Major Opportunities for Research in Epidemiology of Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Resilience (R01) | PAR 15 356

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 15 356

Major Opportunities for Research in Epidemiology of Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Resilience (R01) (PAR-15-356) is a National Institutes of Health grant opportunity, administered through the National Institute on Aging (NIA), that supports investigator-initiated research focused on the epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and on factors that protect cognitive health or contribute to cognitive resilience. The core idea is to fund rigorous population-based research that helps explain who develops AD, why risk differs across groups, how risk changes over time, and what biological, social, behavioral, and environmental factors may reduce risk or delay impairment. The FOA is broad in scope, welcoming projects across cognitive epidemiology as well as genetics and genomics as they relate to AD.

A major emphasis is on strengthening and extending existing longitudinal cohort studies, rather than starting from scratch, especially when those enhancements can push the field toward more precise, individualized approaches to prevention and risk prediction (often described as precision medicine). The announcement highlights several high-priority directions: adding new data collection elements or follow-up waves to established cohorts; increasing statistical power and representativeness in multi-ethnic cohorts to better understand disparities and population differences; examining trends in AD risk over time and testing explanations for those trends using plausible risk and protective factors; and expanding biospecimen resources by collecting and sequencing DNA from well-characterized AD cases and appropriate controls. In addition, NIA signals interest in practical infrastructure work that makes studies more useful to the wider research community, including electronic archiving of cohort data, harmonization of complex datasets relevant to AD, and harmonization of dementia assessments to improve cross-national comparisons. Taken together, these priorities point to research that is not only hypothesis-driven, but also designed to improve comparability, reproducibility, and the ability to combine evidence across studies and countries.

The funding mechanism is the NIH R01, meaning it is intended for substantial, multi-year research projects led by a principal investigator, with budgets and timelines appropriate for large epidemiologic and cohort-based work. The program sits within the NIH health research funding category and is associated with CFDA number 93.866. The opportunity was created on 2015-09-24, and the original closing date listed is 2019-01-07 (so applicants would need to verify whether the FOA is still active, has been reissued, or has been superseded by a newer announcement).

Eligibility is broad and includes many U.S.-based organization types that commonly apply for NIH funding: state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled colleges and universities; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. The FOA explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant types often emphasized in NIH participation and capacity-building efforts, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, the announcement is clear about restrictions on foreign involvement: non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components (as defined in NIH policy) are not allowed.

In practical terms, this FOA is aimed at building stronger evidence on AD risk and resilience by leveraging long-running cohorts, improving diversity and representation, integrating genetics/genomics with high-quality clinical and cognitive phenotyping, and making data more interoperable across studies. It is designed to support work that can clarify modifiable risk and protective factors, improve the quality and comparability of dementia measurement, and create research resources that accelerate future discoveries in Alzheimer's epidemiology and prevention.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Major Opportunities for Research in Epidemiology of Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Resilience (R01)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2015-09-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-01-07. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

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