Funded Projects

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; PA-21-071
Summary:

Few integrated treatments are available that simultaneously address the fundamental causes of chronic pain and opioid misuse/opioid use disorder and focus on well-being among individuals with chronic pain and opioid misuse/opioid use disorder. This research will inform development of patient-centered interventions that increase quality of life and engagement in valued activities, are culturally appropriate for use by diverse patient populations, and reduce stigma related to chronic pain and opioid misuse/opioid use disorder. The results of this project will be used to inform future research focused on developing mobile health treatments for individuals with chronic pain and opioid use disorder, and for developing culturally appropriate treatments for chronic pain and opioid use disorder in Hispanic/Latino individuals.

NOFO Title: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: PA-18-591
Summary:

Abuse of opioids constitutes a national public health crisis. Data from the Lummi Nation show that for the 18 Tribal member deaths occurring in the first seven months of 2016, five were opioid related, with the average age of the deceased being 29 years. The proposed Native Transformations Opioid Project (NTOP) seeks to develop research capacity at Northwest Indian College and its surrounding tribal communities to develop effective and culturally congruent strategies to reduce the burden of death from opioid and other drug-related overdoses in tribal communities in the Pacific Northwest. The primary aim of the proposed project is to identify the strengths and behavioral strategies in successful recovery from OUD in three Coast Salish communities. The ultimate goal of the proposed research is to identify Coast Salish recovery factors from OUD to develop a data-driven, culturally congruent intervention to reduce OUD and OUD overdose deaths.

NOFO Title: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: PA-18-591

NOFO Title: Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System: TRIALS (U01)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-13-009
Summary:

Less than half of youth in the juvenile justice system who meet the criteria for substance use disorders (SUD) have ever received treatment, and less than one third of those received treatment while under community or correctional supervision. SUDs during adolescence can lead to significantly longer periods of substance use, more severe offending, and penetration in the justice system. The Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System (TRIALS) cooperative is intended to develop and test implementation strategies and associated measures to improve the continuum of substance abuse and HIV prevention and treatment services delivered to youth under juvenile justice supervision.

NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Availability of Administrative Supplements for Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative awardees to make data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) through the HEAL Data Ecosystem
NOFO Number: NOT-OD-22-110
Summary:

This research provides support to strengthen data management, data sharing, and data readiness efforts within the HEAL Initiative. This support further fosters collaboration among HEAL awardees and enables maximal data discoverability, interoperability, and reuse by aligning with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles. It also provides an opportunity for existing HEAL Initiative award recipients to increase data “FAIR”-ness, participate in coordinated HEAL Initiative activities to build community around data sharing, and foster sustainability of HEAL Initiative digital assets.

NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): HEAL Initiative: Biospecimen Collection in Pregnancy
NOFO Number: NOT-DA-23-005
Summary:

Opioid use during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes for pregnant individuals and offspring. The mechanisms through which these outcomes arise and the consequences of prenatal opioid exposure on child health and development remain largely unexplored. The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study is a nationwide longitudinal prospective study of early child development that will assess a broad spectrum of biological, behavioral, social, and health factors among 7,500 pregnant women and their children from pregnancy to mid-childhood. This supplement will expand the biospecimen collection of the HBCD protocol at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to include delivery specimens (placenta, cord tissue, and cord blood). This will provide an unprecedented resource-generating opportunity for the larger scientific community to comprehensively evaluate mechanisms that mediate the connection between substance use during pregnancy and adverse neonatal, infant, and/or maternal health outcomes and inform innovative preventive strategies. 

NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): HEAL Initiative: Biospecimen Collection in Pregnancy
NOFO Number: NOT-DA-23-005
Summary:

Opioid use during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes for pregnant individuals and offspring. The mechanisms through which these outcomes arise and the consequences of prenatal opioid exposure on child health and development remain largely unexplored. The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study is a nationwide longitudinal prospective study of early child development that will assess a broad spectrum of biological, behavioral, social, and health factors among 7,500 pregnant women and their children from pregnancy to mid-childhood. This supplement will expand the biospecimen collection of the HBCD protocol at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to include delivery specimens (placenta, cord tissue, and cord blood). This will provide an unprecedented resource-generating opportunity for the larger scientific community to comprehensively evaluate mechanisms that mediate the connection between substance use during pregnancy and adverse neonatal, infant, and/or maternal health outcomes and inform innovative preventive strategies.

NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): HEAL Initiative: Biospecimen Collection in Pregnancy
NOFO Number: NOT-DA-23-005
Summary:

Opioid use during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes for pregnant individuals and offspring. The mechanisms through which these outcomes arise and the consequences of prenatal opioid exposure on child health and development remain largely unexplored. The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study is a nationwide longitudinal prospective study of early child development that will assess a broad spectrum of biological, behavioral, social, and health factors among 7,500 pregnant women and their children from pregnancy to mid-childhood. This supplement will expand the biospecimen collection of the HBCD protocol at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to include delivery specimens (placenta, cord tissue, and cord blood). This will provide an unprecedented resource-generating opportunity for the larger scientific community to comprehensively evaluate mechanisms that mediate the connection between substance use during pregnancy and adverse neonatal, infant, and/or maternal health outcomes and inform innovative preventive strategies.

NOFO Title: Implementation Science Research to Improve Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Health (U01)
NOFO Number: RFA-DE-18-001
Summary:

The primary objective of this project is to de-implement the use of opioid analgesics for the management of postoperative pain following dental extractions and to implement effective alternative pain management. We propose a cluster-randomized trial designin which dental practitioners are randomly assigned to one of three conditions: 1) standard practice as a control condition; 2) a clinical decision support (CDS) tool that will extract patient history and interface with the state prescription drug monitoring program to provide personalized recommendations for analgesic prescribing and offer language for discussing non-opioid pain management; 3) an enhanced version of the CDS (CDS-E) that will also include information regarding optimal, evidence-based non-opioid pain management delivered to the patient both before and following the dental extraction visit. We will examine opioid and non-opioid prescribing data from the electronic health record across study arms as well as other provider- and patient-focused outcomes using mixed methods.

NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest to Encourage Eligible NIH HEAL Initiative Awardees to Apply for Administrative Supplements to Promote Training in Clinical Research on Pain (Admin Supp ? Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: NOT-NS-20-044
Summary:

It is increasingly clear that the microbiome influences psychoneurological symptoms, including pain. This project will support clinical research training focused on examining the relationship between the composition and function of the gut microbiome, including the symbiotic bacteria residing in the gut and their functional gene content, and chronic pain among adults with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). It provides an opportunity for the trainee to expand his skill set as a pain investigator, through experience in implementing and evaluating pain management interventions in adults with ESKD and chronic pain receiving maintenance hemodialysis. The project aims to determine the acceptability of collecting feces and the feasibility of fecal data collection procedure to determine the best strategies for recruiting research participants from multiple dialysis facilities. These steps will allow the exploration of gene content of the gut microbiota and short-chain fatty acids among people with ESKD on maintenance hemodialysis before and after pain management interventions.

NOFO Title: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: PA-18-591
Summary:

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited hematologic disorder accompanied by severe pain, inflammation, and vascular injury. We propose that nociceptor activation by ongoing hypoxia/reperfusion (H/R) injury leads to the release of neuropeptides by sensory nerves in the skin, stimulating vascular insult and mast cell activation in SCD. In turn, mast cell tryptase activates protease-activated receptor 2 on sensory nerve endings, resulting in exaggerated neuroinflammation, vascular injury, and central sensitization. Our general hypothesis is that neurogenic inflammation contributes to pain in SCD and that cannabinoids provide analgesia by disrupting neurogenic inflammation and nociceptor sensitization. We also hypothesize that EEG and functional MRI can be used to optimize analgesic treatments in SCD. We propose to use transgenic sickle mice, and individual cells involved in evoking pain, to perform this translational study. A proof of principle study in humans will examine the effect of cannabis on pain in sickle patients.

NOFO Title: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: PA-18-591
Summary:

This supplement supports the goals of the current award, “An Evaluation of the National Zero Suicide Model Across Learning Healthcare Systems” (U01MH114087). Safety planning is a highly recommended practice within the Zero Suicide framework, but little is known about the effectiveness of the individual elements that can make up a safety plan, such as lethal means assessment, identification of supportive contacts, coping skills, warning signs, and sources of distraction. All of the documentation lives in text-based clinical narratives. This supplement will support development of new metrics using natural language processing to determine baseline rates, from which we can quantify the change in safety planning and lethal means assessment practice longitudinally after implementation of new safety planning templates using our Zero Suicide main award.

NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest to Encourage Eligible NIH HEAL Initiative Awardees to Apply for Administrative Supplements to Promote Training in Clinical Research on Pain (Admin Supp ? Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: NOT-NS-20-044
Summary:

Multiple factors, including inflammation contribute to chronic low back pain. Inflammation is mediated by numerous genes. The study aims to determine how variations in the genes encoding key inflammatory mediators impact the response of patients with chronic low back pain to physical therapy treatment. Gene variations that are known to be linked to inflammation and pain will be tested against their possible association on physical therapy treatment outcomes, to inform clinical decisions on optimal care. This study will support training in clinical research on pain within the context of the HEAL BACPAC Mechanistic Research Center. It will provide resources for a research project relevant to the parent grant and the career development of an individual in the field of pain research. The ability to identify a set of genetic variations and classify patients according to treatment response might enable use of DNA testing as a screening tool for targeted treatments for patients with CLBP.