Funded Projects

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) regarding the Availability of Administrative Supplements to Support Strategies to Increase Participant Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement in Clinical Studies
NOFO Number: NOT-NS-21-025
Summary:

Cancer remains a leading cause of death among Hispanic/Latino populations in the United States. Compared with non-Hispanic Whites, Hispanic/Latino cancer patients are more likely to experience poor quality of life and inadequate cancer-related care, including less effective pain relief and poor patient‒provider communication. Additionally, Hispanic/Latino populations often have inadequate access to pain treatment, due to both social disparities and language barriers. However, most behavioral and psychosocial oncology research continues to focus on non-Hispanic Whites, and empirically validated and effective treatment interventions, particularly psychosocial interventions, are often not available in Spanish. This project will generate a Spanish-language version of the painTRAINER internet-based coping skills training program that is both linguistically and culturally sensitive and will evaluate its feasibility and acceptability in Hispanic/Latino patients with persistent cancer-related pain.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Integrative Management of Chronic Pain and OUD for Whole Recovery (IMPOWR): Coordination and Dissemination Center (R24 Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-029
Summary:

The IMPOWR (Integrative Management of Chronic Pain and OUD for Whole Recovery) Dissemination, Education, and Coordination Center (IDEA-CC) will develop infrastructure to amplify and create momentum for the findings of the IMPOWR initiative and other linked research networks. This center will i) rapidly deploy a communication framework to link IMPOWR clinical sites with each other and the larger HEAL research frameworks; ii) develop an educational infrastructure addressing stigma and health disparities in patients with co-morbid chronic pain and opioid misuse/disorder; iii) disseminate research findings effectively to targeted audiences; iv) develop a novel composite screening tool for chronic pain and opioid misuse/disorder; and v) harmonize processes for data collection and common data elements of chronic pain and opioid misuse/disorder measures across the IMPOWR research centers, providing a coordinated platform for gathering data from these studies. This center will rapidly disseminate key findings to stakeholders, clinicians, and patients to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals with co-occurring chronic pain and opioid misuse/disorder.

NOFO Title: NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) Research Bases (UG1 Clinical Trial Required)
NOFO Number: RFA-CA-18-015
Summary:

Pain Coping Skills Training (PCST) uses a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approach to teach patients cognitive and behavioral coping skills shown to reduce pain and pain interference (e.g., relaxation, distraction, cognitive restructuring, activity pacing). Randomized controlled trials show that PCST and similar CBT-based interventions, when delivered in a traditional in-person format, can improve pain and functioning in people with cancer and other conditions. Yet these interventions are underused in clinical care due to barriers such as high resource costs, a shortage of therapists trained to deliver them, and travel requirements for patients. This trial aims to deliver evidence-based behavioral pain interventions such as PCST with methods capable of overcoming barriers currently limiting patient access. This will be investigated using a two-arm trial comparing pain relief with the following interventions: painTRAINER in clinic with eight web-based follow-up sessions; enhanced usual care.

NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest to Encourage Eligible NIH HEAL Initiative Awardees to Apply for PA-20-222: Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Admin Supp - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: NOT-NS-20-107
Summary:

Cancer remains a leading cause of death among Hispanic/Latino populations in the United States. Compared with non-Hispanic Whites, Hispanic/Latino cancer patients are more likely to experience poor quality of life and inadequate cancer-related care, including less effective pain relief and poor patient‒provider communication. Additionally, Hispanic/Latino populations often have inadequate access to pain treatment, due to both social disparities and language barriers. However, most behavioral and psychosocial oncology research continues to focus on non-Hispanic Whites, and empirically validated and effective treatment interventions, particularly psychosocial interventions, are often not available in Spanish. This project will generate a Spanish-language version of the painTRAINER internet-based coping skills training program that is both linguistically and culturally sensitive and will evaluate its feasibility and acceptability in Hispanic/Latino patients with persistent cancer-related pain.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Advancing Health Equity in Pain Management (R61/R33 Clinical Trial Required)
NOFO Number: NS22-002
Summary:

Clinician bias causes inequities in healthcare, and interventions are needed to mitigate and eradicate this bias. This project aims to develop and test the impact of two interventions on overcoming clinician implicit bias in the management of pain for children from ethnic minorities treated in the emergency department. The study will include pediatric patients from under-represented minority groups with pain from long-bone fractures or acute appendicitis who are cared for by racially and ethnically diverse caregivers. Researchers will use stakeholder-informed approaches to establish quality of care metrics and then use clinician audit and feedback as well as data from electronic health records to quantify evidence of bias.      

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Multilevel Interventions to Reduce Harm and Improve Quality of Life for Patients on Long Term Opioid Therapy (MIRHIQL) (R01 Clinical Trial Required)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-23-041
Summary:

Decreasing opioid dosing faster than advised by clinical recommendations often leaves chronic pain unaddressed and may increase the risk of overdose and suicide compared to continuing long-term opioid treatment. Continued, long-term use of opioids after surgery by individuals who use opioids increases the risk of postoperative complications, opioid use disorder, and death. Surgery is a critical point-of-care moment for health care providers to interact with patients who use opioids about continued opioid use when harms outweigh benefits. This project will test of the Motivational Interviewing and guided Opioid Tapering support (MI-Opioid Taper) strategy, with or without a medication that reduces anxiety and relieves pain, at four geographically diverse hospitals across the nation.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Pain Management Effectiveness Research Network: Clinical Trial Planning and Implementation Cooperative Agreement (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial Required)
NOFO Number: RFA-NS-19-021
Summary:

The study team developed an mHealth pain self-management intervention for the perioperative period (SurgeryPal) to target psychosocial risk factors and teach pain self-management skills. The goal of this proposal is to establish the effectiveness of the SurgeryPal psychosocial intervention to improve clinically meaningful outcomes in adolescents undergoing major musculoskeletal surgery, and to identify the optimal timing of intervention delivery. The study team will plan for the efficient implementation of a multisite randomized clinical trial at 25 centers in 500 youth ages 12–18 years undergoing spinal fusion surgery and their parents. Participants will be randomized to receive SurgeryPal or attention control condition during the preoperative and postoperative phases. Self-reported pain severity and interference and secondary outcomes will be assessed at baseline, 3-, and 6-months. If effective, this scalable, low cost intervention will allow broad implementation to prevent chronic postsurgical pain in youth.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) regarding the Availability of Administrative Supplements to Support Strategies to Increase Participant Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement in Clinical Studies
NOFO Number: NOT-NS-21-025
Summary:

A main goal of the NIH HEAL Initiative and the Early Phase Pain Intervention Clinical Network (EPPIC-Net) is to improve pain management by discovering and validating biomarkers and non-opioid pain medications. This award will leverage the resources at the University of Washington’s EPPIC-Net’s Specialized Clinical Centers by implementing and evaluating strategies to improve the engagement, recruitment, and retention of individuals from underserved racial/ethnic minority populations to participate in EPPIC-Net clinical trials. The site’s network spans multiple states and specialties, allowing access to geographically and demographically diverse patient populations, including underrepresented and underserved populations. 

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Integrated Approach to Pain and Opioid Use in Hemodialysis Patients: The Hemodialysis Opioid Prescription Effort (HOPE) Consortium - Clinical Centers (U01 Clinical Trial Required)
NOFO Number: RFA-DK-18-030
Summary:

For patients with end-stage renal disease treated with long-term hemodialysis (HD), the safety and efficacy of behavioral interventions alone or augmented by safer drugs remain untested. This study will perform a multicenter parallel group randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of two interventions to reduce opioid use in HD patients. Seven hundred and twenty HD patients with significant and ongoing opioid use will be randomly assigned to (1) telehealth cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) alone, (2) telehealth CBT augmented by transdermal buprenorphine, and (3) usual care, with follow-up for up to one year. The primary outcome will be prescribed morphine milligram equivalent (MME) over the preceding four weeks. Three patient-reported outcomes (interference by pain, functional status, and quality of life) will comprise the secondary outcomes.

NOFO Title: Mechanisms, Models, Measurement, & Management in Pain Research (R01)
NOFO Number: PA-13-118
Summary:

Data suggest that members of minority groups are more likely to develop chronic pain and to have greater pain burden. We will identify a set of promising intervention targets for reducing or eliminating racial/ethnic pain disparities. We will interview adult survivors of serious physical injury, comprised of roughly equal proportions of African-Americans (AA), Latinos, and non-Latino Whites (NLW), and examine their medical records for information on injury severity and medication use in-hospital. Our aims are to determine whether: 1) AA and Latino physical injury survivors experience more severe pain relative to NLW; 2) AA and Latino injury survivors experience greater pain burden relative to NLW counterparts; 3) differences in pain severity burden are linked to a set of target candidates for interventions; and (4) pain outcomes in at-risk minority groups can be linked to a set of target candidates for group-tailored interventions to reduce pain severity and pain burden.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Advancing Health Equity in Pain Management (R61/R33 Clinical Trial Required)
NOFO Number: NS22-002
Summary:

Many barriers exist in primary care offices where socioeconomically disadvantaged patients are most often treated. This project seeks to address chronic pain disparities that affect racially diverse, socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals. The study aims to optimize multimodal pain management in primary care clinics for low-income populations. This study includes two group-based models: integrative group medical visits and group acupuncture. These two interventions will be compared to typical treatment to measure both pain interference and social isolation. National experts and patient stakeholders will refine and optimize the design of the study with English- or Spanish-speaking patients with chronic pain in two primary care clinics for low-income populations.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Back Pain Consortium (BACPAC) Research Program: Mechanistic Research Centers (U19 Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: RFA-AR-19-026
Summary:

The UCSF Core Center for Patient-centric Mechanistic Phenotyping in Chronic Low Back Pain (UCSF REACH) is an interdisciplinary consortium of basic and clinical scientists dedicated to understanding and clarifying the biopsychosocial mechanisms of chronic low back pain (cLBP). The goal of REACH is to define cLBP phenotypes and pain mechanisms that can lead to effective, personalized treatments for patients across the population. UCSF REACH has six cores that will support a single research project that is focused on the challenge of developing validated and adoptable tools that enable comprehensive yet routine clinical assessment and treatment of cLBP patients. Overall, the object of REACH is to make optimum use of all available resources to catalyze discovery and translation of novel diagnostics and therapeutics that improve outcomes of cLBP patients.