Help NIH Advance Rheumatic Heart Disease Research

NIAID, alongside the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), issued a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Advancing Rheumatic Heart Disease Research to call for research proposals across the translational science spectrum (e.g., basic science, clinical research, and implementation and dissemination studies) to advance Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) research within endemic settings.

Currently, there is a critical need to reduce RHD burden within low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as well as low-resource settings in high-income countries. Discovering innovative methods and strategies will support the eradication of RHD, which remains endemic in LMICs and low-resource settings.

Research Objectives  

Generally, NIAID and NHLBI are interested in the following areas of interest:

• Primordial prevention proposals assessing modifiable social determinants of health impacting RHD burden and the development and testing of Group A streptococcus (GAS) vaccines.
• Primary prevention proposals to study the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of GAS infections and subsequent Acute Rheumatic Fever (ARF) episodes.
• Secondary prevention proposals to study the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of persons with established RHD to prevent disease progression (including long-term penicillin prophylaxis).
• Tertiary care proposals focused on the management of complications of RHD, including surgery and palliative care.

Additionally, applicants can also propose ancillary studies to address research questions for which a parent study can provide participants, infrastructure, and data. Ancillary studies should include collection of new information, compatible timelines (e.g., timeline of parent study needs to be compatible with the ancillary study timeline), Letters of Support, and a clear research strategy aimed at increasing the knowledge base related to GAS/ARF/RHD.

NIAID and NHLBI are especially interested in applications that focus on the following areas of research interest. You can find a longer list of example topics in the NOSI:

• Assesses the pathophysiology and development of GAS/ARF/RHD and related complications.
• Longitudinal and follow-up studies evaluating GAS/ARF/RHD disease progression in endemic settings.
• Develops and tests novel vaccines or vaccine platforms for broad protection against GAS infections.
• Identifies correlates of protection in appropriate preclinical models or human specimens.
• Develops innovative, early, and economic point-of-care diagnostics and therapeutics that are contextually appropriate and feasible to improve health outcomes in endemic settings.

NIAID in particular seeks studies that propose to achieve the following objectives:

• Evaluate and test novel GAS vaccines.
• Assess the pathophysiology, natural history, diagnosis, or treatment of GAS infections.
• Study vaccine-related host immune mechanisms and responses.
• Focus on GAS-related responses only. Other topics such as HIV/AIDS are considered nonresponsive.

Application and Submission Information

This notice applies to due dates on or after February 5, 2024, and subsequent receipt dates through January 7, 2027. Apply to this initiative using one of the three notices of funding opportunity (NOFOs) below, or any reissues of these announcements through the expiration date of this notice.

• NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01, Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• Research Project Grant (Parent R01, Clinical Trial Required)
• Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R01, Clinical Trial Optional)

This NOSI expires on January 8, 2027; thus, no applications will be accepted on or after that date.

You must follow all instructions in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide and in the NOFO through which you apply. Be sure to include “NOT-HL-23-106” (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF 424 R&R form. Applications that do not include this information in box 4B will not be considered for this initiative.

Contact Information