May 10, 2017

Director's Voice

Increasing Mortality of Working Class Whites Reveals How Long-Term Economic Factors Contribute to Health Disparities. Last month in a report prepared for the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity titled “Mortality and morbidity in the 21st century,” Anne Case and Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton provided a more in-depth analysis of their groundbreaking 2015 findings of increasing midlife mortality rates among working class (high school or less education) whites in the United States. In the context of continued declines in mortality rates for other age, education, and race/ethnicity groups, these increased mortality rates among midlife, working class whites are particularly striking and reverse decades of progress in reducing mortality. In the 2015 paper, Case and Deaton noted that drug and alcohol overdoses, suicides, and liver disease/cirrhosis accounted for much of the increased mortality in this group. The authors have described this as “deaths of despair.”

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Join May Director's Series Webinar

Join us on Tuesday, May 16, 2017, at 2 p.m. ET for a webinar by Dr. Henry Yin, Duke University, on a new perspective on the relationship between brain and behavior. Recent advances in neuroscience led to the development of a new integrative approach combining continuous quantification of behavior and selective manipulation and recording of neural activity in freely moving rodents.
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NIMH Director's Innovation Speaker Series 

NIMH is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, May 16, 2017, at 3 p.m. ET on "A Network Neuroscience of Human Learning: Potential to Inform Quantitative Theories of Brain and Behavior." Speaker: Danielle Bassett, PhD. Location: Neuroscience Center, Conference Rooms C - 6001 Executive Boulevard, Bethesda, MD
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12th Annual NIH Pain Consortium Symposium

On May 31 and June 1, 2017, the NIH Pain Consortium will convene the 12th Annual NIH Pain Consortium Symposium: Multidisciplinary Strategies for Pain. The 2017 symposium will highlight advances in pain research on Prevention of Chronic Pain and Moving Towards Multidisciplinary Pain Care. This annual symposium features NIH supported pain research that is of high interest and presents opportunities to advance the field.
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NIH Inclusion Across the Lifespan Workshop

In response to scientific need and a congressional mandate in the 21st Century Cures Act (P.L. 114-255), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is convening a workshop of experts on the appropriate inclusion of pediatric and older populations in research studies involving human subjects. The workshop will be held June 1-2, 2017 at the Natcher Conference Center (bldg. 45), Room E1/E2. The event will be webcast and archived.
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Extreme Events, Environmental Health and the Elderly Workshop

This workshop will explore the scientific evidence for concern about the elderly in the context of extreme manmade and natural disasters and seasonal variations, and elucidate cultural considerations related to specific elder subpopulations. The workshop will additionally highlight existing resources for promoting resilience or minimizing risk for the elderly and explore policy needs related to research, services, and resources for the elderly. Registration is free. Preregistration is required to ensure your space at the workshop. Dates: June 13-14, 2017. Location: EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
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2017 Dissemination and Implementation Call for Abstracts

The call for abstracts is expected to open in late May and will remain open until late July. The abstract solicitation and conference structure have been designed to focus the thinking and discussion on the highest priorities for dissemination and implementation science now, and in the future, to help optimize health and health care in the U.S. and elsewhere.
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Biobehavioral Processes of Appetite Control

A meeting of multidisciplinary biobehavioral scientists and NIH program staff was convened to examine mechanisms associated with humans' ability to self-regulate appetite and appetitive behavior. In a special section of Obesity Journal, meeting participants from this meeting describe processes that can inform novel prevention and treatment approaches for obesity.

1. Biological control of appetite: A daunting complexity addresses the mechanisms that contribute to food consumption behaviors such as food choices, portion sizes, and sensations of hunger.
2. Psychological and neural contributions to appetite self-regulation reviews the state of the science on psychological and neural contributions to appetite self-regulation in the context of obesity.
3. Appetite self-regulation: Environmental and policy influences on eating behaviors discusses how appetite regulation is influenced by environment which is shaped by food-related policies. Although policy and environmental change are the most distal influences on individual-level appetite regulation, these strategies have substantial reach and population impact.
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Dissemination and Implementation Science Requests for Proposals

The Department of Defense (DoD) has recently released 3 separate Requests for Proposals (RFP) - Solicitation Numbers: W81XWH-17-R-0010; W81XWH-17-R-0043; W81XWH-17-R-0044. The focus of these funding opportunities is to support the DoD, Joint Program Committee 5 (JPC-5)/Military Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP) mission of maximizing the psychological health and readiness of Service members by applying dissemination and implementation (D&I) science expertise and methods to increase the reach and use of evidence-based practices and tools to improve mental health service quality and delivery in the military. There are 3 separate RFPs, focused on telebehavioral health, PTSD treatments, and tri-Service implementation of the Behavioral Health Data Portal. Proposals are due by 10:00 a.m. on June 12, 2017.
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Good Clinical Practice in Social and Behavioral Research

Complete the free NIH Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Training through the Society of Behavioral Medicine. In September 2016, the NIH issued a Policy on Good Clinical Practice Training for NIH awardees involved in NIH-funded clinical trials. The principles of GCP help assure the safety, integrity, and quality of clinical trials. Certificates will be given upon completion of the training.
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