Columbia Roybal Center Behavioral RCT Award Program
Overview
The Columbia Roybal Center for Fearless Behavior Change, funded through the National Institute on Aging (NIA), is dedicated to advancing behavioral interventions that reduce psychological distress and improve health behaviors in patients who have experienced serious health events, with the ultimate goal of advancing effective behavioral interventions that are routinely implemented into clinical practice.
We are excited to announce our new call for proposals to fund 1 to 2 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that test behavioral interventions (NIH Stage II to V). These trials should seek to test interventions that are designed to reduce psychological distress and/or improve health behaviors in diverse midlife and older adults who have suffered serious health events. Studies that test implementation strategies for increasing the uptake of effective behavioral interventions into practice will also be eligible. Interventions should be designed with consideration of mechanisms of behavior change and health equity in mind. Relevant study populations include, but are not limited to, patients with stroke, myocardial infarction, cardiac arrest, COPD, heart failure, respiratory failure, or recent diagnosis of cancer or end-stage renal disease. Relevant behavioral outcomes include, but are not limited to, measures of quality of life or psychological distress such as depression, anxiety, or PTSD and of health behaviors such as medication adherence, physical activity, or sleep.
Applicants must demonstrate how they will follow the mechanism-driven approach to intervention development promoted by the Science of Behavior Change (https://commonfund.nih.gov/behaviorchange). This involves testing the effect of the intervention not only on the target health behavior (e.g., medication adherence or physical activity), but also on the proximal mechanism that explains how the intervention works (e.g., reducing fear of recurrent cardiovascular events). Applicants are also expected to explain how the current trial will help advance the intervention along the NIH Stage Model and what the next step in intervention development will be if they are successful.
Early-stage studies that are limited to assessing the feasibility of behavioral interventions (i.e., Stage I on the NIH Stage Model) are not eligible. (See NIH Stage Model for nomenclature onstage of behavioral intervention development.)
Award Amount
To be announced.
Number of Awards
Up to 2 awards per year.
Eligibility
Applicants can be post-doctoral research fellows or faculty at any rank but must show evidence of being able to complete the trial within two years. Applicants from groups that are underrepresented in behavioral medicine research are particularly encouraged to apply. Applicants are not required to be affiliated with Columbia University.
Deadline
Applications are now being accepted. Applications must be submitted by Monday, December 16th, 2024.
Pilot Selection
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by Monday, January 20th, 2025. All submissions will receive feedback from the review committee. Applications that are not selected may resubmit their application the following year. Selected projects are expected to receive a notice of award in July 2025, pending NIA and IRB approval.
Application Process Overview
Applicants will be required to submit a 3-page research strategy describing the significance, innovation, approach, and expertise of the study team, statistical analysis plan, preliminary budget, and biosketches of all co-investigators.
Review Process
Reviewers, who include patient stakeholders, will score proposals from 1-9 for Overall Impact, broadly mirroring the NIH approach to grant review. Reviewers will judge each application on the basis of significance, innovation, expertise of the applicant and formation of diverse multidisciplinary teams inclusive of patient stakeholders, rigor of the scientific approach including its consideration of mechanisms of behavior change, likelihood that study activities can be completed on time, potential impact on health equity, potential to lead to subsequent funding, and alignment with goals of the Columbia Roybal Center. Early-stage investigator status will be viewed favorably when prioritizing applications for funding.
At least two independent reviews will be obtained for each proposal. A “study section” will be convened in December 2024 at which the top ranked proposals will be discussed. Up to 2 proposals will be selected for funding in the upcoming year.
Applicants are encouraged, but not required, to attend pre-application office hours with our Center’s directors to ask questions about how to be responsive to the RFP.
Interested applicants may choose to write a brief (no more than one page) Letter of Intent to Co-Directors, Dr. Ian Kronish (ik2293@cumc.columbia.edu) and Dr. Nathalie Moise (nm2562@cumc.columbia.edu) if they wish to schedule a consultation.
Contact
For any questions about the scientific content, please contact: Dr. Ian Kronish and Dr. Nathalie Moise, Directors, Columbia Roybal Center, ik2293@columbia.edu (212) 342-1335 and nm2562@cumc.columbia.edu (212) 342-2889.
For any questions about the application process and format, please contact: Robin Cumella, rmc2203@cumc.columbia.edu.
To learn more about the NIA’s Roybal Center Initiative, please visit: https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/dbsr/edward-r-roybal-centers-translational-research-behavioral-and-social-sciences-aging