Consortium for Palliative Care Research Across the Lifespan (U54 Clinical Trial Optional)

The Consortium for Palliative Care Research Across the Lifespan is opening a new funding opportunity titled "U54 Clinical Trial Optional". This initiative invites applicants to express their interest in being part of a specialized center known as the Consortium. The primary intention of this center is to offer resources, expertise, and coordination needed to promote original, top-quality research into palliative care for people with serious illnesses at any stage of life.

The planned range of research within this infrastructure will cover Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD), cancer, and other serious illnesses. Additionally, it will include populations relevant to the collaborating Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs). Despite the many palliative care research projects currently funded by NIH across the ICOs, there's a necessity for a more structured approach to maximize synergies, synchronize efforts, cultivate the scientific labor force, and fill any remaining gaps in this field.

This initiative intends to generate new scientific knowledge, partially through backing pilot and exploratory studies and supporting the growth of early- and mid-career palliative care investigators. It aspires to act as a national platform providing research resources, encourage high-quality palliative care research, and engage healthcare systems and community-based organizations as collaborative research partners and settings.

A key aspect of this initiative will be to understand and address the disparities in access, quality, and use of palliative care services for populations affected by health disparities or those in underserved areas. The ultimate goal is to disseminate research findings, best practices, data, and other meaningful resources to both palliative care research and clinical communities.