Consortium for Palliative Care Research Across the Lifespan (U54 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA AG 25 002

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AG 25 002

The NIH funding opportunity titled "Consortium for Palliative Care Research Across the Lifespan (U54 Clinical Trial Optional)" (RFA-AG-25-002) supports the creation of a U54 Specialized Center, referred to as a Consortium, designed to strengthen and coordinate palliative care research nationally. The central purpose is to build shared research infrastructure and provide resources, expertise, and coordination that can accelerate innovative, high-quality studies focused on palliative care for people living with serious illness at any age. The scope is intentionally broad and includes research relevant to Alzheimers disease and Alzheimers disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD), cancer, and other serious illnesses aligned with the missions of participating NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices.

A major rationale behind the program is that NIH already funds many palliative care research projects across different ICOs, but the field still lacks a unifying structure that can connect those efforts, reduce duplication, promote collaboration, and address persistent scientific and practical gaps. This Consortium model is meant to leverage synergies across funded projects and stakeholders, serve as a coordinating hub for the field, and help standardize and disseminate methods, resources, and best practices that make palliative care research more efficient, rigorous, and impactful.

The goals of the initiative emphasize both generating new scientific knowledge and improving the capacity of the research ecosystem. One key mechanism for generating new knowledge is support for pilot and exploratory studies, which are intended to spark new ideas and seed larger future projects. Another major emphasis is workforce development, specifically fostering the growth of early- and mid-career palliative care investigators. In practice, this means the Consortium is expected to function as a national platform that helps investigators access mentorship, methodological support, and collaborative networks, while also helping to expand the pipeline of researchers equipped to conduct high-quality palliative care studies across diverse populations and settings.

The NOFO also highlights strong expectations around partnership and real-world relevance. Applicants are expected to facilitate palliative care research that actively engages healthcare systems and community-based organizations as research partners and as settings where studies can be conducted. This points to an implementation-oriented approach, where research is designed to work in the environments where patients and families actually receive care, rather than being limited to narrowly controlled academic settings. Alongside this, the Consortium is expected to disseminate research findings and practical outputs, including best practices, data, and other resources that can be used by both research and clinical communities.

A particularly important focus is on health equity. The Consortium is expected to facilitate research that improves understanding of, and solutions to, disparities in access to palliative care, the quality of services delivered, and patterns of palliative care use. The NOFO explicitly calls out health disparities populations and underserved areas, signaling that research questions, recruitment strategies, partnerships, and dissemination plans should be designed with equity in mind and should produce actionable knowledge that can reduce gaps in palliative care delivery and outcomes.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary funding opportunity issued by the National Institutes of Health using the cooperative agreement mechanism, meaning NIH anticipates substantial involvement in the program as it is carried out. The funding instrument is a U54 Specialized Center award, and clinical trials are optional under this NOFO, allowing applicants to propose either clinical trial or non-clinical trial activities as appropriate to the Consortiums mission and planned projects. The original application closing date listed is July 2, 2024, and the opportunity is associated with multiple CFDA numbers (93.242, 93.361, 93.393, 93.853, 93.865, 93.866), reflecting participation across different NIH components.

Eligibility is broad and includes many U.S.-based organization types, such as state and local governments, public and private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments, tribal organizations, nonprofits (including those with and without 501(c)(3) status), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), and small businesses. The NOFO also highlights additional eligible applicant categories commonly tied to serving historically underserved communities, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs), as well as faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, though foreign components, as defined by NIH policy, are allowed.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Consortium for Palliative Care Research Across the Lifespan (U54 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.242, 93.361, 93.393, 93.853, 93.865, 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-02-21.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-07-02. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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 RFA AG 25 002

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