Population Health Interventions: Integrating Individual and Group Level Evidence (R01) - Clinical Trial Optional | PA 18 385

Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 18 385

Population Health Interventions: Integrating Individual and Group Level Evidence (R01) - Clinical Trial Optional (PA-18-385) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) discretionary grant opportunity designed to fund research that moves beyond traditional clinical or biological approaches and tests interventions at the population level. The central idea is that improving health and lowering disease burden often requires addressing upstream drivers of health, such as social, economic, and environmental conditions, rather than focusing only on individual behaviors or medical treatment. This announcement supports multilevel, transdisciplinary intervention research that integrates evidence from both individual-level and group- or community-level data to produce measurable improvements in health outcomes.

The FOA emphasizes interventions that operate across multiple levels of influence, for example combining individual services (like screening, counseling, or care navigation) with changes in organizations, neighborhoods, policies, or systems that shape risk and access (such as housing conditions, food environments, transportation, education, employment supports, environmental exposures, or health care delivery structures). The intent is to encourage research teams to bring together expertise from different disciplines, which could include public health, medicine, behavioral science, economics, sociology, environmental health, implementation science, health services research, urban planning, education, and policy. Because it is an R01 mechanism, the expectation is for a substantial, hypothesis-driven project with rigorous design and strong analytic plans that can produce generalizable evidence about what works, for whom, and under what conditions.

Clinical trial participation is optional, meaning applicants may propose projects that do or do not meet the NIH definition of a clinical trial. This provides flexibility for studies that evaluate population health strategies using experimental or quasi-experimental designs, natural experiments, pragmatic approaches, systems-level interventions, or community-engaged models, depending on the research question and context. The overarching goal is to generate actionable evidence on how to implement and sustain effective population health interventions and how to link individual-level outcomes to broader group-level change.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of domestic organizations and governments: state governments, counties, cities or townships, special district governments, independent school districts, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, federally recognized Native American tribal governments, and tribal organizations other than federally recognized governments. Eligible applicants also include public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education in those categories), for-profit organizations other than small businesses, and small businesses. The announcement also explicitly highlights additional eligible applicant types such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions; Asian American, Native American, and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs); Hispanic-serving Institutions; Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs); faith-based or community-based organizations; eligible federal agencies; regional organizations; U.S. territories or possessions; Indian/Native American tribal governments other than federally recognized; and non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations), signaling an openness to diverse institutional settings and community-rooted partnerships.

Key administrative details from the source listing include the funding instrument type (grant) and activity areas (education and health), with CFDA numbers 93.173, 93.279, and 93.399. The opportunity was created on 2017-11-22 and lists an original closing date of 2019-05-07. The public summary does not specify an award ceiling or the expected number of awards in the provided fields, which typically means applicants would need to consult the full FOA text and NIH institute/center participation details to understand budget expectations, project period norms, and any institute-specific priorities or constraints.

In practical terms, this FOA is aimed at research that can demonstrate how addressing upstream conditions and implementing coordinated, multilevel strategies can shift health outcomes at scale. Competitive applications would generally be expected to show a clear population health problem, a strong rationale grounded in prior evidence, well-defined intervention components operating at more than one level, meaningful outcomes (including both health and potentially intermediate social or environmental measures), and a plan for evaluation that can credibly attribute changes to the intervention while accounting for real-world complexity.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Population Health Interventions: Integrating Individual and Group Level Evidence (R01) - Clinical Trial Optional" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.173, 93.279, 93.399.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-11-22.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-05-07. (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.

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