Request for Proposals
PURPOSE
The Todos Juntos research grants aim to support up to 12 scholars conducting research about chronic diseases in Hispanic communities. Research should examine the role of contributory causes, including biological, behavioral, social, and/or environmental factors; health care access; and/or the intersection of mental health and chronic disease. Areas of special interest include Hispanic women’s health and health concerns or rural Hispanic communities.
Grant recipients will receive up to $10,000 to support their research project for up to a six-month period. All proposals must draw data in whole or in part from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) All of Us Researcher Workbench, a major national source of health data. Researchers are expected to use the Researcher Workbench platform to conduct their analysis (please see the “About the Researcher Workbench” and Research Workbench Access” sections at the end of this RFP for more information). Grant recipients will receive training and support on using the Researcher Workbench through the Healthy Americas Research Consortium (HARC). They will also have the opportunity to connect with other researchers. Grant recipients will be part of the HARC within the Healthy Americas Foundation (HAF), which is the supporting organization of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health. This grants program is funded by NIH award 3OT2OD025277-02S1 and HAF.
ELIGIBILITY
Applicants must be current Masters or PhD students, faculty members, or health care professionals at an accredited institution in the United States and territories. We seek proposals that draw data in whole or mostly from the Researcher Workbench. Applications must include:
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Research plan (500-1000 words)
Please include a project background drawn from a literature review, research question(s) to be studied, a data analysis plan, and the expected contribution to the understanding of Hispanic health. Note: You should clearly indicate how you plan to use the Researcher Workbench. You can consult the All of Us Curated Data Repository (CDR) Data Dictionaries to review the data types available and the Data Browser to explore aggregate-level data counts.
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Team’s previous research experience (500 words)
Please include team members’ research experience and expertise that enables your team to conduct this research project. Researchers must know R, Python, SAS, or SQL to use the Researcher Workbench. Please include team members’ proficiency in the applications and programming languages available on the Researcher Workbench.
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Project timeline (One page for timeline of up to 6 months)
Please include major milestones for completion of the research project.
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Recommendation letter (One page)
The letter must be from a mentor who will support the proposed research effort. It should describe your team’s capacity to complete the proposed research project.
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Budget (One page)
Please include at a minimum any data storage and costs for analysis in the Researcher Workbench, the personnel costs for each team member, personnel fringe costs and fringe rate (if any), travel costs (if any), and any other costs. There should be no more than a 20% indirect rate charged (see “Indirect Budget Letter” below). Visit the User Support Hub for information about what influences analysis costs in the Researcher Workbench and how to estimate analysis costs.
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Indirect budget letter
Please provide a letter from your institution agreeing to use no more than a 20% indirect rate which on a $10,000 budget would be a maximum of $8,333 in direct costs and $1,667 in indirect costs (model letter can be found here). Successful applicants will: (1) receive up to $10,000 to complete their research project and (2) be part of the HARC network, which provides technical assistance and training for the Researcher Workbench.
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Applications must be submitted online by clicking here. Application materials must be submitted by Monday, October 28, 2024 at 11:59pm ET. Applicants will be notified of the results during the week of November 25, 2024. For additional questions, please contact Bryan J Castro at bcastro@healthyamericasfund.org.
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ABOUT THE RESEARCHER WORKBENCH
The All of Us dataset is stored on the Researcher Workbench, a secure, cloud-based platform. The program offers tiered access to the data. The Registered Tier dataset includes individual-level data from electronic health records (EHR), wearables, surveys, and physical measurements. Registration and a Responsible Conduct of Research training are required for access. The Controlled Tier dataset includes data available on the Registered Tier, as well as genomic data and expanded demographic, survey, and EHR data. Genomic data includes short-read whole genome sequences, long-read whole genome sequences, and genotyping arrays. Researchers must have amended institutional agreements and complete an additional training to access this tier.
RESEARCHER WORKBENCH ACCESS
All grant recipients must register for a Researcher Workbench account after receiving a HARC grant if they do not already have one. Access is available to researchers from organizations with an institutional Data Use and Registration Agreement (DURA) in place. You can search or browse the list of registered institutions to confirm if your institution has a DURA in place and the data available to you based on Registered or Controlled Tier access. If your institution does not have a DURA, you may still apply for a Todos Juntos research grant.
ABOUT THE ALL OF US RESEARCH PROGRAM
The NIH All of Us Research Program is a historic effort to speed up health research discoveries, enabling new kinds of individualized health care. All of Us aims to include a million or more people living in the United States and its territories. The program aims to reflect the diversity of the United States and its territories and to include participants from communities that have been underrepresented in health research in the past. As of August 1, 2024, more than 565,000 participants have completed initial steps of the program. More than 91,000 participants identify as Hispanic or Latino—that’s 16%. By sharing their health information with us, All of Us participants are helping us build one of the largest, richest, and most diverse biomedical datasets of its kind. The Researcher Workbench stores health data from our diverse participant cohort. Researchers can use these data to conduct thousands of studies, accelerating health research and enabling individualized prevention, treatment, and care for all of us.
ABOUT THE HEALTHY AMERICAS FOUNDATION
The Healthy Americas Foundation (HAF) is grounded in the experience of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, a network of community-based members that deliver quality health and human services to over 15 million persons annually and national members that provide services to over 100 million persons annually. HAF is innovating, incubating, and investing in communities. Our efforts foster community-driven efforts that improve the lives of individuals and families throughout the Americas. HAF efforts are grounded in and celebrate the role of culture; redefine health as not merely absence of illness; and nurture wellness in body, mind, and spirit. HAF focuses on three critical underpinnings to promote healthy Americas: collaboration with communities, supportive solutions, and international partnerships.