HEAL Strategic Planning

Since the start of the Helping to End Addiction Long-term^® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative^®, in 2018, HEAL programs are making progress on many fronts toward the ultimate goal of speeding scientific solutions to the overdose epidemic, including opioid and stimulant use disorders, and pain. As HEAL is now in its sixth year of funding, NIH is developing a strategic plan to establish research priorities for the next phase of the initiative that builds upon that progress and ensures that the NIH HEAL Initiative continues to evolve along with drivers of the overdose epidemic to provide the greatest benefit to individuals affected by substance use and those living with pain.

Developing NIH HEAL Initiative Strategic Research Priorities

This NIH HEAL Initiative Strategic Plan will draw on input from an array of stakeholders—including scientists, health care providers, advocacy groups, and people with lived and living experience—as well as existing research frameworks. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is the lead federal agency supporting research on drug use and addiction, and addressing the overdose crisis has been central to NIDA’s mission. HEAL research supported by NIDA has been and will continue to be guided by NIDA’s Strategic Plan. To ensure that NIDA’s HEAL research investments are optimized to meet evolving scientific and public health needs, NIDA has sought additional input with a focus on research priorities to address opioid use disorder and overdose, and the intersection of opioid use and pain, that are not already addressed in NIDA’s Strategic Plan. The process by which NIDA is gathering information to inform the HEAL Strategic Plan is described in the timeline below.

Because of the multidisciplinary nature of pain, pain research supported by HEAL spans many NIH institutes, centers, and offices. As part of the overall HEAL strategic planning effort, an Executive Committee of experts was convened as a Working Group of the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NANDS) Council. They have been charged with looking intensively at this multidisciplinary HEAL pain portfolio to assess past efforts and to chart scientific priorities for pain research for the next 5 years of the initiative. Finding scientific solutions to the evolving opioid and overdose crisis includes addressing the lack of safe and effective strategies for treating and managing acute and chronic pain. The mission of the HEAL pain portfolio is to reduce pain and the risk of opioid use disorder by developing safe and effective pain treatment and prevention strategies to improve quality of life for all people.

This HEAL Pain Strategic Research Priorities Executive Committee is engaged in an in-depth process to propose and prioritize forward-looking strategic research priorities for the next phase of pain research supported by the NIH HEAL Initiative. The Executive Committee members are leading subcommittees related to the following areas:

• Non-addictive pain therapeutics development
• Pain biomarkers and predictors
• Optimization of existing and novel interventions for pain
• Implementation and health services for pain
• Health equity and pain across the life course
• The intersection of pain and substance use disorder
• Pain research workforce and training

Each subcommittee is working with experts from the research community and people with lived experience of pain to propose research priorities that will be refined by the Executive Committee. Additionally, the subcommittees are considering responses from the Request for Information (RFI), which solicited feedback from the public on HEAL strategic directions, as well as input from a series of public workshops.

The Executive Committee will consider the proposed research priorities and recommend the most promising directions for future HEAL-supported pain research. The final recommended priorities will be presented to the NANDS Council to guide the development of a 5-year strategic plan for HEAL-supported pain research.