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Publication Date - 12/3/1999

23. NIH/NIEHS/NIA/NIAMS/NICHD/NIMH/NIOSH & OBSSR - Health Disparities: Linking Biological and Behavioral Mechanisms with Social and Physical Environments

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute on Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) invite research to strengthen the science base for achieving the goals of the President's Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health. Through this initiative, the NIH seeks to clarify biological, social, and behavioral processes that lead to health disparities stemming from the interaction of social and physical environments and SES as a basis for ultimately developing intervention strategies.

This Request for Applications (RFA) will support research activities that elucidate the underlying mechanisms by which the interaction of SES and physical and social exposures lead to disparate health outcomes. A Community Outreach and Education Program (COEP) is required for each application.

The following areas illustrate suitable topics for research:

• examination of the role of SES, environmental and/or occupational exposures as determinants of health disparities over the life course;
• analysis of the interaction between race/ethnicity, social and physical environments and SES;
• assessment of the consequences of interactions between social constructs (e.g., family, peers, neighborhoods and workplace environments) and physical environments on health outcomes related to SES;
• evaluation of the impact of workplace environments on workers within SES strata;
• assessment of how SES, social and physical environments in indivduals, homes, the community and at the workplace interact with pschosocial stressors to affect allostatic load and thus impact health;
• elucidation of multiple pathways by which SES influences social and physical environments and consequently health;
• examination of multigenerational effects of the social environment and physical exposures to investigate links between exposures and health responses;
• research in the development of strategies to reduce/eliminate health disparities influenced by the interaction of the social and physical environments.

The mechanism of support for all of the Institutes participating in this RFA will be the NIH research project grant (RO1). The NIH and NIOSH intend to commit approximately $5 million in FY 2000 to fund up to 10 awards. An applicant may request a project period of up to five years and a budget for direct costs of up to $400,000 per year. The earliest anticipated award date is September 29, 2000.

A Letter of Intent to Apply is requested to arrive at the NIEHS on or before JANUARY 25, 2000. Applications are due at the NIH Center for Scientific Review on or before APRIL 26, 2000.

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