Behavioral and Social Research on the Role of Immigration on Life Course Health and Aging, including AD/ADRD?(R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA AG 24 028

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AG 24 028

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity RFA-AG-24-028, titled "Behavioral and Social Research on the Role of Immigration on Life Course Health and Aging, including AD/ADRD (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)," supports research that explains how immigration-related experiences shape health and aging outcomes over time. The central aim is to generate stronger behavioral and social science evidence on why health disparities emerge among first-generation immigrant populations in the United States, with a specific emphasis on middle-aged and older adults. The NOFO is especially interested in studies focused on Latino/a, Black, Asian, and other first-generation immigrant groups, and it encourages investigators to examine the mechanisms that operate at multiple levels, including structural forces, community contexts, and interpersonal relationships, across the life course.

A key theme of the announcement is the need to move beyond simple comparisons of immigrant versus non-immigrant health and instead identify the pathways that produce different outcomes as people age. The NOFO highlights structural mechanisms such as policies, legal status-related constraints, discrimination, labor market conditions, and access to healthcare and social services; community mechanisms such as neighborhood opportunity, social cohesion, ethnic enclaves, local resources, and exposure to environmental stressors; and interpersonal mechanisms such as family roles, caregiving expectations, social support, intergenerational relationships, and experiences of bias in daily interactions. Projects should be designed to show how these factors accumulate, interact, and change over time, ultimately influencing chronic disease risk, functional decline, mental health, disability, mortality, and broader measures of healthy aging.

In addition to general life course health and aging, the NOFO explicitly invites research that connects immigration to Alzheimers disease and Alzheimers disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD). This includes work that clarifies whether and how immigration-related exposures across the life span affect cognitive aging, dementia risk, symptom recognition, diagnostic pathways, access to specialist care, caregiving burdens, and long-term outcomes. It also encourages applicants to tackle practical and scientific barriers in this area, such as gaps in available data, difficulties measuring immigration experiences consistently, and challenges in applying existing dementia research methods to immigrant and linguistically diverse populations. In other words, proposals can focus not only on substantive questions about risk and resilience, but also on the data infrastructure and methodological innovations needed to study these relationships well.

This is an R01 mechanism, meaning it is intended for mature, well-developed research projects rather than early exploratory work, and it is labeled "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," indicating that applicants should not propose clinical trial designs under this announcement. For investigators with high-risk/high-payoff ideas that are earlier stage and may not have extensive preliminary data, NIH points to a companion opportunity, RFA-AG-24-029, which uses the R21 Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant mechanism and is generally a better fit for more preliminary or proof-of-concept projects.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of organizations and institutions. Eligible applicants include state, county, city, township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with and without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) as well as small businesses; and other entities. The NOFO also explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant types such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based and community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions. It also allows non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations), reflecting an openness to international collaborations or foreign-based applicants where appropriate.

Administratively, the opportunity is categorized as a discretionary grant in the health activity area under CFDA 93.866 and is sponsored by NIH, with an original closing date listed as 2023-11-03. The award ceiling is shown as $500,000, signaling that budgets are expected to be within that upper limit as defined by the announcement. Overall, NIH is looking for rigorous, innovative projects that can explain how immigration-related exposures and contexts shape aging trajectories and contribute to disparities, while also improving the tools and data approaches needed to study immigration, cognitive aging, and AD/ADRD in diverse immigrant populations.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Behavioral and Social Research on the Role of Immigration on Life Course Health and Aging, including AD/ADRD?(R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" 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 2023-08-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-11-03. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• 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.

Apply for RFA AG 24 028

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