Grants & You Summer 2021: News & Updates

In the US, a number of clinical trials were able to proceed despite initial challenges presented by the pandemic by changing longstanding practices. Moving forward, there is growing consensus these changes should be implemented more permanently. Practices adopted in response to the pandemic that would make trials "friendlier" for both patients and staff long term include:

• Recruiting participants remotely.
• Reducing travel to trial sites.
• Shipping medications directly to participants.
• Reducing unnecessary tests.
• Reducing in-person visits for overseeing purposes.

For more information, read this AAMC article.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently published a new report recommending actionable objectives and strategies for implementing high-quality primary care in the US. Download the free PDF here (must create an account first).

With the NCCIH's new strategic plan, the Center is expanding its definition of integrative health to include whole person health that considers not only the biological but also behavioral, social, and environmental domains of health.

The Center has 5 objectives over the next 5 years:

• Advance fundamental science and methods development.
• Advance research on the whole person and integration of complementary and conventional care.
• Foster research on health promotion and restoration, resilience, disease prevention, and symptom management.
• Enhance the complementary and integrative health research workforce.
• Provide objective, evidence-based information on complementary and integrative health interventions.

View the plan here.

In its revised policy, AHRQ expanded its definition of priority populations to include members of the underserved communities specified in Section 2(a) of Executive Order 139895 issued January 20, 2021. The new definition encompasses:

• Black, Latino, Indigenous and Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and other persons of color;
• members of religious minorities;
• lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons;
• persons with disabilities;
• persons who live in rural areas; and
• persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.

Sponsored Programs routinely covers webinars on a wide range of topics tied to ATSU's strategic priorities and is happy to share key takeaways. Summaries of these webinars are available from Sponsored Programs staff upon request (pds@atsu.edu).

NIH recently released an updated Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Research (PDF). Learn more at the NIH COVID-19 website.

In its support of COVID-19 research, NIH is guided by 5 key priorities:

1. Improve fundamental knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 disease progression, outcomes, and recovery.
2. Advance research to improve detection by developing and validating new assays and retooling existing diagnostic platforms.
3. Support research to advance treatment by evaluating new or repurposing existing treatments and defining implementation strategies.
4. Accelerate research to improve prevention by developing vaccines, other methods to prevent transmission, and implementation models.
5. Prevent and redress poor COVID-19 outcomes in health disparity and vulnerable populations.

Extramural investments in research

In FY 2020, NIH received $41.6 billion in total appropriations from Congress.

Of this amount, $30.8 billion (4.4% increase over FY 2019) went to 56,169 (2.1% increase over FY 2019) new and renewed meritorious extramural grants.

2,650 organizations throughout the US and internationally received awards.

For more statistics on R01-equivalent grants, read this blog post by Mike Lauer, MD, NIH deputy director for extramural research.

How many researchers were funded?

The “cumulative investigator rate” is a person-based metric that captures the likelihood that unique investigators are funded over a 5-year period.

In FY 2020, the cumulative investigator rate for research project grants was 38.3%.

34,477 awardees (3.5% increase over FY 2019)

89,957 unique applicants (1.4% increase over FY 2019)

Check out this post for statistics on R01-equivalent, P01, and R21 grants.

Please be aware use of the new biosketch and other support format pages and instructions are preferred immediately but required for application due dates on or after January 25, 2022.

Send any questions related to changes to the biosketch and other support templates to the new, dedicated central email inbox at nihosbiosketch@nih.gov.

In annual progress reports, NIH awardees are required to report individual-level study participant data on:

1. Sex/Gender
2. Race
3. Ethnicity
4. Age at Enrollment

Data must be de-identified and submitted using the required template file.

PDFs that have fillable fields, electronic signatures, text boxes, or images, contain multiple layers. Flattening a PDF merges separate elements into one flat layer. For submissions on or after May 25, 2021, PDFs in the following sections are now required to be flattened for upload to eRA Commons:

• Just-in-Time: Other Support File section
• Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPR):
  • Participants section D.2.b New Senior/Key Personnel
  • Participants section D.2.c Changes in Other Support

See here for instructions on how to flatten a PDF.