Updated October 8, 2020
NIH recently released a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) titled The Intersection of Sex and Gender Influences on Health and Disease for Research Project Grant (R01) applications on the influence and intersection of sex and gender in health and disease. This FOA encourages research across many scientific disciplines to examine how sex and gender factors intersect with health and disease. Proposed investigations must include both sex and gender-related variables and also address at least one of the five objectives from Strategic Goal 1 of The 2019–2023 Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women’s Health Research.
In the past decade, there has been growing recognition that disease prevalence, course and outcomes in women and men are influenced by both biologic sex and gender. Research suggests that some diseases are unique to women; some are more common in women than in men; and some are characterized by different disease courses in women than in men. This FOA seeks research that will expand the current understanding of the sex and gender factors that drive these crucial differences.
As NIH’s first Research Project Grant (R01) on sex and gender, this FOA represents a milestone achievement and reaffirms NIH’s commitment to considering sex and gender influences in research and the mission of ORWH.
The Research Project Grant (R01) is NIH’s oldest grant mechanism, designed to support “a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing the investigator's specific interest and competencies, based on the mission of the NIH.”
First-round applications are due November 25, 2019. Due dates for subsequent rounds of applications are November 25, 2020, and November 26, 2021. Additional submission information is available here.
Addendum. On September 15, 2020, NIH posted Notice of Change: Expansion of Research Scope of RFA-OD-19-029 “The Intersection of Sex and Gender Influences on Health and Disease (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)” (NOT-OD-20-168). NOT-OD-20-168 expands the scope of the original funding opportunity (RFA-OD-19-029), which encourages application submissions on the influence and intersection of sex and gender in health, to include submissions proposing to examine SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19. Research topics of interest could include investigations of sex- and gender-related risk factors associated with COVID-19 prevalence and adverse treatment outcomes, including the influence of comorbid conditions, as well as studies examining sex and gender influences on COVID-19 related to preventive and health-seeking behaviors (e.g., timeliness of care entry and adherence to treatment recommendations). More information is available here.