Date Posted: January 17, 2020

Updated October 8, 2020

NIH recently published two notices of special interest (NOSIs) announcing administrative supplements being offered by ORWH.

The first NOSI, Administrative Supplements for Research on the Health of Women of Understudied, Underrepresented, and Underreported (U3) Populations (NOT-OD-20-048), announces ORWH support of biomedical research highlighting health disparities among women of U3 populations. The proposed research must address at least one objective from strategic goal 1, 2, or 3 of The Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women's Health Research. The due date for applications is January 28, 2020. Applications for 2021 will be due January 21, 2021. More information is available here.

The second NOSI, Administrative Supplements for Research on Sex/Gender Influences (NOT-OD-20-049), announces ORWH support of research highlighting the impact of sex and gender influences in human health and illness. Having continuous interaction between sex and gender, human health is determined by both biology and expression of gender. The most robust experimental designs include consideration of both sex and gender. Therefore, applications proposing to investigate the influences of both sex and gender are highly encouraged. The proposed research must address at least one objective from the five strategic goals of The Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women's Health Research. The due date for applications is January 31, 2020. Applications for 2021 will be due January 25, 2021. More information is available here.

Addendum. On August 5, 2020, NIH posted Notice of Change to Funding Announcement (NOT-OD-20-048) by the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), “Research on the Health of Women of Understudied, Underrepresented and Underreported (U3) Populations (Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)”  (NOT-OD-20-156). NOT-OD-20-156 expands the scope of the original funding opportunity (NOT-OD-20-048) to encourage application submissions and support studies on SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 in alignment with efforts across NIH. Work to develop and implement effective therapeutics and vaccines as well as to accelerate research on technologies to validate and improve programs that will overcome barriers and increase uptake of therapeutics and vaccines at the point of care are of interest. Within the focus of this funding opportunity announcement, topics of interest could also include investigating the risk factors associated with COVID-19 prevalence among NIH-designated health disparity populations, women living in underserved rural or urban settings, pregnant women, lactating women, women front-line health care workers, women with low socioeconomic status, women experiencing homelessness, and women having justice system involvement. More information is available here.

Addendum 2. On October 30, 2020, NIH posted “Notice of Change: Expansion of Research Scope of NOT-OD-20-049 ‘Notice of Special Interest: Administrative Supplements for Research on Sex/Gender Influences (Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)’” (NOT-OD-21-010). NOT-OD-21-010 expands the scope of the original funding opportunity (NOT-OD-20-049) to encourage application submissions to support studies on SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 in alignment with efforts across NIH to develop and implement effective therapeutics and vaccines and to accelerate research on technologies to validate and improve programs that will overcome barriers and increase uptake of therapeutics and vaccines at the point of care. Within the focus of this funding opportunity announcement, research topics of interest could include, but are not limited to:
•    Sex and gender influences in the development and administration of effective therapeutics and vaccines
•    Investigations of sex and gender differences in access to care (e.g., admission, diagnosis, and treatment) of COVID-19-affected individuals
•    Investigation of sex and gender influences on the outcome of patient interactions with health care providers
•    The impact of sex and gender on mortality linked to comorbid conditions

More information is available here