Pilot
Awards
Open Positions
Webinars & Workshops
Award
Opportunies
Pilot Awards
"Designing a Real Time COVID-19 Vaccination Adverse Event Monitoring System for Nursing Home Residents"
IMPACT Principal Investigator, Vincent Mor, PhD, will lead this study to identify adverse health impacts among elderly nursing home residents following COVID-19 vaccination. The award will be used to design an adverse event monitoring system in collaboration with Genesis HealthCare, one of the nation’s largest post-acute care providers with more than 350 facilities across 25 states.
"Nursing home residents constitute about 40% of all deaths due to COVID in the nation, but no one as sick as a nursing home resident was enrolled in any of the vaccine trials,” according to Mor. There is considerable evidence that the immune systems of frail older people are not as responsive as those of the younger people on which vaccines are being tested, careful monitoring of their response to the vaccine is required. Following anticipated approvals, it is expected that frail older persons living in congregate settings are in the top priority group for distribution.
NIA COVID-19 Supplement Recipients
Principal Investigators: Sarah Berry, MD, MPH, Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew Senior Life; Vince Mor, PhD, Brown University School of Public Health
Drs. Berry and Mor were awarded a supplement to improve COVID-19 testing for underserved and vulnerable populations as part of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative, the RADx Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program. This initiative will leverage the foundation of the IMPACT Collaboratory to establish IMPACT-COVID-19 (IMPACT-C), a collaborative dedicated to developing and evaluating SARS-CoV-2 testing strategies in highly vulnerable residents and health care workers of skilled nursing facilities. IMPACT-C will assemble the organizational, administrative, and expertise components necessary to swiftly conduct a rigorous vaccine trial, when available.
Principal Investigator: Ellen McCreedy, PhD, MPH, Brown University School of Public Health
Dr. McCreedy and her team will conduct a cluster randomized embedded pragmatic clinical trial (ePCT) by leveraging electronic health records of Bluestone Physician Services to test the effectiveness of a COVID-specific, advance care planning (ACP) intervention on documentation of care preferences among assisted living community (ALC) residents with AD/ADRD from 150 ALCs in 3 states.
Principal Investigator: Lewis Lipsitz, MD, Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife
Dr. Lipsitz and his team will evaluate the efficacy of a Massachusetts state-funded strategy to minimize the spread of COVID-19 among older adults and their care providers within Massachusetts NHs using multiple data sources. Efficacy will be measured over the 2-month intervention period among all residents in nursing homes (NHs) across Massachusetts compared to those in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
Principal Investigator: Joshua Chodosh, MD, MSHS, NYU Langone Health
Dr. Chodosh and his team will design and pilot test an intervention that leverages the COVID-19 antibody and PCR status of residents and staff to inform staff-residents care assignments to minimize COVID-19 transmission rates. The team will conduct the study in two New York City facilities with high minority and AD/ADRD representation and compare intervention units using this strategy with those that do not.
Pilot Grant Awardees
About the Recipients
The IMPACT Collaboratory Pilot Studies Core launched three funding cycles this year and identified two recipients of its inaugural cycle of the IMPACT Pilot Grant award program. Recipients were selected from an impressive group of competitive applications for Cycle 1. The full application and review process is still underway for Cycles 2a and 2b.
IMPACT Pilot Grant Award Recipients (RFA 2019)
Brent Forester, MD, MSc, Mass General Brigham
Implementation of the Care Ecosystem training model for individuals with dementia in a high risk, integrated care management program
Ula Hwang, MD, MPH, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Pathway to Detection & Differentiation of Delirium & Dementia in the Emergency Department
Open Positions
Application Deadline: February 1, 2021
Selected Investigators Notified: Mid-March, 2021
The USDeN seeks applicants for its Junior Investigator Intensive Program in Deprescribing Research. The program will create a cohort of emerging leaders who are committed to pursuing research training and collaborative opportunities related to deprescribing.
What is the Junior Investigator Intensive Program?
The program has 3 main components.
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Scholars will attend a special session at the 2021 USDeN Annual Meeting (date to be determined) that is focused on career development, networking, and collaborative research opportunities for early-stage investigators interested in deprescribing. *Due to the COVID-19 pandemic this meeting may be held virtually.*
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Scholars will attend monthly virtual “works in progress” meetings and other activities over the year that offer a mix of opportunities to get feedback on your research from colleagues and senior researchers and discussion of collaborative research projects in which scholars can participate (and help lead).
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Scholars will have access to other aspects of the USDeN such as attendance at webinars, consultations, and a variety of other resources. Scholars will be expected to attend the virtual USDeN Annual Meeting and most of the monthly web-based meetings during the year.
The Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the Pennsylvania State University invites applications for two faculty positions in Quantitative Methods in Behavioral Data Science. One position will be at the rank of assistant professor, and one will be open-rank. We seek candidates who are dedicated to our research mission and passionate about teaching in a world-class institution.
We are especially interested in candidates developing data science methods to understand developmental and change processes; to inform substantive theories; to support causal inferences; or to improve the design and implementation of intervention or data collection. We welcome applications from individuals who are developing innovative methods and models for understanding and predicting longitudinal processes across multiple systems (e.g., behavior, physiology), multiple levels of analysis (e.g., individuals, families, institutions), and/or multiple timescales (e.g., minutes, days, years), such as latent variable modeling, network and graph theoretic models, dynamic or dynamical systems models, machine learning, categorical data analysis, item response theory, panel methods for constructing counterfactuals, or simulation-based approaches.
The Population and Social Processes Branch (PSP) is recruiting a dynamic and experienced economist/health services researcher to manage and develop a portfolio of innovative grant-supported research and research training in health systems topics in aging and health. This portfolio will focus on connections between health systems and healthy aging, with emphases on the Medicare and Medicaid programs as well as long-term care. The portfolio features research utilizing large data sets, quasi-experimental techniques as well as pragmatic trails and field experiments. Read a full description on our website. Contact PSP Branch Chief John Phillips (john.phillips@nih.gov) with any questions.
Webinars & Workshops
Award Opportunities
Application Deadline: January 22, 2021
The US Deprescribing Research Network (USDeN) funds pilot and exploratory studies, grant planning activities, and small collaboration grants. The goals of these grant programs are to support early-stage research in deprescribing that has high potential to develop into future large projects, to catalyze research in areas that are of particular importance to the field, to support junior investigator development, and to promote collaborations that will lead to future research projects.
Application Deadline: February 1, 2021
The HEADS Center stimulates and coalesces population-based research that identifies, quantifies, and addresses economic and care systems challenges posed by Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD).
We invite applications for pilot grants related to our two themes:
(1) To identify and quantify the range of care needs of persons with ADRD and the economic consequences of ADRD for patients and families.
(2) To examine how the organization, financing, and delivery of services affects accessibility, affordability, quality, and equity of ADRD care.
We expect to award 4 one-year pilot grants of up to $25,000 per award in the coming 2021-2022 cycle. We are particularly interested in supporting promising post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty, but applicants may be of any rank from Johns Hopkins University and external institutions.
Notice of Intent (NOI) to Publish a New Funding Opportunity Announcement for IMPACT Demonstration Projects
RFA Release: Expected February 2021
The NIA IMPACT Collaboratory is pleased to inform the community that the NIA IMPACT Collaboratory plans to publish a Request for Applications (RFA) for Demonstration Projects for large-scale embedded pragmatic clinical trials (ePCTs) testing the effectiveness of a care delivery intervention program in a health care system for people living with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD) and/or their care partners.
Under this mechanism, interventions must be linked to the needs of a health care system and powered to detect a significant difference in the primary outcome between trial arms. The goal of the demonstration projects is to generate evidence on effective care delivery practices that can be expanded and/or implemented in other systems.
The IMPACT Collaboratory will give preference to applications for Demonstration Projects that address dementia care for populations traditionally marginalized or underrepresented in clinical trials and those that promote health equity. It is anticipated that Demonstration Projects will be funded for up to $500,000 in direct costs for a maximum of 24-months.
The RFA is expected to be published in February 2021. Stay tuned for updates regarding the release of the RFA, an informational webinar and application deadline. If you have questions related to this funding opportunity, please contact IMPACTcollaboratory@hsl.harvard.edu. Additional details will be shared as they become available on the website at www.IMPACTcollaboratory.org.
Two Requests for Applications:
Career Development Award and Training Workshop & Retreat
Career Development Award
For scientists pursuing careers in embedded pragmatic clinical trials for people living with Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD) and their care partners.
Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 2:00 pm ET: Register here for webinar.
Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 2:00 pm ET: Register here for webinar.
Application Period Opens: January 18, 2021
Proposals Due: April 2, 2021
The NIA IMPACT Collaboratory (U54AG063546) is pleased to announce the request for applications for the 2021 IMPACT Career Development Award. We encourage applications from early-stage investigators interested in a research career that includes conducting embedded pragmatic clinical trials (ePCTs) of non-pharmacologic interventions within healthcare systems (HCS) for people living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD) and their care partners. The recent $300 million increase in National Institutes of Health funding for AD/ADRD research, reflects the urgency and opportunities for investigators focused in this area.
Conducting ePCTs in AD/ADRD within HCS requires unique research skills, yet the field is relatively nascent. The number of investigators capable of rigorously designing and executing ePCTs in partnership with HCS and other key stakeholders remains limited, and those that have intersecting expertise in AD/ADRD populations are even fewer. Thus, a critical objective of the IMPACT Collaboratory is to build the nation’s capacity to conduct impactful ePCTs in AD/ADRD by training a workforce of investigators prepared to carry on this work well into the future.
The IMPACT Collaboratory funds up to four career development awards (CDAs) annually. These CDAs seek to support the development of early-stage MD, PhD, or equivalent researchers who seek careers conducting ePCTs for people living with AD/ADRD and their care partners. The IMPACT Collaboratory prioritizes applications that address dementia care for people of all backgrounds and promote health equity. CDAs are funded for two years. Each award will provide $100,000 annually in direct costs with an indirect cost rate capped at 8%. Awardees are required to devote a minimum of 75% effort toward the goals of the award.
A set of frequently asked questions (FAQ) regarding this award is available online. Additionally, please email with any questions.
Training Workshoop and Retreat: Building Skills to Conduct Embedded Pragmatic Clinical Trials for People Living with Dementia and their Care Partners
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 from 1:30pm - 4:30pm ET
Thursday, April 8, 2021 from 10:00am - 4:30pm ET
The IMPACT Collaboratory will hold its first annual Training Workshop and Retreat, “Building Skills to Conduct Embedded Pragmatic Clinical Trials for People Living with Dementia (PLWD) and their Care Partners,” on April 7-8, 2021.
We are inviting applications from early to mid-career researchers who seek to develop competence in designing and conducting ePCTs of interventions to improve care for PWLD and their care partners. We anticipate accepting up to 25 participants to attend the workshop.
This virtual 1.5-day workshop and retreat will provide a foundation in practical aspects of designing and conducting ePCTs in AD/ADRD through a combination of panel discussions, small group sessions, and networking opportunities with experts in the field. Workshop modules will focus on healthcare systems, implementation science, and study design.
Participants will gain knowledge in ePCT design and method, problem-solve challenges faced in current or planned projects, and network and engage with the larger community of IMPACT investigators. Throughout the program, special attention will be paid to key considerations in design, implementation, and monitoring ePCTs of PLWD and care partners to ensure health equity.
Successful applicants will be expected to complete selected readings and online training prior to the workshop. Please note that all participants will be expected to attend and participate in the entire 1.5-day IMPACT Collaboratory Training Workshop and Retreat.
Visit here for more information and to apply.
February 23-24, 2021
The problems facing our older population are complex and it is unlikely that solutions will be found applying a single field’s methods and approaches. With this in mind, the goal of the NIA’s Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) is to bring together scientists from the 6 NIA Centers programs to foster cross-center collaborations around issues important to the health and well-being of older adults. Part of this mission involves hosting a series of workshops to discuss issues related to aging and improving the health of older adults.
This RCCN virtual workshop will include sessions on aspects of including older adults in clinical research including the Current Situation, Barriers - Real and Perceived, Making the Case, and Best Practices for Reaching Out to Colleagues. Review the current draft of the agenda here.
This workshop will be held as a webinar, and registration is free and open to the public.