NIH is committed to growing a stronger and broader community in data science for turning discoveries into health. This NOSI invites applications for administrative supplements to eligible NIH awards to enhance data science capacity in institutions serving medically underserved communities and underrepresented students as described in the Notice of NIH’s Interest in Diversity (NOT-OD-20-031). This NOSI aligns with the NIH Data Science Strategic Plan to ensure that data science advances in biomedical and health research can benefit all populations.
Background
Every facet of the United States scientific research enterprise - from basic laboratory research to clinical and translational research to policy formation - requires superior intellect, creativity and a wide range of skill sets and viewpoints. NIH’s ability to help ensure that the nation remains a global leader in scientific discovery and innovation is dependent upon a pool of highly talented scientists from diverse backgrounds who will help to further NIH's mission (see Notice of NIH's Interest in Diversity, NOT-OD-20-031).
The eligible awards for this NOSI include the following programs from the participating NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs):
- NIMHD Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI)
- NIGMS Institutional Development Award (IDeA)
- NCI Comprehensive Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (CPACHE); and NCI Feasibility Studies to Build Collaborative Partnerships in Cancer Research
The NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2021–2025 recognizes data science as a cross-cutting theme for the strategic objectives in research areas, research capacity and research conduct. Advances in data science to collect, analyze, access, and share the increasing volume and complexity of data in biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and social sciences bring tremendous opportunities as well as challenges in data ethics, security, privacy and bias.
Through the STRIDES Initiative (https://datascience.nih.gov/strides), ODSS provides NIH and its funded researchers with cost-effective access to state-of-the-art cloud-based data storage and computational capabilities, tools, and expertise. Applicants to this NOSI are encouraged to take advantage of the STRIDES Initiative for their NIH-funded research projects. The STRIDES Initiative supports partnerships with industry-leading commercial providers who offer favorable pricing on advanced cloud-based technology, training, and professional services to help investigators to start working in the cloud.
The Science Collaborative for Health Disparities and Artificial Intelligence bias Reduction (ScHARe) data platform is a novel cloud-based behavioral, population science, and social determinants of health data ecosystem sponsored by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institute of Nursing Research. ScHARe fosters cloud computing skills among women and other underrepresented populations with health disparities, ensuring that the power of data science works for everyone. It also provides affordable cloud resources, including 300 centralized data sets, especially to low resource minority serving institutions and community colleges to conduct cutting edge health disparities research and use as a classroom resource. ScHARe offers tutorials and research collaboration platforms through monthly virtual interactive Think-a-Thons.