PAR-22-113 Urgent Award: COVID-19 Mental Health Research (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)

NIMH is issuing this FOA in response to the declared public health emergency issued by the Secretary, HHS, for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). See "Determination that a Public Health Emergency Exists Nationwide as the Result of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus" as renewed in "Renewal of the Determination that a Public Health Emergency Exists Nationwide as the Result of the Continued Consequences of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic". This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) aims to address urgent, time-sensitive mental health research questions related to COVID-19, including broader secondary impacts of the pandemic as well as research on the intersection of mental health, COVID-19, and HIV. Research supported will improve public health in the near term by informing responses to the current pandemic through 1) understanding mechanisms by which mental illness impacts SARS-CoV-2 morbidity and mortality, 2) exploring how COVID-19 contributes to incident mental illness or HIV-outcomes, 3) identifying modifiable targets uniquely or robustly implicated in the pandemic that are relevant to new and worsening mental illness, and 4) conducting mechanistic trials probing biological or behavioral processes of those targets that may be pursued in future mental health therapeutic development. Research is anticipated to be informed by and directed towards vulnerable populations based on evidence of preexisting and worsened health disparities.