Grants & You: Winter 2025: News & Updates

Dr. Sumitra Miriyala Serves as AHA Peer Reviewer

"Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Serving as a peer reviewer is my way of giving back — nurturing the next generation of scientists and supporting discoveries that can truly change lives."

"I am honored to serve as a peer reviewer for the American Heart Association’s 2025–2026 Vascular 1 Fellowship Program. This work is not only about evaluating proposals — it is about investing in the future of cardiovascular science and ensuring that the most promising and innovative research receives the support it needs to move forward.

As a reviewer, my role is to carefully assess applications, identify potential conflicts, and provide constructive feedback with fairness and scientific rigor. At the same time, I view this service as a profound responsibility and privilege: a way to help nurture the next generation of researchers, while strengthening the broader mission of advancing heart and vascular health.

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, touching nearly every family in some way. For me, this reality makes peer review deeply personal. It is not only about contributing my expertise, but about fostering a scientific community where innovative ideas are encouraged, challenged, and elevated so they can truly make a difference in patients’ lives.

This work inspires me because it embodies the values I hold as both a scientist and a mentor — to build, to guide, and to give back. Supporting the growth of young investigators and helping shape groundbreaking discoveries is, in many ways, how we collectively work toward a healthier tomorrow."

American Osteopathic Association (AOA) Research Grant

The AOA's 2026 Research Grant application is now open and closes January 31, 2026. 

The AOA is providing grant funding to DOs, MDs, osteopathic medical students and PhD researchers conducting research that address areas of study identified by the AOA Bureau of Osteopathic Research and Public Health and approved by the Board of Trustees. These studies reflect the concept that while OMM/OMT remains a strong tradition of the osteopathic profession, osteopathic medicine encompasses a broader philosophy that includes patient-centered care, empathy and the body, mind, and spirit approach. The osteopathic philosophy embraces an approach that, while seeking and promoting health, also addresses disease states and the spectrum of patient care (e.g., primary, secondary and tertiary).

The designated research topics must address the tenets of osteopathic medicine and explore the profession’s patient-centered, empathetic approach to care.

Research focus areas/notice of funding opportunity (RFA/NOFO)

ATSU AI Funding Opportunity

A.T. Still University is offering a one-time internal grant opportunity supporting the University’s FY 2025–26 strategic focus area to integrate artificial intelligence across academic programs and administrative operations.

This initiative reflects ATSU’s commitment to innovative education and agile resource management by encouraging creative approaches that responsibly leverage AI to strengthen whole-person healthcare education, scholarly activity, business operations, and service.

• Create tailored and adaptive educational experiences for students
• Generate more engaging and effective course materials
• Automate routine or time-consuming administrative tasks
• Support leadership decision-making through analysis of large datasets
• Improve or transform existing processes through the use of AI agents

Awardees will be expected to evaluate, analyze, and disseminate project outcomes to support future scaling, sustainability, and alignment with ATSU’s strategic priorities. 

The application deadline is January 15, 2026. Proposals must be led and submitted by full-time ATSU faculty or staff. Collaborative, cross-departmental teams are strongly encouraged.

The two-year funding period runs from March 1, 2026, through February 29, 2028. Please consult the attached guidelines and brief application form for further details.

Questions and proposal submissions may be directed to internalgrants@atsu.edu. 

Find NIH Funding Opportunities & Notices

In an effort to simplify the application process, NIH will no longer post NOFOs in the NIH Guide; grants.gov will serve as NIH’s single official source for grant and cooperative agreement funding opportunities. The NIH Guide will continue to post policy and informational notices. Going forward: 

• All NIH NOFOs (expired and active) will remain searchable on Grants.gov using their Classic search or their new Simpler search.
• NOFOs will no longer be included in the weekly NIH Guide Table of Contents subscription emails. You can use Grants.gov subscription services to receive notifications of new NIH funding opportunities.
• NIH will continue to provide tools in the Funding section of NIH Grants & Funding to identify potential funding categories, topics, and opportunities you may be interested in.

Dr. Ann Spolarich Serves on a New Temporary NIH Study Section

"I became involved in research early on in the course of my career. As an undergraduate student, I was very fortunate to be trained by faculty who were always writing grants and conducting their own original research. Some of my mentors proposed and tested new theories and constructed theoretical frameworks that continue to drive the profession today. In graduate school, my research development was highly influenced by leading NIH-funded scientists, who regularly wrote grants and received federal funding to grow their line of research and served on NIH study sections and advisory boards to various agencies. Their contributions as both scientists and thought leaders were instrumental in creating national research agendas for others to follow. As a result of working with these individuals, I was socialized early on to appreciate the importance and value of research as a both a student, and as a new faculty member in the early stages of my academic career.

Today, my research journey has spanned more than three decades, and I have been formally trained as both a clinical and bench scientist. I primarily self-identify as a clinical translational scientist. I have learned something new with each project that I have been involved with, as either the lead investigator, co-investigator, or project mentor. I love to learn, and that is what I find most fulfilling about participating in the research process.

I have always aspired to serving on an NIH study section, and recently, this long-standing goal of mine came to fruition. This summer, I was invited and selected to serve on an NIH Special Emphasis Panel, where I reviewed many grants across three sections. Of course, I knew that it would be a lot of work. I now understand firsthand why my mentors always stepped away from their day job so that they could concentrate on their grant reviews in isolation. I am grateful for my dean’s support and encouragement so that I could do the same thing. This experience has benefited me in many ways. I learned so much about the internal processes for how the grant review sessions are conducted, how to write the formal critique that accompanies the review, and how to use the new NIH scoring system. It was very interesting to see how other investigators organize and present their ideas within the body of the grant, and what reviewers focus on during their discussion about the grant's strengths and weakness. The NIH team was highly professional, and I found them to be very friendly, approachable and helpful whenever I had questions as a new reviewer. Despite the workload, it was a very valuable and rewarding experience, and I know it will be helpful to me when developing future grant applications. It was also encouraging to see that despite the many changes happening within our federal agencies, study sections are resuming and science is moving forward. I am honored to have been given the opportunity to contribute to the process."

Director of NIH's NCCIH Retires

After seven years as director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), Helene M. Langevin, M.D. retired on November 30, 2025. Dr. Langevin will be returning to where her academic career began at the University of Vermont. Going forward, NCCIH will be led by Acting Director Dr. David Shurtleff, Acting Deputy Director Dr. Wendy Weber, and Acting Director of the NCCIH Division of Extramural Research, Dr. Wen Chen. 

View Dr. Langevin's full retirement message here.