Funding Opportunity Description
Purpose

The Racial Equity Visionary Award Program embraces transformative science by supporting independent investigators proposing highly innovative research that 1) challenges scientific paradigms that perpetuate inequities, and 2) lays groundwork for large scale efforts to impact substance use-related disparities that affect underserved U.S. racial and/or ethnic minority populations. PIs are expected to self-identify as health equity, health disparities, or social determinants of health researchers and have prior experience conducting collaborative research projects with one or more underserved racial and/or ethnic minority population groups. The application should reflect an exceptionally creative approach to problem solving and a long-term commitment to solution-oriented research with underserved racial and/or ethnic minority communities.

This FOA solicits applications from minority serving institutions (see Section III. Eligibility information). NIDA recognizes the important role these institutions have played in supporting scientific research, particularly on diseases or conditions that disproportionately impact racial and/or ethnic minorities and other U.S. populations that experience health disparities. As these institutions are uniquely positioned to engage minority populations in research and in the translation of research advances into culturally competent, measurable and sustained improvements in health outcomes, this announcement seeks to support exceptional projects that will contribute to capacity building within these institutions.

Background

Evidence suggests that patterns of substance use, consequences of substance use, and access to services to prevent and treat substance use disorders vary significantly across populations. Structural factors, including racism and discriminatory practices, create conditions that lead to population-level health disparities. While various research studies document the disparities, relatively few researchers seek to bring a deep understanding of the social construction of race and its manifestations in the daily lives of U.S. residents to inform system-level changes to policy and practice.

The NIH is committed to supporting health equity research to 1) improve minority health and reduce health disparities and 2) remove the barriers to advancing health disparities research (for more information, see the NIH Minority Health and Health Disparities Strategic Plan 2021-2025. In alignment with this NIH-wide effort, NIDA established the Racial Equity Initiative (REI), with goals that include promoting racial equity in NIDA’s research portfolio. Among the actions taken by NIDA, which were informed by internal and external meetings and listening sessions, the Institute has committed to a significant increase in funding for research to address racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes related to drug use and HIV. The REI funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) seek to advance equity by supporting research and research training efforts that are consistent with NIDA’s mission and with best practices for conducting research with racial and ethnic minority populations.

Research Objectives

The Racial Equity Visionary Award program is designed to support health equity scholars conducting clinical research to better understand and/or intervene on systemic factors that drive disparities for racial and/or ethnic minority populations related to NIDA’s mission. For NIH, the definition of clinical research is broad, and includes epidemiological and behavioral studies, intervention research, outcomes research/health services research in addition to patient-oriented research (see the NIH Grants Policy Statement). Investigators may propose to conduct various types of studies, such as natural experiments, cohort studies, policy research, optimization research, pilot/feasibility intervention trials, modeling studies, qualitative/mixed-methods research studies, or human laboratory trials. Pilot or preliminary data may be included in the application, but they are not required for this award.

Applications include an essay describing research to advance health equity for one or more underserved racial and/or ethnic minority populations that bear a disproportionate share of the health, social, and legal consequences of substance use (e.g., deaths, injuries, infections, disorders, homelessness, arrests, job loss). For the purposes of this FOA, health equity is defined as all people having the opportunity to reach their full health potential and no one being disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances. Applications should justify the selction of study populations using data that illustrate significant present and/or historical discrimination, mistreatment, isolation, or inequity. Investigators may propose projects addressing equity at the intersection of race/ethnicity and another social or demographic characteristic (e.g., sex, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, age, geographic location, education level, disability status, immigrant status, English language proficiency)

The Racial Equity Visionary Award projects must involve collaborations with community members who represent the population affected by inequities, particularly individuals with lived experience. In addition, investigators are encouraged to engage contributors from various stakeholder communities as needed such as lay health workers, community leaders, patient advocates, and service providers. PIs are strongly encouraged to collaborate with individuals from the impacted community throughout the research process.

In the application essay, the PI should integrate justifications for the proposed research from 1) academic scholarship/literature and 2) perspectives and lessons gleaned from direct interaction with community members representing underrepresented racial and/or ethnic minority groups. Literature, methods, and intellectual capital fromrelevant disciplines (e.g., ethnic studies, social epidemiology, psychology, neuroscience, ecology, sociology, engineering, economics, anthropology, communications science, social work, urban planning, data science) and experts should be embraced. Investigators are encouraged to consider research frameworks that reflect system-level influences and avoid stigmatizing populations or pathologizing behaviors. PIs should utilize community-engaged research, community-based participatory research, community action research, or related strategies in the conduct of their work. In addition, studies that involve innovative use of data collection and analysis methodologies, such as data-intensive research efforts, are encouraged.

While the Racial Equity Visionary award is a single-investigator award, the application essay must address how diverse perspectives will be brought to bear on the problem throughout the course of the project period. For example, partnership building efforts between the PI and other talented investigators and collaborators who bring unique skills, expertise, and/or lived experiences to the research should be described.

Investigators whose research is aligned with NIH HIV research priorities (see NOT-OD-20-018) must apply for the NIDA Avant-Garde Award Program for HIV/AIDS and Substance Use Disorder (PAR-20-221) rather than the Racial Equity Visionary Award. This FOA (RFA-DA-23-031) and the companion FOA (RFA-DA-23-026) do not fund HIV research.