The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded 11 grants worth $58 million combined over five years to support research initiatives that seek to advance health equity and address health disparities.
NIH awarded the grants through the Transformative Research to Address Health Disparities and Advance Health Equity initiative of the NIH Common Fund.
“This research effort will catalyze novel interventions and hasten the opportunity to put evidence into action for populations affected by health disparities,” said NIH Director Francis Collins.
Some of the research initiatives will focus on designing technology-enhanced approaches to promote cancer health equity among deafblind, diverse deaf and hard-of-hearing populations and integrating tech-assisted or telehealth-driven interventions into community-based interventions for mental and physical health.
The agency expects the initiative to broaden the research base to help address health disparities at minority-serving institutions. The NIH Common Fund plans to reissue a request for applications in fiscal year 2022 as part of efforts to support additional projects and advance health equity at MSIs.