Private-sector innovation is a key aspect of accelerating and improving women’s health research. In response to President Biden’s Executive Order on Advancing Women’s Health Research and Innovation, NIH committed to further increasing—by 50%—its investments to support innovators and early-stage small businesses engaged in research and development on women’s health. In support of this commitment, ORWH has, for the first time ever, participated in the omnibus solicitation for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant applications. ORWH’s participation in this solicitation reflects its understanding of the key role that small businesses will play in advancing innovation in women’s health.
ORWH encourages applications that have a central focus on the health of women, as demonstrated through specific aims that either explicitly address a particular condition in women or focus on one of the high-priority topics below. In either approach, intersectional and/or multidimensional approaches that consider the health of women in context (e.g., social and structural variables—including race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and state and federal policies) are strongly encouraged. Although projects are not required to exclusively focus on women to receive ORWH co-funding, studies that include more than one sex or gender should be designed and sufficiently powered to enable researchers to make sex or gender difference comparisons and generalizable conclusions.
ORWH intends to prioritize interdisciplinary research that:
- Addresses the influence of sex-linked biology, gender-related factors, or their intersections on health
- Addresses how physical, mental, and psychological health outcomes interact with structural factors to either mitigate or exacerbate health disparities and aims to create behavioral interventions to address these issues
- Advances the translation of research advancements and evidence in women’s health into practical benefits for patients and providers
- Informs and develops multi-sector partnerships to advance innovation in women’s health research
- Increases public awareness of the need for greater investment in and attention to women’s health research, as well as women’s health outcomes across the lifespan
- Advances research to reduce health disparities and inequities affecting women’s health, including those related to race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, disability, and exposure to environmental factors and contaminants that can directly affect health
- Increases uptake of evidence-based interventions that advance women’s health
- Addresses topics identified in the Women’s Health Innovation Opportunity Map
- Reduces violence, stigma, and trauma related to HIV
- Develops woman-centered self-tests for HIV viral load monitoring, including in breast milk
- Develops topical microbicide agents, wearable, implantable, or insertable devices releasing medications alone or as part of multipurpose prevention technologies, to prevent sexual acquisition of HIV, other sexually transmitted infections and/or unplanned pregnancy across the lifespan including in pregnant or postpartum people
- Promotes the use of advanced statistical modeling, data visualization, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) methods for research on the health of women
- Develops methods, tools, or technologies to increase data sharing and improve data management practices to align with the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability (FAIR) data principles and enhance the utility of new and existing data on the health of women
- Develops methods for integrating data science, including AI and ML, into research on the health of women
- Develops cutting-edge computational tools and technologies to facilitate screening for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases that affect women
- Improves estimates of the impact of chronic conditions in women, including projects to diagnose and reduce misclassification of female-specific and gynecologic conditions and conditions that predominantly impact women or affect women differently, and projects to characterize differences in chronic condition presentation by gender, race and ethnicity, and the various structural and social determinants that these women experience or are affected by
- Explores the role of hormonal fluctuations on the development of chronic conditions in women, including the influence of age of menarche; the role of menstrual cycle ir/regularity, length, and phase; the length of the reproductive window; the link between adverse pregnancy outcomes and development of chronic conditions later in life; and the effect of exogenous hormones on the development of chronic conditions
- Develops new and better approaches for addressing the symptoms that affect women during perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause
- Improves early and accurate detection and diagnosis of chronic conditions in women, including the diagnosis of multiple chronic conditions
- Elucidates gender differences in access and use of health care services, including methods for assessing discrimination (e.g., sexism, racism, ageism, and homophobia) encountered by women when accessing health care services for chronic conditions
Please note that applicants may link their SBIR and STTR applications to the Notice of Special Interest on Women’s Health Research when submitting their applications. The submission dates are September 5, 2024, January 5, 2024, and April 5, 2024.
To learn more about small business funding opportunities and women’s health research priorities, register for one of ORWH’s two upcoming virtual webinars on “Small Business Opportunities for Innovative Women’s Health Research.” During these webinars on October 30, 2024, and January 29, 2025, the NIH Small business Education and Entrepreneurial Development (SEED) Office and several NIH small business programs will provide overviews of their programs and institute- and center-specific interests at the intersection of innovation and women’s health.