Exploratory/Developmental Surgical Disparities Research (R21 Clinical Trial Optional) | PAR 18 289

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 18 289

The Exploratory/Developmental Surgical Disparities Research opportunity (PAR 18-289) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) R21 grant program designed to spark early-stage, exploratory work that helps explain and reduce disparities in surgical care and surgical outcomes. It targets gaps that disproportionately affect minority and other health disparity populations, with an emphasis on understanding why inequities occur across the surgical care continuum (for example, access to evaluation, referral patterns, preoperative optimization, procedure selection, perioperative management, postoperative follow-up, complications, and longer-term recovery). The FOA is specifically oriented toward developmental projects that can generate actionable evidence, produce preliminary data, and lay the groundwork for larger, more definitive studies.

A central theme of the announcement is moving beyond describing disparities and instead testing or exploring solutions. Applicants are encouraged to study the effectiveness of clinical interventions intended to reduce surgical disparities, including approaches that can be implemented in real-world settings. The FOA highlights multi-level strategies, meaning projects should consider factors operating at more than one layer of influence, such as patient-level barriers (language, health literacy, transportation, trust), clinician and care-team factors (decision-making, bias, communication, adherence to guidelines), institutional processes (care pathways, scheduling, staffing, availability of specialty services), and broader system-level features (insurance design, referral networks, regionalization, quality metrics, and policy). While clinical trials are optional under this announcement, the funding language supports intervention-oriented research where appropriate.

This is a discretionary grant program under NIH, categorized within education and health-related federal assistance and associated with CFDA numbers 93.307, 93.313, 93.395, 93.399, and 93.846. The listed award ceiling is $200,000, reflecting the smaller, exploratory nature typical of an R21 mechanism, where the goal is to enable innovative pilot work rather than fund full-scale implementation at national breadth. The original closing date shown in the source information is June 7, 2019, and the opportunity record indicates a creation date of November 30, 2017.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of domestic organizations and government entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; Native American tribal governments (federally recognized); public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; and Native American tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments. The FOA also allows nonprofits (both with and without 501(c)(3) status, as long as they are not institutions of higher education) and for-profit organizations other than small businesses, as well as small businesses and other types of applicants. In addition, NIH explicitly calls out a range of mission-aligned institutions and community-facing organizations as eligible, 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, eligible federal agencies, tribal governments other than federally recognized entities, and applicants located in a U.S. territory or possession.

The announcement draws a clear boundary around foreign participation. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply as the primary applicant organization, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible to apply. However, foreign components are allowed when they meet NIH’s definition in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, meaning a U.S.-based applicant can include certain international elements or collaborations as part of the project when well-justified and compliant with NIH policy.

Overall, this FOA supports creative, early-phase surgical health equity research that is practical and intervention-minded. It is geared toward projects that can identify modifiable drivers of surgical disparities and test multi-level strategies that health systems and institutions could realistically adopt, ultimately helping to build a stronger evidence base for improving equity in surgical care and outcomes.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Exploratory/Developmental Surgical Disparities Research (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.307, 93.313, 93.395, 93.399, 93.846.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-11-30.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-06-07. (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 $200,000.00 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 PAR 18 289

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