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New Round of Funding Opportunities Posted at NSF
The outside Advisory Committee providing guidance to the
National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
Directorate (SBE) met in Washington earlier this month in a session attended by
Science Policy staff. SBE Associate Director David Lightfoot provided an update
on SBE activities and priorities, which include strengthening
multi-disciplinary, cross-agency and international partnerships. The Committee
was pleased at the response to SBE's Human and Social Dynamics (HSD)
competition, which has just posted its solicitation
for the FY 2006/2007 round of grants. Exploratory grant proposals
for HSD are due February 14, 2006, and proposals for full grants are due
February 21. NSF staff emphasize that they are looking to increase the gender,
ethnic/racial, and institutional diversity of HSD grantees. A new solicitation
also is posted on the SBE website for the Developmental
and Learning Sciences program, which "supports studies that increase
our understanding of cognitive, linguistic, social, cultural, and biological
processes related to children's and adolescents' development and
learning." Proposals are due February 17 and July 15, 2006.
Friends of NICHD Get Briefing on the NIH Peer Review System
With increased scrutiny on how the National Institutes of
Health makes its funding decisions and a possible proposed NIH
reorganization by Congress, advocates of the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development received a briefing from NIH staff on
precisely how the two-tiered peer review system works at NIH. FNICHD
members engaged in a mock review and learned many of the ins and outs of
reviewing research proposals. While the NIH peer review process is
considered the gold standard in determining how biomedical and behavioral
research is funded, there are some changes that may impact on some of the
process. This year, NIH is slowly phasing in its electronic grant
submission process by grant mechanism, beginning with the Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) grants in November 2005. The remaining
mechanisms will be moving to electronic submission by 2007. Additional
changes may occur as consumer advocates are permitted to participate in
some peer review panels to represent human subject perspectives as well as
help NIH institutes review public education materials.
 More about the electronic submission
system
[back to top]
APA Psychologist Roxane Silver
Testifies on Disaster Response Research
On November 10, Dr. Roxane Cohen Silver joined a
distinguished panel of social and behavioral scientists to present her
testimony as an expert witness at a congressional hearing of the House
Science Committee's Subcommittee on Research. Specifically focused on
"The Role of Social Science Research in Disaster Preparedness and
Response", Chairman Inglis (R-South Carolina) convened the hearing to
address such questions as: "How do individuals respond to traumatic
experiences, such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters? How can
insights into fundamental questions of cooperation, social order and
resilience improve preparation for and response to new threats and
disasters?"
Dr. Silver, a Professor in the Department of Psychology
and Social Behavior in the Department of Medicine at the University of
California, Irvine, presented testimony about her research on how
individuals adjust to stressful life experiences. Highlighting findings
from her NSF-funded longitudinal study of emotional, cognitive, and social
responses to the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Silver explained that
our assumptions and expectations about the coping process stand in sharp
contrast to the research data. As one example of what she calls the
"myths" of coping with trauma, Dr. Silver explained that
"psychological responses are mistakenly assumed to be limited to
those directly exposed to the trauma, and the degree of emotional response
is mistakenly assumed to be proportional to the degree of exposure, amount
of loss, or proximity to the trauma." Furthermore, individuals are
often expected to adjust within a prescribed timetable, yet few
individuals experience an orderly sequence of "stages" of
emotional response, and this narrow notion of recovery fails to account
for the lifelong nature of the effects of such events. In closing, Dr.
Silver stressed the critical need for methodologically sophisticated,
externally valid research on coping as we reevaluate what it means to
psychologically adjust to trauma.
View the hearing charter, witness list, testimony, and webcast
View
a photo from APA's Psychological Science Agenda
NIMH Director Shares Research Findings in
Congressional Briefing
On Thursday, November 17, the National Foundation for
Mental Health, of which APA is a founding organization, held its first
Congressional Briefing featuring NIMH Director Tom Insel and sponsored in
partnership with the Congressional Mental Health Caucus. The Caucus
co-chairs, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) and Grace Napolitano (D-CA), took the
opportunity to express their support for mental health issues and to
encourage advocates to increase their efforts to educate Congress about
the need for both mental health research and services for those with
mental disorders. Dr. Insel followed their remarks with a more specific
discussion of the results of NIMH's
Clinical Antipsychotic Trials
of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) Study, whose initial results comparing
antipsychotic medications were published in the New England Journal of
Medicine in September. In the first few months of the eighteen month-long
trial, investigators unexpectedly found that nearly 75 percent of
participants discontinued their initial medication, regardless of which
medication they tried first. The findings could have broader implications
for the treatment of those suffering from schizophrenia as most
schizophrenia medication is covered through Medicaid. Insel cautioned
policymakers that these are just one set of findings and medication is
necessary, but not sufficient, to treat mental disorders such as
schizophrenia. He reiterated that more research is needed to inform policy
decisions, including studies to determine what is most effective for
individuals, what is most cost-effective, and the impact of psycho-social
interventions.
More
about the CATIE study
More
about NFMH
[back to top]
Collins Takes The Reins At Biological Sciences
Advisory Council Meeting
When the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences
Directorate Advisory Council (BIOAC) met on November 17-18, there was an
air of anticipation in the room: this was to be Dr. James Collins' public
debut as the new Assistant Director. Following decades under the
leadership of plant biologist Dr. Mary Clutter, the meeting was
particularly well attended by program staff who were no doubt keen to hear
about Dr. Collin's vision for the Directorate. However, it was lonely for
those in the advocacy community as a round of introductions indicated that
Science Policy Director Geoff Mumford was the only outsider in the room.
Dr. Collins opened the meeting by providing his
perspective on "How to operate the BIO of today while becoming the
BIO of tomorrow". In addition, the BIOAC received updates on the
plant genome research program and the National Ecological Observatory
Network (NEON). The rest of the first day was devoted to presentations on
the NSF-wide cyberinfrastucture initiative.
At several points, Collins expressed a genuine interest
in, and appreciation for, the value of inter-Directorate collaboration as
NSF aspires to fund more "transformational" research. So much
so, in fact, that the next BIOAC meeting will be held jointly with the SBE
and CISE Advisory Councils (likely on April 24 - 25). [back to top]
On the morning of the November 18, Dr. Tom Brady, Division
Director of Integrative Organismal Biology, provided a summary of the BIO
Broadening Participation Working Group, which highlighted NSF efforts to
enhance the diversity of biological scientists. Next, NSF Director Arden
Bement met with the BIOAC, and like Collins before him, paid tribute to
the SBE sciences, highlighting the need to get more social scientists
involved in other scientific fields. With a nod to human factors research
in an increasingly technologically oriented world, he asked rhetorically:
"How are people going to use technology without attention to the
person-machine interface?" He noted that recent history was rife with
examples of the unintended consequences of not managing technology well.
"Not anticipating ethical issues or hazards [of new technologies]
could be counterproductive and points to the need for more input from the
social sciences…social sciences are getting harder all the time."
The changes in leadership within NSF overall, and the
Biological Sciences Directorate in particular, may provide renewed hope
for psychologists who were feeling discouraged as they saw program support
for areas such as animal learning and
cognition wither under the previous
administration. Toward the close of the meeting, Dr. Collins indicated
that he would be expanding the size of the Advisory Council and opened a
call for nominations. When I asked Dr. Collins what sort of psychological
scientists might complement the existing roster, he mentioned
psychoneuroendocrinology and evolutionary psychology as two subdisciplines
of interest (although that shouldn't preclude nominations from other
areas). Science Policy staff will be looking to Division leadership for
nominations and revisiting program content areas with NSF staff between
now and the next BIOAC meeting.
View
the meeting agenda and presentations
[back to top]
Doubling of VA Mental Health Research Budget Survives
Conference
As reported in a previous
issue of SPIN, the House of Representatives proposed earlier this year
a doubling of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mental health
research budget in FY 2006, at a time when Science Policy staff had been
advocating strongly for increased attention to and funding for VA
psychological research. On November 18, the House and Senate agreed on a
final appropriations bill for the VA, and the conference agreement
includes this House direction to double the mental health research budget
within the overall $412 million VA medical and prosthetic research
program. In addition, the legislation will require a comprehensive study
on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder focusing on improving research, care and
access to information. The congressional conferees also strongly
encouraged the VA to "consider designating specialized medical
treatment facilities for mental health and post traumatic stress disorder
as Centers of Excellence" and required a report from the VA in six
months outlining progress made in this area.
CDC Publishes Research Agenda for Comment
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has
published the "Health Protection Research Guide
2006-2015," and
is accepting public comment on the 150-page document through January 16, 2006.
You may register to enter comments online here.
Among the goals addressed in the research agenda (with
the document chapter number listed below) are:
III. Prevent and Control Infectious Diseases, including sections on
behavioral, social and economic research in infectious diseases; and
special populations and infectious diseases, particularly health
disparities;
IV. Promote Preparedness to Protect Health, including sections o risk
appraisal and adaptive behavior during an extreme event; risk and
recovery in vulnerable populations; public health workforce
preparedness; and communications;
V. Promote Health to Reduce the Burden of Chronic Diseases and
Disability, including sections on health across the lifespan; child and
adolescent development; reducing burdens of disparities in, and risk
factors for chronic diseases among adults, older adults, and persons
with disabilities;
VI. Create Safe Places to Live, Work, Learn and Play, including sections
on environmental and occupational health, injury and violence;
VII. Work Together to Build a Healthy World, including sections on
global prevention and health promotion;
VIII. Manage and Market Health Information, with sections on public
health data and informatics, health marketing and health literacy;
IX. Cross Cutting Research, including sections on social,
anthropological and behavioral sciences in public health; mental health
and well-being; and social determinants of health and health
disparities.
APA plans to survey divisions to gather comments to this
document, but would like to take comments from individual scientists
directly as well. Please contact Pat Kobor with any
comments by January 8, 2006. [back to top]
NIH Research Funding in Limbo - As Usual
Longtime SPIN readers have become accustomed to the
legislative pyrotechnics that accompany the beginning of each federal
fiscal year. Getting to an agreement on the appropriations bill for the
Department of Health and Human Services has never been easy, and now that
the surpluses are gone, the deficit is climbing, and emergency spending
piles up, it’s harder than ever.
One interesting twist this year is that the Labor-HHS
Appropriations conference report – the compromise between the House and
Senate versions of the bill – has actually been defeated in both the
House and Senate. Defeat of an appropriations conference report is very
rare. The Senate voted to send the bill back to a conference
committee to reach an acceptable compromise. House lawmakers must now be
convinced to take part in a conference. The agencies in the bill,
including the National Institutes of Health, could be funded by a
long-term “Continuing Resolution,” likely at the level of current
spending or below.
In a note following the bill’s defeat, the Ad Hoc Group,
a coalition promoting NIH funding in which APA participates, observed that
while a number of factors contributed to the defeat of this bill,
certainly one of the main reasons was the bill's failure to fund critical
health and education programs adequately. NIH's growth, for example, would
be held to about $250 million, the smallest increase in more than three
decades. [back to top]
Several House members who advocate spending cuts have
indicated that it would be best to put NIH, public health and education
programs on a full-year continuing resolution (CR). According to their
calculations, a full-year CR would save $1.6 billion. Even more would be
cut from these programs if a government-wide across-the-board cut were
applied, as has been proposed by both the White House and the Speaker of
the House.
When the Senate voted to send this bill back to
conference, it also instructed its conferees to seek increased funding for
vital health and education programs, including NIH. The Senate singled out
NIH in particular, by calling for restoration of the Senate amount of
$29.4 billion, an increase of 3.7 percent.
APA is supporting an effort to urge House members to
support the Senate's Motion to Instruct Conferees to free up $2.2 billion
in funding for the FY 2006 Labor-HHS-Ed bill by designating that amount of
LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) funding as emergency
spending. That motion, sponsored by Sen. Specter, passed the Senate in a
vote of 66-28. Traditionally, some portion of LIHEAP’s appropriation has
been designated as emergency funding, but that mechanism was disallowed
this year by the House.
Look for an action alert from APA in the next week
explaining the situation further and encouraging letters to members of the
House. There are few alternatives to flat-funding and additional budget
cuts if measures like the LIHEAP proposal are rejected.
[back to top]
NIDA Asks Young People to Share the 411 on HIV
On November 29, the National Institute on Drug Abuse held
a press conference and scientific meeting at the National Press Club here
in DC to debut a new Public Service Announcement (PSA) and public outreach
program to raise awareness about the relationship between drug use and
HIV. In the past, the main concern about drug use and HIV transmission has
been related to risks posed by sharing dirty needles, but epidemiologic
patterns have shifted. It's now clear that intoxication with alcohol and
other drugs can lead to altered judgment and decision-making and a range
of risky behaviors that may expose individuals to HIV. Dr. Volkow cited a
sobering statistic as we approach World AIDS Day (tomorrow): AIDS is the
number one leading cause of death worldwide for 15-59 year olds. Youth are
particularly vulnerable as they begin to exercise new freedoms and explore
their environment, and that's why NIDA involved them directly in the
formulation and production of the new campaign. With students from Duke
Ellington School of the Arts, NIDA developed the text-messaged theme for
the PSA: "get high, get stupid, get HIV". The new PSA will air
across a variety of forums (MTV, etc.) targeting a youth market but can be
viewed by older people here.
Read
the full article
Any questions?
If you have any questions regarding SPIN or specific
science policy issues, please feel free to contact any of APA’s Science
PPO staff.
Geoff
Mumford, Ph.D., Director of Science Policy
Pat
Kobor, Senior Science Policy Analyst
Heather
O'Beirne Kelly, Ph.D., Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer
Karen
Studwell, J.D., Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer
Sara
Robinson, Legislative Assistant
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