NYU Center for Opioid Epidemiology & Policy
Tarlise Townsend Memorial Pilot Project Grant Program
Letter of Intent Application & Instructions
| Application due | December 15, 2023, 5:00pm EST |
| Invitation to submit full application (anticipated) | December 29, 2023 |
| Full application due (anticipated) | January 31, 2024, 5:00pm |
| Notice of award (anticipated) | February 2024 |
| Project start (anticipated) | March 2024 |
| Project duration | 1 year |
| Award amount | Two awards of $10,000 or one award of $20,000 |
Center for Opioid Epidemiology and Policy Overview
The multidisciplinary team at the Center for Opioid Epidemiology and Policy (COEP) at NYU Langone Health aims to inform promising policy, health services, community, and treatment approaches to reduce overdose and drug-related harms through these four areas of focus overall and across intersectional subgroups:
- examining the social and policy drivers of population-level rates of overdose and disparities in overdose rates.
- evaluating the impact of existing service, policy, and health service solutions to the epidemic to build health equity.
- integrating advanced analytical and data science techniques with epidemiologic research to more precisely measure, forecast, and understand the drivers of overdose and related harms.
- investigate the links between drug use and related health and social concerns including violence, infectious disease, and evolving crises.
Additional information is available on the COEP webpage.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants include faculty at the assistant professor level, assistant research faculty, assistant research scientists, and postdoctoral fellows employed at NYU Langone Health (NYULH), and other New York University (NYU) departments, schools and institutes. Particular attention will be paid to supporting the work of investigators who are underrepresented in science.
Pilot Project Overview
This year, our pilot project grants program will focus on supporting work on the social determinants of the overdose crisis, and social inequities in the experience of the overdose crisis and in the reach and effectiveness of overdose prevention policies and programs. We have a particular interest in work investigating racial/ethnic inequalities in risk of opioid misuse and overdose, access to policies, programs, and services, and impact of policies, programs, and services on opioid misuse and overdose risk.
Broadly speaking, we are soliciting applications for pilot projects that focus on one or more of the following areas:
- Social, policy, pandemic, and structural drivers of the overdose crisis
- Social inequalities in the rates of opioid initiation, use, misuse, use disorder, overdose, and consequences of use
- Social inequalities in access to harm reduction and substance use disorder treatment services aimed at addressing the overdose crisis
- Impact of innovative harm reduction and substance use disorder treatment programs and/or policies on overdose and related harms
- Intersections of opioid use with other drug use and how this varies by race/ethnicity and/or other identities, as well as by geography
- Methods to identify the causal effect of social and drug policies on the overdose crisis
- Methods to measure opioid use, opioid use disorder, and overdose rates in small areas
- Research on how people who use drugs (PWUD) cope with circumstances in conflict settings This might include research on how their risk and protective behaviors and social networks have changed; how harm reduction and treatment services have changed; and how PWUD are contributing to within-PWUD and broader mutual aid efforts
We welcome additional creative research proposals using quantitative and/or qualitative methods or mixed methods.
In their application, applicants will be asked to demonstrate next steps to come out of this pilot research, including the potential for future NIH or other competitive funding based on their pilot project.
Information about past Pilot Project awardees can be found here.
Funding Available
Two awards of $10,000, or one award of $20,000, are available. No indirect costs will be awarded. The award can be used for the following purposes:
- Salary support for PI, Post Doc, or staff/analyst time
- New analysis of existing data sources
- Data purchases
- Data collection
- Study intervention
- Participant incentives
Application Submission
All letters of intent must be submitted using this REDCap form by 5:00pm EST on December 15, 2023.
The application should be no more than two pages, single-spaced, with one-inch margins.
Budget
Applicants must provide a budget in the template format available for download below. Each budget with salary support for faculty and/or staff time should include a breakdown of total salary, FTE percentage, and fringe for those employed by NYULH. The fringe rate at NYULH is 34.2%. For those outside NYULH, please check with your department for the current fringe rate.
Data Access
Applicants should indicate if they currently have access to the data they plan to use for the pilot project or provide the anticipated timing for obtaining this data.
Mentorship
The REDCap form includes a question requesting the name, title and organization of mentor(s) for the PI. This is considered an asset to the application, but not a requirement if this is not possible.
Project Team
Proposals should provide specific information about the role of each person working on the pilot project.
Criteria for Review/Evaluation of Applications
Proposals will be evaluated based on the quality of the proposed scientific investigation, the significance of the proposed research for the field of opioid use disorders research, the potential of the proposal to lead to future successful NIH grant applications, and the quality and promise of the applicant. The scoring criteria document is available for download below.
Invitation to Submit Full Application
Select applicants will be invited to submit more detailed proposals, with notification expected by December 29, 2023.
Full Application Submission
Instructions for the submission of a full application will be provided to selected applicants, with a deadline of January 31, 2024 by 5:00pm EST. The proposal is four pages in length.
Up to two applicants will be selected for funding, with notification expected in February 2024. Projects will be expected to begin in March 2024.
Questions
Please contact Caroline Barnes, MPH, senior project manager, with any questions: caroline.barnes@nyulangone.org
