# 2021 Winter 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 hope you find this edition interesting and helpful. I also 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 email address, please contact the NIMH Webmaster or visit the *Inside NIMH* subscription page **.

## Director’s Updates

While the past year has been challenging, a new year brings the promise of change and hope. In this edition of the newsletter, we at NIMH reflect on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlight research by NIMH-supported scientists, and celebrate the accomplishments of staff and grantees.

### News to Know

- NIMH’s Response to COVID-19 : We continue to monitor and respond to the global COVID-19 pandemic. NIMH is involved in several trans-NIH efforts, including the Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Impacts of COVID-19 Working Group and multiple  Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) **  programs, such as  RADx Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) ** . RADx-UP aims to establish a network of community-engaged projects to improve access to and acceptance of COVID-19 testing for underserved and vulnerable populations who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. In December 2020, NIMH published a  Notice  ** announcing the availability of administrative supplements for researchers to cover unanticipated costs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic or related mitigation efforts. NIMH staff have developed  resources  and  shared  coping strategies to help people during the pandemic, and NIMH-supported researchers are hard at work  examining **  the effects of COVID-19 on mental health and ways to improve telehealth during this challenging time. Dr. Gordon has  spoken  often about the impact of the pandemic, and in November 2020, he  shared  a personal perspective on the importance of remembering the lives lost to COVID-19. More information about NIH’s response to the pandemic and guidance for researchers can be found on the  NIH COVID-19 webpage ** .
- **Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Schizophrenia (AMP-SCZ)** ** : On September 15, 2020, in collaboration with the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and multiple public and private partners, NIMH  launched  the AMP-SCZ initiative. AMP-SCZ is part of the broader  AMP **  program managed by FNIH, which aims to identify and validate the most promising biological targets for therapeutics. The overall aim of AMP-SCZ is to develop early stage interventions for patients who are at risk of developing schizophrenia.
- Outreach Spotlight:  NIMH staff created and shared several educational resources to support community outreach efforts and raise awareness about mental health observances throughout fall and winter. In October, NIMH shared a new infographic,  My Mental Health: Do I Need Help? , during Mental Illness Awareness Week and the recently revised brochure on  Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder  (OCD) for OCD Awareness Week. October was also Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Awareness Month. In recognition of this, NIMH hosted a  social media livestream event  about managing ADHD and posted a  new ADHD shareables page  on its  Education and Awareness portal . In December, NIMH shared its new  Seasonal Affective Disorder  fact sheet and an updated  HIV/AIDs and mental health page  for World AIDS Day. To kick off 2021, NIMH distributed  messages and resources  to support self-care during the pandemic. NIMH also hosted a  social media livestream event  on managing stress and anxiety. In addition, NIMH participated in several virtual exhibits to reach the public, providers, and other stakeholders, including the USA Science and Engineering Festival, where NIMH shared its science education resources for children and teens.

### Updates and Announcements from NIH

- NIH in the Spotlight    - NIH COVID-19 Vaccine Kick-Off Event:  In a partnership with Moderna, NIH researchers successfully designed, created, and tested a COVID-19 vaccine candidate, building on years of basic and clinical research. This unprecedented scientific achievement comes less than a year following the identification of the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. On December 22, NIH held a  COVID-19 vaccination kick-off event   **  to mark the beginning of its vaccination program for employees on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The live event featured remarks by NIH Office of Research Services Director Colleen McGowan, HHS Secretary Alex Azar II, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Director Anthony Fauci, M.D., and NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. Six Clinical Center front-line health care workers were immunized with the first of two doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, known as  mRNA 1273 ** . Ms. McGowan, Mr. Azar, Dr. Fauci, and Dr. Collins were also immunized to demonstrate their confidence in the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, which has been shown to be safe, and more than 94% efficacious in large-scale clinical trials. On January 26, 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff received the second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Collins and Vice President Harris  remarked   **  on the impact of NIH science and the importance of immunization.
  - NIH Researcher Awarded Nobel Prize:  On October 5, 2020,  **Harvey J. Alter, M.D.** ** , along with his colleagues Michael Houghton, Ph.D., and Charles M. Rice, Ph.D., was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. Dr. Alter has been with NIH for more than 50 years and currently works as a Senior Scholar at the NIH Clinical Center’s Department of Transfusion Medicine.

- NIH-Wide Initiatives    - Helping to End Addiction Long-Term (HEAL)SM Initiative : On November 16-17, 2020, the National Institute on Drug Abuse hosted a two-day  meeting **  to discuss updates on the  HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study  ** , a research program that is part of the HEAL Initiative. The primary goal of the HBCD is to better understand how early exposure to opioids affects infant and child development. To accomplish this goal, HBCD is supporting research to better understand typical brain development, beginning in the prenatal period and extending through early childhood, including variability in development and how it contributes to cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional function. The meeting provided an opportunity for HBCD investigators to discuss progress, report findings, and develop plans for Phase II of the study. Investigators shared feedback on topics that will be helpful to HBCD as it moves into the second phase of the study, including strategies to establish partnerships across various communities (urban, rural, indigenous, etc.); ethical and legal considerations for participating mothers and children; effective recruitment and retention plans; protocol establishment for observational, behavioral, and imaging assessments; and, imaging and software technology development as well as feasibility and data quality testing.
  - *All of Us* Research Program:  On November 12, 2020, the  All of Us  Research Program hosted a  virtual event  **  to provide information about their  Researcher Workbench    ** , a new cloud-based platform that enables investigators to execute rapid, hypothesis-driven research using the  All of Us  database, one of the largest and most diverse biomedical datasets of its kind. Attendees learned about the program’s vision, saw a demonstration of the Workbench, heard from other researchers who have leveraged  All of Us  data and tools to power their studies, and learned how to register, access, and analyze data in the Workbench.

### Budget Overview

- Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Budget:   NIMH awarded 607 new and competing research project grants (RPGs) in FY 2020 and achieved an overall success rate of approximately 23 percent (defined as number of RPG applications funded divided by the number of applications received; see Figure 1). In accordance with  Next Generation Researchers Initiative **  efforts, NIMH awarded grants to 99 unique early stage investigators and 183 unique  at-risk investigators ** . Cures Awards are funded by appropriations made available through  the 21st Century Cures Act ** .   Figure 1  NIMH Applications, Awards, and Success Rates for Research Project GrantsFiscal YearApplicationsDirect AwardsCures AwardsSuccess Rate201524805070202016256858702320172735571021201827015892323201926326381525202026945901723