ORWH recently released two Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFO), Understanding Chronic Conditions Understudied Among Women, to support research on chronic conditions that affect women and individuals assigned female at birth. The purpose of the NOFOs are to invite applications on chronic conditions understudied among women and/or that disproportionately affect populations of women who are understudied, underrepresented, and underreported in biomedical Research. The NOFOs align with Goal 1 of the 2019-2023 Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women's Health Research "Advancing Science for the Health of Women."
The NOFOs will support research on chronic conditions that affect all women and individuals assigned female at birth that remain understudied building upon opportunities identified at the ORWH-led Advancing NIH Research on Women's Health: A 2021 Conference. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines chronic conditions as “conditions that last a year or more and require ongoing medical attention and/or limit activities of daily living." Sex and gender influence prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic conditions and multimorbidity among women. Women have higher prevalence of chronic conditions; often present with different symptoms (e.g., dizziness rather than chest pain with cardiac disease); are affected by different chronic conditions (e.g., female-specific conditions, autoimmune disease); and accumulate multi-morbidity at different life course timepoints (e.g., after menopause) compared to men. Additionally, the burden of chronic conditions is not evenly distributed among communities of women, with higher prevalence among populations of women historically understudied and underrepresented in biomedical research.
ORWH is interested in research on approaches to understanding chronic conditions and multimorbidity in women that include
- Understanding the underlying mechanisms of disease (including sex and gender differences);
- Identifying environmental factors (including psychosocial, socioeconomic, and sociocultural determinants of health) that influence risk;
- Improving prevention, diagnosis and treatment interventions; and
- Improving quality of life following diagnosis.
Research on chronic conditions with differential prevalence, morbidity and/or mortality in populations of women historically understudied and underrepresented in biomedical research is of particular interest. Visit the R01 and R21 funding opportunity pages to learn more about additional topics of interest.
The awards under these NOFOs will be administered by NIH ICs using funds that have been made available through the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) and the scientific partnering Institutes and Centers across NIH. Visit the funding opportunity pages to learn more information, key dates, award and eligibility information, application and submission instructions, and contact information: