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NIA is deeply committed to supporting and conducting research on aging that improves the health and well-being of all people. Therefore, it is critical that NIA’s funding determinations prioritize the advancement of science that appropriately represents, in terms of race, ethnicity, sex, age, and comorbidity, the population affected by the condition being studied.
Inclusivity within clinical research is fundamental to ensuring that research findings can be generalizable to the entire population, and NIA’s commitment is well-aligned within the NIH expectations. NIH is mandated by the Public Health Service Act to ensure the inclusion of women and members of racial and ethnic minority groups, and the NIH Inclusion Across the Lifespan Policy states that individuals of all ages must be included in all clinical research. Both requirements stipulate that clinical trials must be designed to effectively analyze whether study outcomes differ for women, race/ethnicity groups, and by age, and that knowledge gained from NIH-funded research is applicable to all those affected by the researched diseases/conditions.
While NIA will continue to ensure an appropriate portfolio balance of studies focused on the early stages of discovery, a key priority will be interventional clinical trials that are adequately inclusive of the affected population. As outlined in NIA’s National Strategy for Recruitment and Participation in Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias Clinical Research , increasing the participation of traditionally underrepresented populations in clinical research — such that research hypotheses can be adequately tested relative to these populations — is essential to meeting our research goals.
Moving forward, NIA will prioritize funding requests with proposed planned enrollment that are 1) representative of the population affected by the disease, condition, or health experience; and 2) appropriately inclusive of racial and ethnic groups; participants across the lifespan; as well as other populations experiencing health disparities, including sexual and gender minority, persons with disabilities, or socioeconomically disadvantaged and geographically underrepresented populations.
To support our inclusion and diversity goals, NIA recently initiated several relevant projects. For example, our Clinical Research Operations and Management System (CROMS) provides NIA staff and awardees the ability, in real time, to track clinical research enrollment and inclusion data. This information may facilitate efforts to revise methods as needed to achieve the study’s target goals. NIA also developed OutreachPro , a free-to-users online platform designed to help investigators efficiently create customized materials to support recruitment. The NIA Health Disparities Research Framework is a resource for scientists that includes levels of analysis related to disparities and a list of nine priority populations.
NIA remains dedicated to broadening our understanding of the challenges of health disparities and to fostering health equity throughout our scientific activities and awards while maintaining the highest level of stewardship of research funding. We believe this guidance on inclusion positions us to further address these vital commitments.
Diversity Funding Opportunities 2023-11-01T00:00:00Z