# 2022 Spring Inside NIMH

## Welcome

Welcome to the latest edition of *Inside NIMH*! We publish *Inside NIMH* in conjunction with each meeting of the National Advisory Mental Health Council (NAMHC), which advises the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Director of NIMH on all policies and activities relating to the conduct and support of mental health research, research training, and other programs of the Institute. I invite you to check out the NIMH website for regular updates on timely topics, and to follow me on Twitter (@NIMH Director **).    Sincerely,    Joshua A. Gordon, M.D., Ph.D.    Director, National Institute of Mental Health

Please let us know if you have questions or comments on this edition. If you wish to unsubscribe, subscribe, or change your e-mail address, contact the NIMH Webmaster or visit the Inside NIMH subscription page **.

## NIMH Director’s Updates

This spring, NIMH has been engaged in key strategic planning activities. In this edition of *Inside NIMH*, we share more about our efforts and also explore NIMH’s portfolio balance and the Institute’s latest efforts to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA).

### News to Know

- Updating the NIMH Strategic Plan for Research:  NIMH uses its  Strategic Plan for Research  to communicate Institute priorities and help guide mental health research efforts funded by the Institute. To keep pace with ever-evolving scientific approaches and research priorities, NIMH released its annual update to the Strategic Plan on June 2, 2022. Most notably, the updated Plan emphasizes NIMH’s DEIA efforts. To complement this update, the Institute also published the Fiscal Year (FY)  2021 Strategic Plan Progress Report . The Report highlights significant accomplishments achieved in FY 2021 towards the goals of the Strategic Plan, spanning fundamental science through to public health impact.
- Balancing the NIMH Portfolio:  NIMH seeks to support a diverse portfolio that promotes science across a range of timeframes, ensuring maximal impact now and in the future. In a  Director’s Message  that reflected on his first five years of leadership at NIMH, Dr. Gordon revisited NIMH’s portfolio balance in terms of the proportion of funding going toward research in three areas—fundamental basic research, disease-related basic research, and therapeutics development and services research. These three areas of research correspond to science that aims to have public health impacts in short-, medium-, and longer-term timeframes. Since 2016, there has been a year-over-year relative increase in the proportion of funding going to therapeutics development and services research. This increase has been accompanied by a more modest increase in the proportion of funding going to fundamental basic research, and a decrease in the proportion of funding going to disease-related basic research. The data also indicate that, over the past decade, NIMH’s proportional investment in clinical research is similar to that of NIH overall.
- Outreach Spotlight:  Over the last few months, NIMH has  shared resources  across its  social media platforms  to support community mental health education, including graphics about the  brain  during Brain Awareness Week and a  brochure  during Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month. NIMH also promoted resources for  Autism Awareness Month  and  World Bipolar Day . In recognition of  Mental Health Awareness Month **  in May, NIMH distributed a special issue of  *Discover NIMH*   **  and promoted  Mental Health Minute videos   ** , brochures, fact sheets, and infographics. NIMH also participated in several virtual exhibits and events to share mental health resources with the public, providers, and other stakeholders, including at the annual  National Museum of Health and Medicine's Brain Awareness Day   ** .
- Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) Updates:  On April 13 – 14, 2022, the IACC held a virtual  Full Committee Meeting ** . The Committee discussed  Autism Awareness Month ** , housing programs, communication needs in autism, and Committee business, including the development of the new IACC Strategic Plan and the 2021 Summary of Advances. On April 27, 2022, the NIMH Office of Autism Research Coordination hosted a special event for Autism Awareness Month:  Animating the Future for Exceptional Minds ** . The event featured the work of Exceptional Minds, a non-profit organization that prepares neurodiverse young adults for careers in the digital arts and entertainment industry.
- Personalizing Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD):  TRD is diagnosed after an individual has tried several types of treatment for depression and their symptoms have not improved. DBS, which has been used to treat diseases and disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, may hold promise for people with TRD. NIMH-supported researchers  investigated  how DBS in an individual with TRD affected activity in areas of the brain that regulate mood. Over the span of an eight-month trial, researchers administered personalized DBS treatments to a participant, who reported steady improvements in mood, remission of symptoms, and improvement in measures of quality of life. While more research is needed before this approach is ready for wider clinical use, the results offer hope that personalized DBS could be used to treat other neurological and psychiatric disorders.

### Updates and Announcements from HHS and NIH

- Updates from HHS    - On March 2, 2022, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra  announced **  a National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health. Building on President Joseph R. Biden’s State of the Union address that detailed a  strategy **  to transform mental health services for all Americans, Secretary Becerra’s Tour is part of an  HHS-wide effort **  to address the national mental health crisis that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Secretary Becerra and HHS officials will engage with local elected officials and leaders to strengthen mental health and crisis care systems in communities.
  - On May 25, 2022, Secretary Becerra  announced **  the formal establishment of the  Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health **  (ARPA-H) as an independent entity within the NIH. In addition, Secretary Becerra announced that Adam Russell, D.Phil., has been appointed to serve as the agency’s Acting Deputy Director. In this role, Dr. Russell will lead the intensive process to stand up ARPA-H by continuing to build the infrastructure, business processes, and policies to launch the new agency.
- NIH-wide Initiatives    - NIH-wide DEIA Efforts:      - On February 1, 2022, NIH  released **  the draft NIH-wide DEIA Strategic Plan Framework for public comment. The public provided feedback via a  Request for Information **  (RFI). The Framework articulates NIH's priorities in three key areas: implement organizational practices to center and prioritize DEIA in the workforce; grow and sustain DEIA through structural and cultural change; and, advance DEIA through research.
    - NIH strives to build biomedical research capacity, expand research, and enhance cultural competency and community engagement through communication and collaboration between NIH and American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. On March 17, 2022, NIH issued its new  Tribal Consultation Policy ** , which requires NIH staff to engage in Tribal Consultation before any actions with significant Tribal implications. This policy aims to standardize the NIH process for initiating Consultation and seeking participation by Tribal Representatives in ongoing, proposed, and current policies, programs, and research activities that impact Indian Tribes.
  - NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative Strategic Framework:  NIMH is proud to be a part of the Executive Committee of the  NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative ** , a cross-cutting NIH effort to reduce health threats from climate change across the lifespan and build health resilience in individuals, communities, and nations around the world. On February 7, 2022, the Initiative released its  Strategic Framework ** , which will guide NIH research on climate change and health that aims to increase the understanding of the complex drivers of adverse health outcomes and enable effective and impactful interventions.
  - Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative:  On February 3, 2022, the  RECOVER Initiative   **  released a publicly available  research protocol   ** . The protocol serves to promote consistency in research methods and data analysis across studies. The Initiative also plans to soon release a version of the protocol in plainer language, to serve as an accessible reference guide for a wider audience.
  - Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) ®  Initiative :  On April 11 – 12, 2022, the  NIH HEAL Initiative **  convened its  third annual Investigator Meeting ** , with more than 600 grantees, federal officials, people with lived experience with substance use disorders, and other stakeholders taking part in the virtual event. Attendees learned about recent research findings, explored trends, and identified opportunities to advance the Initiative’s goals. They also discussed a broad range of topics, including innovative technology-based therapies for pain management; community-based integrated solutions for prevention, overdose, and medication-based treatment for opioid use disorder; and, a variety of new approaches for managing pain.
  - *All of Us*Research Program:  On March 17, 2022,  *All of Us* **  released its first  genomic dataset **  of nearly 100,000 whole genome sequences. Access to these data may enable researchers to address currently unanswerable questions about health and disease, leading to breakthroughs and advancing discoveries to reduce persistent health disparities.
  - Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative:      - The  BRAIN Initiative **  launched a new transformative project,  BRAIN Initiative Connectivity across Scales **  (BRAIN CONNECTS). This project aims to develop the research capacity and technical capabilities to generate wiring diagrams of the mouse brain to transform understanding of brain circuits. The scientific advances facilitated by connectivity maps may offer unprecedented insight into the human brain in health and disease. Interested researchers can apply via three funding opportunity announcements with initial receipt dates in July 2022 ( RFA-NS-22-047 ** ;  RFA-NS-22-048 ** ;  RFA-NS-22-049 ** ).
    - On June 21 – 22, 2022, NIH will host the  8th Annual BRAIN Initiative Meeting: Open Science, New Tools ** . The goal of the meeting is to continue building the BRAIN community, provide a forum for discussing scientific developments and potential new directions, and identify areas for collaboration and research coordination.
    - On March 1 – 2, 2022, the BRAIN Initiative hosted the  Brain Behavior Quantification and Synchronization Workshop   ** . The virtual event convened experts from across diverse research disciplines and stimulated discussion on how to advance a more comprehensive understanding of behavior. This effort aims to support the development and validation of next-generation tools and analytic approaches to quantify behaviors with simultaneously recorded brain activity and data from the physical and social environment.
  - NIH Common Fund:  On May 16, 2022, the NIH Common Fund hosted the  Health Communication Research Workshop ** . The virtual event brought together key stakeholders from health and science communication research to identify research opportunities and gaps that, if addressed, may lead to more effective communication strategies that promote healthy behavior. Attendees discussed research related to access to, uptake of, and meaningful use of evidence-based health information; health and science literacy; the spread and impact of health-related misinformation; and, the changing information ecosystem characterized by social media and mistrust. In addition, the NIH Common Fund issued a  RFI **  between April 26 – May 27, 2022, to solicit information from the broad community on opportunities and challenges in health and science communication research.
  - Accelerating Medicines Partnership® Program - Schizophrenia (AMP® SCZ):  On May 2, AMP® SCZ launched  ampscz.org   ** , a public website to keep clinicians, potential study participants, and the general public apprised of Program news and updates. This website details the goals of the Program, answers frequently asked questions regarding study participation, and provides information on study sites and partners.

- NIH Leadership News    - On April 29, 2022,  Norman “Ned” Sharpless, M.D. ** , stepped down as the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Director. During his tenure, Dr. Sharpless fostered a more diverse and collaborative culture in cancer research and championed health equity, having launched NCI’s Equity and Inclusion Program. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, he oversaw the mobilization of NCI’s scientific experts and cutting-edge resources to conduct research on how the virus affects cancer patients, factors that influence disease severity, and the impact of the pandemic on cancer screening.  Doug Lowy, M.D. , will serve as the Acting Director of NCI while President Biden seeks to appoint a permanent Director.

### Budget Overview

- FY 2022 Budget:  On March 15, 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 ( Public Law No. 117-103 ** ), providing funds through September 30, 2022. The law provides $2.2 billion to NIMH (amount includes  21st Century Cures Act **  funding), representing a five percent increase over the FY 2021 appropriation. NIMH anticipates awarding more than 650 new and competing research project grants (RPGs) in FY 2022, with an estimated success rate of 24 percent as shown in the figure below.                NIMH Applications, Awards, and Success Rates for Research Project Grants  Fiscal Year      Applications      Direct Awards      Cures Awards      Success Rate      2016      2568      587      0      23      2017      2735      571      0      21      2018      2701      589      23      23      2019      2632      638      15      25      2020      2694      590      17      23      2021      2923      642      5      22      2022 (estimated)      2834      682      10      24