Director's Voice Blog
Update on the NIH Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Initiative on the Health Impacts of COVID-19
This blog is co-authored with Drs. Joshua A. Gordon (NIMH) and Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable (NIMHD). Drs. Gordon, Pérez-Stable and Hunter Co-chair the SBE Executive Committee.
Over more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, science has delivered highly effective vaccines and increasingly effective therapeutics. However, it has become widely understood that these medical advances are necessary but not sufficient to optimally control the pandemic. Applying evidence from the behavioral and social sciences is crucial for vaccine acceptance and uptake, adoption of effective behavioral mitigation strategies such as face mask wearing and physical distancing and for helping to understand the full range of short-and long-term health consequences for individuals, social networks, and society. In this month’s blog, we share the progress of one of the NIH behavioral and social science initiatives formed in response to COVID-19 and information about an upcoming virtual event that will showcase the findings of researchers supported by this initiative.
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Research supported by the NINDS, NICHD, and others has identified neurons in the brain that influence competitive behavior and are involved in shaping social behavior of groups in a mouse model. Social interactions in people, as well as in other animals often happen in large groups, and these group interactions are important in sociology, ecology, psychology, and economics. However, the exact brain processes that are responsible for the complex dynamic behavior of social groups is not well understood, partly due to much of neuroscience research being focused on the behaviors of pairs of individuals interacting in isolation. In contrast, the current study investigated the behavior of large groups of mice during competitive group interactions.
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The U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has identified youth mental health as a crisis that urgently needs addressing. The recently published study supported by the NIMH, NIA, and others makes an important contribution to understanding the relationship between mood instability and symptomatic, psychosocial, and family functioning among youth at high risk for bipolar disorder (BD).
The research team conducted a randomized trial of psychosocial intervention for youth at risk of BD to evaluate the presence, functional impact, and malleability of mood instability, examine the relationships level of mood instability with levels of psychosocial and family functioning, especially among those with mania symptoms, and explore whether mood instability could be modified by psychosocial interventions.
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Insufficient sleep increases the risk of multiple chronic health conditions including obesity, diabetes, depression, and premature mortality. Previous research regarding the cardiometabolic risk factor associated with sleep restriction exist, but none have made the connection to the regional distribution of body fat. Recently published research supported by the NHLBI and NCATS examined the health effects of continued sleep deficiency in conjunction with unrestricted food access on energy intake, energy output, and abdominal obesity.
To determine the influence of shortened sleep duration versus normal (control) sleep on obesity risk, a randomized, controlled 21-day in-patient study was conducted with 12 healthy, nonobese individuals.
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NIH seeks Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research/Director, OBSSR
The NIH is seeking exceptional candidates for the challenging position of Director, OBSSR. The Director also functions as the NIH Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. The Director provides advice and staff support to the NIH Director and the Director, DPCPSI, serves as the NIH focal point for establishing agency-wide policies and goals in behavioral and social sciences research, and coordinates the activities undertaken in the performance of this research. This is a dual reporting position. As the Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, the position reports to the Director, NIH, and as the Director, OBSSR, the position reports to the Director, DPCPSI, and has NIH-wide responsibilities.
Information about the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research is located at its website: https://obssr.od.nih.gov/.
Applications will be reviewed starting May 14, 2022 and will be accepted until the position is filled.
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Virtual Event: NIH Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Health Impacts of COVID-19 Initiative
The NIH Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Health Impacts of COVID-19 initiative invites you to a Spring webinar event for two half-days on April 27-28, 2022. This virtual event will bring together more than 45 grantees to further connect researchers and foster collaboration opportunities. Presentations will cover COVID-19-related research topics including social networks, biological correlates, impacts on disadvantaged populations, mortality and morbidity, family impacts, mitigation efforts, interventions and more.
Through your participation in this initiative, we hope to provide insight into our research progress, provide a forum for collaboration, and continue to encourage data harmonization efforts.
Register and view the webinar agenda. Materials and webinar details will be sent closer to the meeting date.
If you have any questions about the SBE program, please contact Erica Spotts at [email protected]. If you require reasonable accommodations to participate in this event, please contact the webinar planning team via email ([email protected] and [email protected]) or phone (732-397-8081).
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PAR 22-115 and PAR 22-120:Technical Assistance Webinar Recording and Resources Now Available
The OBSSR, in coordination with NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices, recently released funding opportunity announcements (FOA) PAR 22-115 and PAR 22-120: Research on Community Level Interventions for Firearm and Related Violence Injury and Mortality Prevention (CLIF-VP).
A technical assistance webinar for these funding opportunities (PAR 22-115 and PAR 22-120) was held on Thursday, March 17, 2022, at 3:00 PM ET. During the webinar, NIH staff discussed the purpose and scope of these funding opportunities and reviewed the scientific review process, criteria, and other logistical information. The captioned webinar recording, the pre-application webinar slides, and a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) are now available on the OBSSR website.
Potential applicants are encouraged to review the posted information carefully and reach out as needed to the appropriate contacts listed in the PAR. The application deadline is April 22, 2022.
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NIH RFI on Interdisciplinary Research Opportunities that Bridge Neuroscience and Environmental Health Science
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), in partnership with six other NIH institutes, centers, and offices, plans to explore the current challenges and opportunities for interdisciplinary research that might advance knowledge about how environmental toxicants impact nervous system health. Collaborations between neuroscientists and the environmental health sciences community provide a means to accelerate our understanding of the role of environmental chemicals in nervous system dysfunction, as well as identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms at play. To support these efforts, we are seeking your help to provide input through a recently released Request for Information (RFI) about how best to promote interdisciplinary research and to understand the most prominent gaps and research opportunities in environmental neuroscience.
Submissions are encouraged through May 7, 2022 at https://www.ninds.nih.gov/EnviroNeuro-RFI. Please direct any questions to [email protected].
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Save the Date: 6th Annual Vivian W. Pinn Symposium on May 12
Please save the date for the 6th Annual Vivian W. Pinn Symposium, happening Thursday, May 12, 2022, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EDT. Hosted by ORWH each year, this virtual event honors the first full-time Director of ORWH, Dr. Vivian W. Pinn, and is an NIH signature event in observance of National Women’s Health Week. This year’s event will focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the careers of women scientists.
Stay tuned for more information on our events page.
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Webinar Recording: Innovative Approaches to Understanding Eating Disorders
On March 8, 2022, OBSSR hosted a director's webinar featuring Guest Speaker Cynthia Bulik, Ph.D., FAED, Founding Director, University of North Carolina Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders. Dr. Cynthia Bulik’s clinical work and research on eating disorders span decades and continents. The ground-breaking Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI) is the largest global research study on the genetics of eating disorders ever conducted. EDGI aims to identify the hundreds of genes that influence a person’s risk of developing anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, to improve treatment, and ultimately save lives.
Dr. Bulik holds the first endowed professorship in eating disorders in the United States. She is Distinguished Professor of Eating Disorders in the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is also Professor of Nutrition in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, and founding director of the UNC Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders. Dr. Bulik is also professor in the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and director of the Centre for Eating Disorders Innovation at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. She is passionate about translating science for the public.
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Now Available: NIH Scientific Data Sharing Website
The Office of Extramural Research is excited to announce that the new NIH Scientific Data Sharing website is now available!
This new public-facing website will serve as a central portal for resources on NIH sharing policies. You will find resources to help address common questions, such as which NIH sharing policies apply to a particular research project, how to share and submit data, how to access data from NIH-supported repositories, and more!
Check out this 3-minute video tour for a walkthrough of some key features.
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Understanding Suicide Risk and Protective Factors among Black Youth (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
FOA Number
RFA-MH-22-140
Key Dates
Open Date (Earliest Submission Date): September 18, 2022
Expiration Date: June 21, 2023
Purpose
This FOA aims to advance translational research to better understand factors that confer risk and resilience for suicide among Black youth. This FOA encourages research that is designed to identify neurobiological, behavioral, social, and structural/systemic mechanisms underlying risk and protective factors for suicide among Black youth, with consideration for identification of novel targets for future development of prevention and intervention efforts. This FOA is intended to support R01 research project grants that are adequately powered and of sufficient scope to examine the impact of empirically and theoretically suggested risk and protective factors on suicide and STB among Black youth, and the pathways by which these factors uniquely contribute to suicide related outcomes in this population. These studies should be adequately powered to definitively answer the primary research question(s), with well-justified hypotheses supported by pilot data. Support for earlier-stage exploratory developmental projects is provided via a companion FOA, RFA-MH-22-141.
View RFA-MH-22-140
Understanding Suicide Risk and Protective Factors among Black Youth (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
FOA Number
RFA-MH-22-141
Key Dates
Open Date (Earliest Submission Date): September 18, 2022
Expiration Date: June 21, 2023
Purpose
This FOA aims to advance translational research to better understand factors that confer risk and resilience for suicide among Black youth. R21 exploratory grant awards in response to this FOA are intended to conduct preliminary work regarding the assessment and characterization of risk and protective factors, with consideration for the identification of novel targets for future development of prevention and intervention efforts. Studies may involve evaluating the relevance of risk and protective factors for Black youth and their families, identifying risk or protective factors (or their interactions) unique to Black youth (or subgroups of this population), developing new or adapted assessment methods that are developmentally and culturally appropriate, and/or examining the acceptability and utility of existing assessment methods.This FOA supports exploratory developmental projects focused on refining strategies for the assessment and characterization of risk and protective factors and collecting preliminary data needed as a pre-requisite to a larger-scale, definitive project. A companion R01 FOA (RFA-MH-22-140) supports larger scale projects that are of sufficient scope and are powered to provide a definitive examination of risk/protective factors associated with suicide risk among Black youth.
View RFA-MH-22-141
NOSI: Dissemination and Implementation Research to Advance Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health Preventive Interventions in School Settings
FOA Number
NOT-AT-22-004
Key Dates
First Available Due Date: June 5, 2022
Expiration Date: June 5, 2024
Purpose
The purpose of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to stimulate dissemination and implementation research to support innovative approaches to identifying, understanding, and developing strategies for overcoming barriers to the adoption, adaptation, integration, scale-up and sustainability of evidence-based preventive interventions to support children’s mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) health in school settings. This NOSI encourages applications which focus on dissemination and implementation research to deliver interventions in the school setting that will promote healthy MEB development and/or prevent MEB disorders. Applications should include a focus on one of the following: (1) primary/universal prevention MEB programs designed to promote healthy MEB development by decreasing risk factors and increasing protective factors to prevent onset of an MEB disorder; or (2) secondary/selective prevention programs designed to support screening and early identification of MEB disorders to slow progression with early intervention. Applications focused on tertiary/indicated treatment of MEB disorders will be considered non-responsive to this Notice.
View NOT-AT-22-004
NOSI: Emerging and Existing Issues of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Research Related to the Health and Well-Being of Women, Children and Individuals with Physical and/or Intellectual Disabilities
FOA Number
NOT-HD-22-002
Key Dates
First Available Due Date: June 5, 2022
Expiration Date: June 6, 2024
Purpose
The purpose of this funding opportunity is to provide an avenue for researchers to pursue funding to conduct research addressing these and other emerging and existing COVID-related issues among pregnant and lactating people, infants, children and adolescents, and individuals with physical and/or intellectual disabilities. The goal of this NOSI is to not replace or compete with the various COVID-related funding opportunities currently available. Instead, the purpose is to complement them by offering a funding opportunity to address key issues in a most timely manner not currently covered by available COVID-related funding announcements among these populations. Research projects addressing issues that are the focus of currently available or future COVID funding opportunity announcements will be encouraged to submit to those announcements. Also, applicants responding to this NOSI are strongly encouraged to describe plans for the rapid sharing of data and results as well as innovative data analytics approaches. The sharing of COVID-related data and resources and effective communication of results are a high priority of the NIH.
View NOT-HD-22-002
