National Institutes of Health, 
6701 Rockledge Drive, MSC 7910, Bethesda, MD 20892-7910, telephone (301) 435-
0714, Email: GrantsInfo@nih.gov.  Applications are also available on the 
World Wide Web at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms.htm.

The title and number of this Program Announcement must be typed in section 2 
of the face page of the application form and the YES box must be checked.

Application Format

A major requirement for an IBSC is the conduct of collaborative, 
multidisciplinary research on a set of cohesive, interrelated basic science 
research questions that are linked in a fundamental, substantive way to 
mental health and mental illness, the nature of these substantive links to 
mental health and illness must be stated clearly in the application.  The 
application also must describe the overall goals of the IBSC, the hypotheses 
to be tested, and the methods to be used.  The application should clearly 
articulate the reasons a Center approach is needed for the proposed 
activities, as well as the unique benefits that will accrue from a Center.

Utilizing the PHS Form 398, the application should include the following 
components in the designated order.

Information for the entire Center:

o  Face Page, pertaining to the entire Center

o  Description, Performance Sites, and Key Personnel (Form Page 2), 
pertaining to the entire Center

o  Table of Contents (Form Page 3) for the entire application

o  Budget (Form Pages 4 and 5).  Categorical figures should be provided to 
describe the budget of the overall Center.  Since detailed budget 
justifications will be provided separately for each project and core (as 
described below), only items for which justification is not provided 
elsewhere should be presented in narrative here.

o  Biographical Sketches of Key Personnel (Form Page 6).  These should be 
provided for key personnel of the entire Center, and should be arranged 
alphabetically based on the individual’s surname.

o  Other Support (Form Page 7) of key personnel for the entire Center, 
presented alphabetically by surname.

o  Resources (Form Page 8).  These should be restricted to those not 
described separately for the individual projects and cores.

o  General Description of the Overall Center (not to exceed 10 pages, for 
amended applications, provide a one-page introduction describing changes from 
the previously submitted version).  Provide an overview of the entire 
proposed Center, describing the Center goals and how they will be achieved.  
Explain the proposed contribution of each of the individual projects and 
cores to achieving the Center’s objectives, and how these components relate 
to each other scientifically.

o  Evidence of Feasibility and Preliminary Findings (for new--Type 1--
applications and amended Type 1 applications only, not to exceed 10 pages, 
for amended applications, provide a one-page introduction describing changes 
from the previously submitted version).  Present evidence that the research 
team will be able to work together to achieve the research goals of the 
Center, preliminary results, evidence of competence in the areas proposed, 
and any other information that speaks to feasibility.

o  Progress Report (for competing continuation--Type 2--applications and 
amended Type 2 applications only, not to exceed 3 pages for each project 
supported in the previous Center grant, for amended applications, provide a 
one-page introduction to the entire Progress Report describing changes from 
the previously submitted version).  Describe the research progress of the 
previously supported Center and the manner in which the results relate to the 
current application.  Describe the manner in which the Center mechanism 
provided synergy to the previously funded Center.

o  Operational Plan for the Overall Center (not to exceed 10 pages, for 
amended applications, provide a one-page introduction describing changes from 
the previously submitted version).  Describe the working administrative and 
logistical arrangements, as well as resource support necessary to implement 
the research.  When multiple institutional sites are involved, a detailed 
description of the cooperative administrative arrangements should be included 
(and documented in the  Letters of Support  section).  Also include in this 
section a description of the manner in which an external advisory board will 
relate to the Center.  Prospective board members should NOT be chosen or 
contacted prior to a funding decision and, therefore, should not be named in 
the application.  Finally, describe a plan for providing access to data, 
research tools and biological material generated by the Center.

o  Research Career Development and Outreach Plans (not to exceed 2 pages).  
Describe how the Center will provide opportunities for junior investigators, 
including the Research Apprentice positions as well as relationships with 
training programs of participating institutions.  Also, describe plans for 
disseminating information to the public regarding the activities of the 
Center.

Information for each Project or Core:

Provide, in the order indicated:

o Title page for the project or core.  If this component is to be conducted 
under a consortial or contractual arrangement, this title page must bear the 
signature of the responsible official at the collaborating organization.

o  Description, Performance Sites, and Key Personnel (Form Page 2), referring 
specifically to the project or core.

o  Budget (Form Pages 4 and 5).  Detailed budgetary information for each 
project or core, including narrative justification.

o  Resources (Form Page 8), referring specifically to the project or core.

o  Research Plan for Individual Projects (not to exceed 10 pages for any one 
project, for amended applications, provide a one-page introduction describing 
changes from the previously submitted version).  Describe the specific aims, 
background, and significance, the research questions to be addressed, and the 
hypotheses to be tested.  Address the status of current research efforts on 
the topic, the limitations of these, why the particular research question 
lends itself to a multidisciplinary, integrative approach, and how the 
proposed project will be linked to and integrated with other proposed Center 
projects.  Describe the research design and methods in as much detail as 
possible, and address issues of feasibility, potential pitfalls, alternative 
approaches, and relevance to Center goals.

o  Descriptions of Individual Cores (Not to exceed 8 pages for any one core, 
for amended applications, provide an extra one-page introduction describing 
changes from the previously submitted version).  Describe how the core will 
contribute to the overall goals of the Center, including the facilities, 
resources, services, and professional skills that it will provide.  Describe 
which projects will be supported by the core and the manner in which support 
will be rendered.

o  Literature Cited, compiled across all sections of the application.

o  Letters of Support from Collaborating Institutions, compiled across all 
sections of the application.

o  Checklist

o  Personal Data on Center Director

The completed original application and three legible copies must be sent or 
delivered to:

CENTER FOR SCIENTIFIC REVIEW
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
6701 ROCKLEDGE DRIVE, ROOM 1040-MSC 7710
BETHESDA, MD  20892-7710
BETHESDA, MD  20817 (FOR EXPRESS OR COURIER SERVICE)

At the same time, two additional copies of the application must be sent to 
Dr. Mary Ellen Oliveri, listed under INQUIRIES, below.

REVIEW CONSIDERATIONS

Upon receipt, applications will be reviewed for completeness by the CSR and 
responsiveness by NIMH. Applications that are incomplete or unresponsive will 
be returned to the applicant.  Applications that are complete and responsive 
will be evaluated for scientific and technical merit by an appropriate peer 
review group convened by the NIMH in accordance with the standard NIH peer 
review procedures.  As part of the initial merit review, all applications 
will receive a written critique and undergo a process in which only those 
applications deemed to have the highest scientific merit will be discussed, 
assigned a priority score, and receive a second level review by the National 
Advisory Mental Health Council.  

Although primary assessments of scientific merit will be based on the Center 
as a whole, one or more individual projects or cores could receive lower 
priority in some instances, possibly resulting in the funding of a Center 
smaller than proposed.

Review Criteria

Criteria for review of scientific and technical merit will include the 
following:

o  Intrinsic Merit:  The overall quality, scientific merit, substantive 
relevance to mental health/illness, and innovation of the research to be 
conducted, the likelihood that the Center will lead to fundamental advances, 
to new discoveries, and/or to new technological developments.  

o  Appropriateness of the Center Approach:  The need for and suitability of a 
Center approach, whether a Center approach will add significantly to what 
could be accomplished through other modes of research support, demonstration 
of synergy in the Center’s conceptualization and approach.  In this respect, 
the integration and interdependence of component projects and cores is of 
utmost significance and should be described explicitly.

o  Research Competence:  The qualifications and scientific credentials of the 
Center Director and constituent project directors, these individuals should 
be regarded by their peers as leaders in, and at the forefront of, their 
respective fields.

o  Center Director Credentials:  Demonstrated ability of the Center Director 
to organize, direct, and administer the Center and, in addition, be the 
Principal Investigator on at least one of the individual projects.  It is 
expected that this individual will devote a minimum of 30 percent time to the 
Center grant.  Thus, the Director must by necessity be the scientific leader 
of the Center.

o  Institutional Commitment:  The nature and level of resource commitments 
and resources available from the home institution and from other participant 
institutions, and plans for interactions with the rest of the sponsoring 
institution.

o  Appropriateness of Management Plans and Arrangements:  The feasibility and 
adequacy of the organizational and administrative plans, the appropriateness 
of the budget, and the mechanisms to evaluate the Center’s progress.

o  Quality of Plans for Research Apprenticeships:  The effectiveness of 
approaches used to attract and involve junior investigators and students who 
show potential for significant contributions and independent research 
careers.

o  Quality of linkages between the proposed Center and ongoing training 
programs in the institutional environment.

o  Outreach:  Quality of approaches used to disseminate information regarding 
the Center’s activities as they relate to public understanding of science and 
mental health and illness.

Peer reviewers also will examine the provisions for the protection of human 
and animal subjects, the safety of the research environment, and conformance 
with NIH guidelines for the inclusion of women, minorities, and children in 
research involving human subjects.

AWARD CRITERIA

o  Potential to advance the field

o  Scientific merit as determined by peer review

o  Responsiveness to the purposes and objectives outlined in this PA

o  Availability of funds

The P50 grant supporting an IBSC is not transferable to another institution.

RECEIPT AND REVIEW SCHEDULE

Letter of Intent Receipt Date:  November 27
Application Receipt Date:       January 24
Administrative Review:          February
Scientific Review:              May/June
Advisory Council Review:        September
Earliest Start Date:            September

INQUIRIES

Inquiries are encouraged at the earliest possible stage in application 
development.

Direct inquiries regarding programmatic issues to:

Mary Ellen Oliveri, Ph.D.
Chief, Behavioral Science Research Branch
Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science
National Institute of Mental Health
6001 Executive Blvd., Room 7220, MSC 9651
Bethesda, MD  20892-9651
(Express/courier service:  Rockville, MD 20852)
Telephone:  (301) 443-3942
FAX:  (301) 443-9876
Email:  moliveri@nih.gov

Direct inquiries regarding fiscal matters to:

Diana S. Trunnell
Grants Management Branch
National Institute of Mental Health
6001 Executive Blvd., Room 6115, MSC 9605
Bethesda, MD  20892-9605
Telephone:  (301) 443-2805
FAX:  (301) 443-6885
Email:  Diana_Trunnell@nih.gov

AUTHORITY AND REGULATIONS

This program is described in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No. 
93.242.  Awards are made under authorization of the Public Health Service 
Act, Title IV, Part A (Public Law 78-410, as amended by Public Law 99-158, 42 
USC 241 and 285) and administered under PHS grants policies and Federal 
Regulations 42 CFR 52 and 45 CFR Part 74.  This program is not subject to the 
intergovernmental review requirements of Executive Order 12372 or Health 
Systems Agency Review.

The PHS strongly encourages all grant and contract recipients to provide a 
smoke-free workplace and promote the non-use of all tobacco products.  In 
addition, Public Law 103-227, the Pro-Children Act of 1994, prohibits smoking 
in certain facilities (or in some cases, and portion of a facility) in which 
regular or routine education, library, day care, health care or early 
childhood development services are provided to children.  This is consistent 
with the PHS mission to protect and advance the physical and mental health of 
the American people.





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