School of Health Professions

The University of Texas Medical Branch School of Health Professions (SHP) and School of Nursing (SON) are pleased to announce the call for proposals for the 2021-2022 Faculty Pilot Grant Award. Faculty pilot grant funds are designated specifically to promote innovative research and creative activities and encourage the submission of applications for externally funded research. These funds are intended to provide seed money to fund studies used in grant proposals and to facilitate research and creative activities that could not be completed successfully with currently available resources. The expectation is that the proposed pilot project will lead to an external funding opportunity (e.g., NIH, RWJF, HRSA, PCORI, foundations, organizations). All proposals submitted to the SHP-SON Review Committee must follow the required format and will be evaluated for scientific rigor using standard criteria (e.g., significance, investigators, innovation, approach, and environment).

The objective of this program is to stimulate the development of new research initiatives in strategic areas of women’s health or gender differences.

Teams of investigators from the University of Texas, Austin Center on Aging & Population Sciences, and the University of Texas Medical Branch Pepper Center / Texas RCMAR are invited to submit collaborative proposals for seed projects to be completed during the period from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.

To all researchers in the disability and rehabilitation field: The National Institutes of Health (NIH), especially the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR), is seeking applications for research into the nexus of COVID-19, disability, and rehabilitation. NCMRR has released several Notices of Special Interest (NOSIs) in the past weeks and months, and yet has not received a high volume of applications from the field. NIH is looking to fund these critical areas of research, but they need your help!

• Research to address the rehabilitation needs of survivors of COVID-19, 
• Research to understand the impact of disruptions to rehabilitation services caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated mitigation actions, and 
• Research to understand the social, behavioral, economic, and health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated mitigation actions on people with physical disabilities. 
• Research on the mechanisms of and treatment for post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC), or “Long COVID,” especially on those with preexisting disabilities or new long-term or permanent disability as a result of Long COVID.

Further details can be found via NIH here: Research on Rehabilitation Needs Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic (NOT-HD-20-031); Notice of Intent to Publish ROAs for the NIH PASC Initiative.