Understanding Place-Based Health Inequalities in Mid-Life (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA AG 23 004

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AG 23 004

Understanding Place-Based Health Inequalities in Mid-Life (RFA-AG-23-004) is an NIH R01 grant opportunity focused on explaining and ultimately reducing health differences that vary by geography during mid-life. The central idea is that where people live and spend their time matters for health, and that place operates at many levels, from countries and U.S. Census regions down to states, counties, neighborhoods, and locations along the urban-rural continuum. The announcement supports research meant to produce actionable evidence about why health outcomes differ across places and how those differences intersect with other inequities, particularly those tied to race, ethnicity, gender, and related sociodemographic factors. Clinical trials are not allowed under this FOA.

The FOA emphasizes two main types of projects. First, it supports secondary analyses of existing datasets to clarify the social, economic, behavioral, and institutional reasons behind place-based health disparities, including differences in levels and trends over time. In this context, "institutional" is broad and can include policies and programs at federal, state, and local levels as well as practices from firms and industries that shape living conditions, exposures, and access to resources. Second, it supports work that looks at intersections between place and individual characteristics (for example, how neighborhood conditions may affect health differently for different racial and ethnic groups, or how rurality interacts with gender and socioeconomic status). Projects that can illuminate the mechanisms driving disparities, and not just describe them, are strongly aligned with the intent of the opportunity.

In terms of study design and methods, the FOA prefers analytic strategies that can get closer to causal conclusions. Quasi-experimental approaches and other methods that produce causal estimates are explicitly encouraged, reflecting a desire for evidence that can better inform policy and program decisions. At the same time, the announcement also welcomes mixed methods studies when they deepen understanding of mechanisms or generate useful dataset improvements. Multilevel analyses are another major priority, especially those that can jointly examine macro-level forces (like regional economic shifts or state policies), meso-level contexts (like county services, local labor markets, or neighborhood environments), and individual-level factors (like behaviors, demographics, or household resources) to capture how these layers interact to shape health in mid-life.

Beyond pure secondary analysis, the FOA also allows data collection or enhancements to existing datasets, as long as the effort is tied to strengthening the ability to study place and health disparities. That can include augmenting datasets with more detailed geographic measures, policy exposure variables, improved linkage capacity across administrative sources, or other additions that enable more precise comparisons across places and groups. The unifying expectation is that the proposed work should improve understanding of place-based health inequality in ways that can be translated into decisions or interventions, even if the project itself is not an intervention trial.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations and governmental entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (outside of higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The FOA also highlights additional eligible applicant categories such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions.

Foreign eligibility is limited in a specific way. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply as the main applicant organization. However, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are eligible, and foreign components are allowed as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, meaning a U.S. applicant can include certain foreign elements when justified and compliant with NIH policy.

Administratively, this is an NIH discretionary grant under the R01 mechanism within the health funding activity category, associated with CFDA number 93.866. The opportunity listed an award ceiling of $400,000. The original closing date shown in the provided record is 2022-03-03, and the record creation date is 2021-11-16. Overall, the FOA is geared toward rigorous, policy-relevant research that uses existing data resources (and strategic enhancements to them) to explain how geographic context drives mid-life health disparities and how those place effects combine with demographic and social stratification to produce unequal outcomes.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Understanding Place-Based Health Inequalities in Mid-Life (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-11-16.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-03-03. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $400,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

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