The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Nov. 17 issued an update to the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) Cohort Program, which announced the first set of funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) for the program.
The PMI Cohort Program is envisioned as a national research cohort of one million Americans who volunteer to contribute their health data [see Washington Highlights, Sept. 18]. NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., stated that the FOAs will “build a solid infrastructure for the PMI Cohort Program, including a coordinating center, biobank, network of healthcare provider organizations, and participant mobile technologies.” With the exception of the healthcare provider organizations (HPO) enrollment center FOA, all of the awards are intended for only one recipient, in amounts ranging from $8 to $21 million.
In addition to the infrastructure grants, NIH is also soliciting applications for communication support for the PMI and pilot studies for the direct volunteer component of the cohort program. These opportunities are listed under an Other Transactional Authorities (OTA) mechanism, for which NIH has published a detailed policy guide. Application deadlines run from December 2015 to February 2016.
The NIH also announced members of the PMI Cohort Program Advisory Panel, which will be providing guidance and oversight for the planning and operations of the cohort program.