NIH AWARDING ALMOST $700 MILLION FOR CLINICAL RESEARCH

The NIH will award almost $700 million in research grants to 12 academic health centers between Oct. 1, 2006, and June 30, 2011, roughly $100 million of that in the nine-month period ending June 30, 2007.

This is part of a new program called the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs). When fully implemented in 2012, the program will provide $500 million annually to 60 academic health centers. The money does not come from new appropriations; it is redirected funding from existing clinical and translational programs, including the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research.

The initial $100 million comes from fiscal 2006 appropriations, even though the research activity is taking place in fiscal 2007, said Ann Puderbaugh, public affairs specialist with the National Center for Research Resources, a part of the NIH that is heading up the effort. The initial funding period ends June 30 so that the new funding can begin well before the end of fiscal 2007, Puderbaugh explained.

The 12 initial grant recipients are Columbia University Health Sciences, Duke University, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, The Rockefeller University, University of California, Davis, University of California, San Francisco, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, University of Rochester, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Yale University.

The NIH has issued a second Request for Applications (RFA) for CTSAs with a deadline of Jan. 17, 2007. The next round of awards is expected in the fall of 2007. The RFA is available at grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-07-002.html (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-07-002.html).