NIA’s Role in the NIH HEAL Initiative

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NIA is playing a major role in the NIH’s The Helping to End Addiction Long-term^SM Initiative (HEAL), a trans-agency effort focused on improving prevention and treatment strategies for opioid misuse and addiction, and enhancing pain management. Launched in April 2018 with funding from Congress , the NIH HEAL Initiative^SM brings new hope for people, families, and communities affected by the national opioid public health crisis.

NIA-Supported HEAL Initiative Projects

NIA is managing the following HEAL research projects:

Assessing chronic pain using brain entropy mapping

Using large existing data, this project will examine temporal coherence of brain activity in chronic pain and will use it to build a deep learning model to predict chronic pain.

Using Secondary Analyses to Test Novel Pathways Linking Family Stress and Pain Incidence and Persistence Among African Americans

This study will use information from existing projects on aging health to test novel family-stress pathways to pain, and how these are potentiated by multiple types of structural disadvantage. This research is essential to inform the development of culturally-responsive, family-based pain self-management interventions for aging African Americans, and to ultimately ameliorate pain disparities for this minoritized group.

Tailored Non-Pharmacotherapy Services for Chronic Pain: Testing Scalable and Pragmatic Approaches

Through this multicenter comparative effectiveness trial , scientists are examining the effectiveness of a web-based cognitive-behavioral therapy for chronic pain program compared to a live, coach-led, virtual (telephone and/or video conference) program. Both intervention arms will be compared to usual care. The researchers are evaluating differences in participants’ pain severity and quality of life, and other goals include examining the cost and cost-effectiveness of the interventions. Learn more about this research project on the NIH HEAL website .

Subchondral Bone Cavities in Osteoarthritis Pain

This preclinical study is aimed at examining mechanisms of osteoarthritic disease progression in mice and the potential effects of a novel therapeutic that specifically targets a layer of bone in the knee joint.

Non-pharmacological Options in Postoperative Hospital-based and Rehabilitation Pain Management (NOHARM)

Designed to promote uptake of non-drug pain care approaches, this pragmatic clinical trial is focused on assessing the feasibility and effectiveness of an evidence-based, pain management intervention embedded in patients’ electronic health records. The intervention includes conversation guides and clinical decision support tools that consider a patient’s preferences for complementary health treatments for pain prior to their surgery.

Binding NF-B essential modulator (NEMO) to Treat Surgical Pain

Surgical pain is a major clinical problem requiring new non-opioid treatment strategies. This project aims to develop a compound that regulates gene expression to limit surgical pain. The study may ultimately provide a non-opioid drug to treat surgical pain while also more broadly uncovering how specific genetic modulators contribute to inflammatory pain.

Current NIA-Supported HEAL Funding Opportunities

NOFO Number	Title	Release Date	Expiration Date
RFA-AT-25-003	HEAL Initiative: Pain Research Enhancement Program (PREP) (R15 Clinical Trial Optional)	01/08/2025	11/23/2026
RFA-NS-25-023	HEAL Initiative: Studies to Enable Analgesic Discovery (R61/R33 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)	09/18/2024	01/15/2027
PAR-24-217	NIH HEAL Initiative Pain Care Clinician Training Program (PCTP): Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Awards (K08 - Clinical Trials Required)	06/27/2024	07/12/2027
PAR-24-218	NIH HEAL Initiative Pain Care Clinician Training Program (PCTP): Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Awards [K08 - Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH) Required]	06/28/2024	07/12/2027
PAR-24-219	NIH HEAL Initiative Pain Care Clinician Training Program (PCTP): Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Awards (K08 - Clinical Trials Not Allowed)	06/28/2024	07/12/2027
PAR-24-220	NIH HEAL Initiative Pain Care Clinician Training Program (PCTP): Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23 - Clinical Trial Required)	06/28/2024	07/12/2027
PAR-25-154	HEAL Initiative Early-Stage Discovery of New Pain Targets Within the Understudied Druggable Proteome (R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)	12/11/2024	07/16/2026

Find All NIH HEAL Initiative Funding Opportunities .

Related Resources

• NIH Pain Consortium
• NIH Centers of Excellence in Pain Education
• NIH Pain Research Center
• NIH Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures program (A2CPS)
• Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee
• Federal Pain Research Strategy
• National Pain Strategy
• Interagency Pain Research Portfolio
• NIH-DOD-VA Pain Management Collaboratory

Contact US

To learn more about NIA’s participation in the HEAL Initiative, email Dave Frankowski at dave.frankowski@nih.gov or email Alexis Bakos at alexis.bakos@nia.nih.gov .