HEAL Initiative: Coordinating Center to Support NIDA Preventing Opioid Use Disorder in Older Adolescents and Young Adults (ages 1630) Initiative (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA DA 19 034

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DA 19 034

This funding opportunity (RFA-DA-19-034) is a National Institutes of Health award from the Department of Health and Human Services, administered through NIDA, under the broader HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative. It supports one single Coordinating Center using a U24 cooperative agreement mechanism, meaning the funded organization would work closely with NIDA in a collaborative, substantial-involvement partnership rather than operating entirely independently. The focus is specifically on preventing opioid misuse and opioid use disorder among older adolescents and young adults ages 16 to 30, and the announcement explicitly indicates that clinical trials are not allowed under this award.

The core purpose is not to run a standalone prevention study, but to build the backbone infrastructure that helps multiple HEAL prevention research projects function as a coherent, aligned program. In practical terms, the Coordinating Center is expected to formalize and centralize support across the initiative so that individual grantees are not working in silos. A major part of that role is data coordination: developing and managing common data elements, supporting data harmonization so findings can be compared or pooled across projects, and enabling data sharing across projects in ways that are methodologically sound and operationally feasible. This includes the kind of behind-the-scenes work that makes multi-site or multi-project research interpretable at the initiative level, such as standardized definitions, consistent measures, shared protocols for data formatting and transfer, and coordination around data governance and access.

Beyond data infrastructure, the Coordinating Center is expected to provide methodological and analytic support to the initiative. That includes consultation and assistance with study design, complex statistical analyses, economic analyses, and implementation research. The intent here is to raise the overall rigor and comparability of the prevention portfolio by giving projects access to centralized expertise, especially for advanced analytic needs and cross-project synthesis. Implementation research coordination is specifically called out, signaling that the initiative is concerned not only with whether prevention approaches work, but also with how they can be delivered in real-world settings and sustained through systems and partnerships that interact with adolescents and young adults.

The opportunity also places heavy emphasis on coordination and engagement. The Coordinating Center is responsible for organizing stakeholder and partnership engagement activities, which can include aligning researchers with community partners, service systems, educational institutions, healthcare organizations, and other local or national stakeholders relevant to the 16-30 population. In addition, it must develop and coordinate an initiative-wide publication and dissemination plan, helping ensure that results are communicated consistently and strategically, and that lessons learned are translated into usable outputs for both scientific and practitioner audiences. This is paired with logistical responsibilities such as planning and running in-person meetings, conference calls, and webinars that bring together HEAL prevention grantees, funders, and stakeholders, effectively serving as the convening hub for the initiative.

Another notable expectation is that the Coordinating Center will assist in collecting and organizing information on the epidemiology and context of opioid misuse and OUD risk in the target populations and settings. The announcement highlights prevalence and incidence, as well as risk factors, protective factors, and contextual factors. This suggests a role in helping the initiative maintain an up-to-date, evidence-informed picture of where risk is concentrated, what conditions shape vulnerability or resilience, and how settings such as schools, communities, healthcare environments, justice-involved contexts, or other youth/young adult-serving systems may influence prevention opportunities. The point of this work is to inform and sharpen the prevention research projects supported under HEAL, helping them align with emerging trends and real-world conditions.

Administratively, the award is a discretionary cooperative agreement with an expected single award (ExpectedAwards: 1) and an annual award ceiling listed at $1,500,000. Eligibility is broad and includes various levels of government (state, county, city/township, special districts), tribal governments and tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, K-12 school districts, public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (with or without 501(c)(3) status), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and other entities as described in the full announcement. The original posting date was December 10, 2018, with an original closing date of March 13, 2019, and the opportunity is associated with multiple CFDA numbers (93.213, 93.242, 93.273, 93.279, 93.865), reflecting NIH/NIDA programmatic alignment across related health and research assistance authorities.

In short, this FOA funds a single, centralized Coordinating Center to unify and strengthen NIDA’s HEAL prevention research portfolio for ages 16-30 by standardizing and harmonizing data, enabling cross-project sharing and synthesis, providing high-level methodological and analytic support (including economic and implementation-focused work), actively convening partners and stakeholders, and driving coordinated dissemination of findings. The emphasis is on infrastructure, coordination, and initiative-level support functions that make a multi-project prevention effort more efficient, comparable, and impactful, rather than on conducting a clinical trial or operating as a single research site.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health in the education, health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "HEAL Initiative: Coordinating Center to Support NIDA Preventing Opioid Use Disorder in Older Adolescents and Young Adults (ages 1630) Initiative (U24 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): 93.213, 93.242, 93.273, 93.279, 93.865.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 10, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 13, 2019. (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 $1,500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• 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 (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for RFA DA 19 034

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