The purpose of this Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award in Implementation Science for Substance Use Prevention and Treatment (K23) is to support the career development of individuals with a clinical doctoral degree who have made a commitment to focus their research endeavors on patient-oriented research from an implementation science perspective. These awards provide salary and research support for a sustained period of “protected time” (3-5 years) for an intensive, supervised career development experience leading to research independence in this area of specialization.
Realizing the return on public investment in the development of evidence-based treatments and preventive interventions to address the ongoing overdose crisis depends on a cadre of skilled clinician researchers with expertise in implementation science, who can help move these interventions into routine clinical practice. Implementation science focuses on identifying modifiable barriers to the uptake and sustained use of evidence-based practices in real world clinical settings, and developing replicable and scalable strategies to overcome those barriers. While this field has grown rapidly over the past 15 years, there remain a limited number of independent clinician researchers with dual expertise in substance use and implementation science, limiting the field’s capacity to address persistent gaps in this area. There is a pressing need for a deeper bench of clinician researchers who can be called upon to meet ongoing and emerging implementation challenges in the substance use field.
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will support early career investigators who have foundational clinical training in substance use prevention or treatment and/or co-occurring mental illness, and will provide support and protected time to acquire training and research experience in implementation science. Development and execution of an independent NIH-defined clinical trial applying implementation science methods to patient-oriented research in one or more of the four domains of the HHS Overdose Prevention Strategy (prevention; evidence-based addiction treatment; harm reduction; or recovery research) is required.
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is designed specifically for applicants proposing to serve as the lead investigator of an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or a separate ancillary study to an existing trial, as part of their research and career development. Applicants not planning an independent clinical trial, or proposing to gain research experience in a clinical trial led by another investigator, should consult the NIH Research Career Development Awards website for alternative funding opportunities.