Supplement Awards to Link Big Data and the Impact of COVID-19 on People Living with Dementia

The NIA IMPACT Collaboratory has been awarded two COVID-19 Supplements partnering with major retail pharmacies to create a massive monitoring system of the long-term safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination on people with AD/ADRD.

These two studies are: Monitoring Medicare Beneficiaries' Response to COVID vaccines (CVS Project) This project established an active post-vaccination surveillance system of a large population to track and report safety and outcomes related to SARS-CoV-2 vaccine(s). Working jointly with CVS Health and the Medicare & Medicaid Resource Information Center (MedRIC) at Acumen, LLC, the project established a data infrastructure to monitor the effects of COVID-19 vaccines administered to Medicare beneficiaries by CVS across the country. Data transfers from the national retail pharmacy chain are merged with Medicare data. The resulting data base is analyzed to identify demographic, race/ethnicity, clinical (e.g., ADRD), and health care system factors associated with being vaccinated, estimate the rate of adverse events attributable to the vaccine and estimate breakthrough COVID illness among vaccinated Medicare beneficiaries. This program provides the basis for assessing mid- to long-term safety and efficacy of the different vaccines being distributed for use in the elderly population in the country. Medicare Match for post-vaccination monitoring (Walgreens) This project builds on the researchers’ partnership with CVS to establish a data infrastructure to monitor the effects of COVID-19 vaccines administered to Medicare beneficiaries by CVS across the country. The goal of this project is to add data from Walgreen’s 13,231,175 million Medicare beneficiary pharmacy customers to the existing infrastructure which will increase the research team’s capacity to track immediate and long term effects of vaccination on nearly half the population of Medicare beneficiaries. The need for a larger study population is particularly important because those with ADRD already suffering from neurodegenerative diseases may be at greater risk of serious neurological adverse events of vaccines. In addition, the unknown potential for adverse events may result in high rates of incomplete vaccination (both shots) among older adults. Such uncertainty contributes to vaccine hesitancy and may result in large disparities in SARS-CoV-2 vaccination among racial/ethnic groups, for which disparities in seasonal influenza vaccination already exist. To learn more about these studies, visit this page on Building Infrastructure Supplement Awards, and the press release from Brown University at this link.

New York Regional Center for Diabetes Translation Research Pilot and Feasibility Program

The New York Regional Center for Diabetes Translation Research (NY-CDTR) announces the availability of Pilot and Feasibility (P&F) funding for preliminary studies to support planned extramural funding applications (NIH preferred) for diabetes-related translational research. Secondary analyses of existing, pertinent large data sets, which can lead to external funding, are a priority. Budget requests can be up to $50,000/year for one-year grant proposals, or up to $25,000/year for 2 years. For 2021-2022, meritorious proposals for $50,000/year for 2 years will also be considered, with a maximum of one award being granted. A 2nd year of funding is always contingent on progress and available program funding. Proposals should use translational research methods such as: implementation or dissemination science, natural experiment methods, as well as quantitative or qualitative methods to investigate how to improve diabetes prevention or care and outcomes at the individual, group, health system or population level. Applications involving research in diabetes/obesity across the life span, population health, health systems, or natural experiments are strongly encouraged. Translation research focused on Latinos/Hispanics, health disparities, and social determinants of health is of particular interest. P&F funds may supplement ongoing funded research projects (e.g., K awards), but non-overlap must be clearly demonstrated in the proposal. The NY-CDTR website (www.nycdtr.org) provides information re: core resources and services available to awardees to support their pilot study. ELIGIBILITY: Must hold the rank of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) or higher at the time of the award. This program is designed to support (in order of priority): 1) New investigators, early stage investigators (ESIs), and under-represented minority investigators (URMiR) with interests in diabetes and/or obesity. In this category are investigators shifting from mentor-based research to an independent career. Meritorious proposals from these investigators receive the highest priority for funding. 2) Established investigators, in other research areas or cross-disciplinary research, who wish to apply their expertise to diabetes or obesity. High-risk, high-reward proposals receive priority. 3) NY-CDTR members who wish to explore a new area of innovative research that constitutes a substantive departure from their previous or ongoing externally funded diabetes research.

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NIA Research and Entrepreneurial Development Immersion: Mentored Entrepreneurial Career Development

The purpose of the NIA Research and Entrepreneurial Development Immersion (REDI): Mentored Entrepreneurial Career Development Award is to provide support and protected time (three to five years) for an intensive, supervised career development experience in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences leading to research independence. This specific K01 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) includes entrepreneurial training and career development opportunities for early-career academic scientists as part of its translational research and supervised career development activities. This program will provide support and protected time for a broad set of supervised career development activities to prepare awardees for a multitude of career options including research and teaching faculty, as well as entrepreneurial, industry, science policy, and research administration positions. Entrepreneurship training and the research activities proposed would both be considered major components of the award. NIA invites K01 applications from experienced postdoctoral (two years minimum) and/or recently appointed junior faculty (usually with a Ph.D. degree) in biomedical, social, or behavioral sciences who are interested in entrepreneurial training and are pursuing careers in research areas supported by NIA.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is designed specifically for candidates proposing research that does not involve leading an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or an ancillary clinical trial. Under this FOA, candidates are permitted to propose a research experience in a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor.

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