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National Institutes of Health

-Purpose. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) issued by the National Institute of Mental Health invites applications for Exploratory Grants for Mental Health Interventions and Services (R34) from applicant organizations to advance scientific research and intervention regarding HIV treatment adherence. -Mechanism of Support. This FOA will utilize the NIMH Exploratory Grants for Mental Health Interventions and Services (R34) grant mechanism and runs in parallel with FOAs of similar scientific scope, PA-07-338, which solicits applications under the Research Project Grant (R01) mechanism; PA-07-339, which solicits applications under the under the Small Research Grant (R03) mechanism; and PA-07-340, which solicits applications under the Exploratory/Developmental (R21) mechanism. Please note that the participating organizations vary across this set of FOAs. -Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards. Awards issued under this FOA are contingent upon the availability of funds and the submission of a sufficient number of meritorious applications.

National Institutes of Health

-Purpose. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) issued by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), invites research grant applications focused on persons with severe mental illness (SMI), either before or after HIV infection, and the expansion of HIV-related research to include homeless persons. The FOA solicits studies on the development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of effective HIV-prevention interventions, and studies related to the epidemiology of HIV infection in the target populations. Multidisciplinary research teams and collaborative alliances are encouraged. -Mechanism of Support. This FOA will utilize the NIH Research Project Grant (R01) grant mechanism, Applications of related or identical scientific scope are also solicited under the NIH Small Research Grant (R03), the NIH Exploratory/Developmental Grant (R21), and the NIMH Clinical Exploratory Research Grant (R34) grant mechanisms, responding to FOAs PA-06-180, PA-06-181, and PAR-06-248, respectively. -Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards. Because the nature and scope of the proposed research will vary from application to application, it is anticipated that the size and duration of each award will also vary. The total amount awarded and the number of awards will depend upon the mechanism numbers, quality, duration, and costs of the applications received.

Hogg Foundation for Mental Health

Funds mental health programs and policy in Texas communities.

Black Child Development Institute

To honor Black Childcare providers and offer them resources that support their own care and their status as essential care givers, educators and business owners. This event is free and will include self-care advocates, nutrition support, dialogue with mental health professionals, business and finance consultants, and local funders. The event will be held from 10am until 3pm on October 22, 2022 at Rainier Beach Community Center.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

PROJECT SUMMARY To retain new memories over long periods of time, the brain must be able to change in response to learning and then stabilize those changes to store long-term memories. However, the cellular mechanisms that enable long-term memory recall remain incompletely understood. Intriguingly, recent evidence suggests that myelin, the lipid-rich substance produced by glial cells known as oligodendrocytes, is critical for long- term memory recall. Myelin, previously thought to be static and stable after development, is critical for nervous system function; its primary role is to increase the conduction velocity of electrical signaling by neurons. In the adult brain, learning can induce the formation of new myelinating oligodendrocytes, known as oligodendrogenesis. The new myelin sheaths created by oligodendrogenesis are critical for the recall of long-term memories. However, how myelin is precisely modulated to regulate the neural activity underlying long- term memory storage remains an open question. To address this, I use an active avoidance paradigm in which mice learn to associate a light cue with a mild footshock and escape by shuttling to avoid footshock. The trial-based structure, the ability to compare correct and incorrect trials, and the greater diversity of behavioral readouts enable precise correlation between neural features and behavior. Furthermore, the specificity of these readouts can help uncover the precise circuits that are impacted by new myelin formation. Using the active avoidance, I will 1) identify which neurons become myelinated in the medial prefrontal cortex after avoidance learning using two-photon microscopy and 2) determine how oligodendrogenesis influences synchronization in the cortical-hippocampal-amygdala network during avoidance memory recall. Together, I will uncover how learning shapes myelination and how this myelin plasticity influences neural dynamics during long-term memory. These studies will shed light on underexplored, non-neuronal plasticity mechanisms that shape neural dynamics and have broad implications for our understanding of how the brain changes after learning. I will be conducting these experiments in Dr. Mazen Kheirbek’s laboratory, where all the techniques necessary for my project have been set up. The Kheirbek laboratory is located at the University of California, San Francisco, a world-renowned biomedical research facility. With the support of Dr. Kheirbek, co-sponsor Dr. Vikaas Sohal, and additional support from Dr. Jonah Chan, I am perfectly positioned to complete the described project. My postdoctoral work will enable me to achieve my ultimate career goal of running an independent academic laboratory studying how neuron-glia interactions influence neural circuit dynamics and behavior.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

ABSTRACT The dynamics of HIV infection in the brain is poorly understood. Infected cells that transport HIV across the blood brain barrier and into the brain causes inflammation and subsequent damage to resident brain cells. This manifests as a group of symptoms collectively referred to as HIV associated neurocognitive deficits (HAND). Today, in the post ART era, HAND consists of mild to moderate symptoms. This research is significant because it uses an in vivo model to assess the unique interactions among brain cells and peripheral immune cells in vivo in an HIV infected ASRT treated model. Results from these studies will give a better understanding of the events that define neuroHIV in the ART era.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Externalizing behavior disorders (EBDs) occur at high rates and have long term negative consequences for children, their families, and for society as a whole. There is robust empirical support for the efficacy of Behavioral Parent Training interventions (BPTs) such as Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) for EBDs in children. However, BPT outcomes, including for PCIT, vary widely between controlled efficacy trials and community-based effectiveness trials, and there are variable rates of engagement across families, with dropout rates as high as 82%. Understanding mechanisms that affect parent engagement and treatment outcomes in BPTs is particularly important for services received in community mental health settings (CMHS), where families are most likely to access care. In addition, developing tools to increase engagement and outcome may have strong application in light of large-scale implementations of PCIT in CMHS. A personalized version of PCIT (called MY PCIT) has been developed, addressing key risk factors for low treatment engagement and poor outcomes in BPT that relate to differences between parent and treatment explanatory models. MY PCIT begins with a pre-treatment assessment of parent explanatory models, then provides therapists with a report with personalization guidance and a suite of personalization tools that may be deployed based on the pre-treatment assessment. While pilot data supports the successful development of MY PCIT and its potential to reduce targeted risk factors, more research is needed to prepare it for self-sustaining implementability in CMHS, and to compare engagement and outcomes to standard PCIT. This study is a pilot hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation trial designed to gather preliminary data to evaluate the effectiveness and the self-sustaining implementability of MY PCIT in CMHS through the following aims: 1) Engage representative CMHS therapists in mixed methods user testing sessions to identify barriers to/facilitators of implementing MY PCIT and inform areas for modifications to make it more feasible, usable, and appropriate in CMHS. 2) Conduct a randomized controlled trial in CMHS comparing PCIT as usual to MY PCIT to obtain pilot data on engagement, clinical outcomes and targeted mechanism change. 3) Gather therapist-level implementation outcomes data on MY PCIT from the clinical trial. Findings from this pilot study will inform and support a future R01 proposal for a fully powered trial of MY PCIT. This project directly supports the mission of NIMH by advancing research to improve how effective treatments are adapted and sustained in real-world care. It also advances several NIMH Strategic Plan objectives, including: tailoring interventions to increase effectiveness (3.2), testing interventions in real-world settings (3.3), developing innovative service models to improve outcomes (4.3), and promoting sustained implementation of evidence-based treatments (4.2).

NIDA - National Institute on Drug Abuse

SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Adolescent nicotine vaping remains prevalent alongside increases in cannabis vaping, nicotine-cannabis co-vaping, and daily/near-daily nicotine and cannabis vaping rates since 2019. Nicotine and cannabis vaping are associated with nicotine and cannabis dependence, carcinogen exposure, and pulmonary, cognitive, and mental health symptoms, with co-vaping posing additive health risk. Despite the critical role of parents in preventing adolescents’ tobacco and cannabis smoking, adolescents’ vaping poses difficulties for parents in their ability to engage in vaping prevention parenting behaviors (VPPBs), as vape devices may be disguised as other products and modified to vape cannabis and higher levels of nicotine. Less than half of parents report knowledge of vape device characteristics, vaping health consequences, adolescent vaping norms, and youth-targeted vaping marketing. Social media messages about vaping and VPPBs are ideal prevention tools, as 90% of US parents use social media regularly including for health information and parenting advice. This proposal is informed by social cognitive theory and the health belief model and builds on our team’s expertise in longitudinal studies of parenting and adolescent substance use and experimental studies testing youth vaping messaging. The overall goal of this work is to understand how to empower parents to prevent adolescent nicotine and cannabis vaping. We will conduct a 6-wave longitudinal survey study among 1,000 US parent-adolescent (ages 12-17) dyads recruited via social media and a 5-week online experimental study among a subset of 300 parents with low parent vaping knowledge (PVK) to test messages designed to improve PVK and VPPBs. Parents will be randomly assigned to view Facebook posts in a 4 (within-persons) X 3 (between-persons) mixed design. Each parent will view: 1) 4 sets of messages aimed at promoting PVK (device characteristics, harms, norms, youth-targeted marketing) in a randomized order; and 2) one of 3 sets of messages aimed at promoting VPPBs (rules, monitoring, communication). Experimental outcomes include PVK (i.e., device characteristics, health consequences, vaping norms, youth-targeted marketing), use of VPPBs (i.e., rules, monitoring, communication), and adolescents’ vaping outcomes (i.e., any current nicotine/cannabis vaping, frequency of nicotine/cannabis vaping, co-vaping vs. nicotine-/cannabis-only vaping, susceptibility to future nicotine/cannabis vaping). We will address 2 specific aims: Aim 1 (longitudinal surveys) - Examine 1a) direct associations of PVK and VPPBs with adolescents’ nicotine and cannabis vaping trajectories; and 1b) indirect associations of PVK with adolescents’ nicotine and cannabis vaping trajectories via VPPBs as mediators; and Aim 2 (experimental study) - Examine: 2a) within-persons effects of PVK messaging themes on PVK outcomes and between-persons effects of VPPB messaging themes on VPPB outcomes; and 2b) within-persons effects of PVK messaging themes on adolescents’ vaping outcomes via increases in PVK and between-persons effects of VPPB messaging themes on adolescents’ vaping outcomes via increases in VPPB use. This proposal is responsive to NIDA’s NOT-DA-22-004: Epidemiology of Drug Abuse and will inform large-scale social media messaging campaigns empowering parents to prevent adolescent nicotine and cannabis vaping initiation and progression.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT. The overall objective of the proposed K23 is to support Dr. Rachel Siciliano in acquiring the skills necessary to become an independent investigator focused on elucidating mechanisms underlying treatment and individual differences corresponding to treatment response in trauma- exposed youth. Trauma-related mental health problems are a major public health problem. Over four million adolescents meet criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the U.S., and while evidence-based treatments (EBTs) are effective, up to a quarter of youth do not respond. EBT mechanisms and predictors of EBT components remain largely unknown. EBTs for PTSD include repeated imaginal exposure to trauma- related content, hypothesized to impact distress and PTSD symptoms via shifts in biological reactivity. Further, baseline threat reactivity and emotion regulation characteristics may influence EBT response. The proposed K23 directly addresses critical gaps in understanding how and for whom repeated imaginal exposure is effective in adolescents with trauma-exposure and PTSD symptoms. The goals of the proposed project are to: (1) examine the biobehavioral effects of repeated imaginal exposure and assess psychophysiological change as a potential mechanism of anxiety change; (2) assess baseline threat reactivity and emotion regulation as predictors of exposure task response; and (3) determine if baseline characteristics and exposure task responses relate to PTSD symptoms longitudinally. Dr. Siciliano is a promising candidate with a strong foundation in biobehavioral assessment and trauma-focused treatment but requires additional training. The proposed training plan closely aligns with the research goals and includes: (1) clinical and randomized controlled trials for adolescent PTSD; (2) EEG and EMG acquisition and analysis with data integration techniques; (3) experimental therapeutics, treatment mechanisms, causal inference, and longitudinal statistics; (4) precision medicine approaches and subgroup analyses; and (5) professional development. The rich academic environment at the Medical University of South Carolina and collective expertise of the mentorship team (Drs. Danielson, McTeague, Cisler, Whitfield-Gabrieli, Hayat) are uniquely suited to provide this training. The mentorship team, coursework, seminars, workshops, and conference attendance afforded by the K23 are essential for launching the candidate's independent career as a high impact translational scientist focused on EBT mechanisms and precision medicine advances for trauma-exposed youth. Findings have wide-ranging implications, as imaginal exposure is a central component in multiple interventions, and identifying distinct combinations of baseline characteristics matching onto exposure may improve treatment response predictions, thus advancing more precise interventions. Results from the proposed research will inform the development of future R01 grants targeting specific mechanisms of EBT components and testing if response to those components varies as a function of baseline characteristics or profiles.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

PROJECT SUMMARY Major depressive disorder (MDD) has long been theorized to reflect an overly broad disorder class that collapses across heterogenous risk pathways. A rate limiting factor to examining the divergent validity of MDD subtypes using genomic methods is a lack of sufficiently powered data. As part of the proposed project, we will utilize Co-I Dr. Lewis’ role as a leader in depression genetics and co-chair of the PGC MDD working group to put together the largest genome-wide association study (GWAS) yet performed for various MDD subtypes, including sex-stratified, atypical, postpartum, and severe MDD. In addition, we will employ Genomic LOSEM, a novel method introduced in the grant for examining non-linear changes in genetic signal that we will use to examine how different ages at onset and socioeconomic status shift MDD genetic architecture. The subtype GWAS and Genomic LOSEM package will be made available as public resources. Standard univariate approaches that focus strictly on either meta-analyzing across MDD in all its forms or analysis of a particular subtype are unable to parse genetic risk pathways that are broadly relevant to MDD from those that are unique to a specific subtype. In addition, family-based approaches are pragmatically limited to examining a handful of subtypes at a time and cannot describe underlying biology. Genomic Structural Equation Modeling (Genomic SEM) is an innovative, multivariate framework developed by the grant PI Dr. Grotzinger for modeling genetic overlap derived from GWAS data. The well-powered GWAS of MDD subtypes will be used as input to Genomic SEM models that will formally disambiguate shared and subtype-specific genetic signal. A unique advantage of Genomic SEM is that even mutually exclusive subtypes can be included in the same statistical model. The remaining analyses will characterize subtype-specific genetic signal at varying levels of biological granularity, including estimating genetic overlap with clinically relevant external correlates (e.g., cognition, other psychiatric disorders). By applying Stratified Genomic SEM, a novel extension for estimating multivariate functional enrichment, we will characterize biological pathways involved in subtype specific risk. These biological pathways can include, for example, genes expressed early in development, in certain brain regions, or in specific types of neurons. At the gene expression level, Transcriptome-wide SEM will be used to identify the lists of genes uniquely associated with an MDD subtypes. These results will be cross-referenced with the Connectivity Map drug repurposing dataset to identify existing pharmacological interventions that may have therapeutic benefit. By utilizing sex-stratified GWAS summary statistics we will explicitly consider biological sex as a moderator of relevant genetic pathways. In addition, expanding African, East Asian, and LatinX ancestry GWAS datasets, LD-scores, functional annotations, gene expression weights and cross-ancestry methods will allow us to extend the grant aims across diverse samples. Our analyses will collectively provide the most comprehensive evaluation to-date of subtype-specific etiology within MDD.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT People with HIV (PWH) who experience challenges with antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence are at increased risk for suboptimal treatment outcomes, including viral non-suppression and disengagement from care. Despite advancements in ART delivery options, personalized treatment approaches that integrate patient preferences remain underutilized, particularly among PWH facing psychosocial and documented barriers. Clinical decision support (CDS) tools offer a promising avenue to address this gap by tailoring treatment recommendations based on patient-specific needs and barriers. However, current CDS tools often fail to incorporate rich patient insights available from unstructured electronic health record (EHR) notes or systematically integrate directly reported preferences, limiting their potential to enhance adherence and outcomes. The proposed training and research plan for this K23 will enable José I. Gutierrez, Jr., PhD, FNP- BC, to acquire the expertise necessary to become an NIH-funded independent investigator who designs patient-informed CDS interventions that optimize HIV treatment delivery. Under the mentorship of an experienced multidisciplinary team, Dr. Gutierrez will use a mixed-methods approach to develop foundational components of a CDS prototype that integrates natural language processing (NLP)–derived EHR information with patient-reported preference data. Building on prior work in HIV treatment delivery and preference evaluation, he will pursue the following specific aims: (1) explore HIV treatment delivery preferences, barriers, and facilitators within EHR notes using NLP; (2) identify and quantify patient preferences, barriers, and facilitators using qualitative interviews and MaxDiff; and (3) develop the key features of a CDS prototype that generates tailored suggested actions informed by EHR and patient-preference data, and evaluate its acceptability, feasibility, usability, and intended adoption in a 9-month, cross-sectional, non-clinical user-testing study using standardized vignettes and de-identified/fictionalized cases (no live EHR). This research plan aligns with Dr. Gutierrez's career development goal to gain advanced skills in clinical informatics and NLP, qualitative and mixed-methods research, and patient-informed intervention design. Findings will provide the foundation for a subsequent NIH R01 to rigorously evaluate effectiveness in clinical settings, with the overarching goal of improving ART adherence and treatment outcomes among PWH. 1

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Specific Aims: This proposal aims to identify opportunities to improve the prevention and mitigation of risks associated with cognitive impairment among people aging with HIV. Aim 1 will estimate the proportion of cognitive impairment cases potentially attributable to psychosocial and behavioral risk factors to prioritize those, which if intervened upon, could hypothetically result in the greatest prevention of cognitive impairment. Aim 2 will determine whether cognitive impairment increases the risk of losing one’s durable (sustained) viral suppression so we may mitigate this adverse outcome. Significance: As people with HIV (PWH) live longer due to treatment advances, they face a growing burden of age-related conditions, including cognitive impairment. PWH experience higher rates of cognitive impairment than people without HIV despite widespread viral suppression, which implicates non-HIV-related factors in their cognitive risk. Focusing on psychosocial and behavioral risk factors, which are prevalent in PWH and causally linked to cognitive impairment, can help to prioritize fruitful prevention strategies. In addition, cognitive impairment may threaten the durability of viral suppression, which could hinder cognitive maintenance and prevention of HIV transmission. Considering these issues in tandem can inform preparations for the long-term healthcare needs of people aging with HIV. Approach: These aims will leverage the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) (Aim 1), which includes 10 years of longitudinal cognitive screening data, and the Johns Hopkins HIV Clinical Cohort (JHHCC) (Aim 2), an urban cohort of PWH with rich clinical data. In Aim 1, we will estimate population attributable fractions for incident cognitive impairment, using longitudinal data and methods to account for time-varying risk factors, censoring, and competing risks. In Aim 2, we will employ a longitudinal closed cohort design to estimate the risk ratio for loss of durable viral suppression in PWH by cognitive impairment status. Training Information: The proposed research encompasses the dissertation of Madeline Brooks, a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The training plan consists of coursework, mentorship, and professional development to support the successful completion of these aims and prepare Ms. Brooks to become an independent research epidemiologist. These aims address priorities of the NIH Office of AIDS Research to address the role of non-infectious comorbidities in central nervous system complications and subsequent implications for HIV transmission.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

Identifying the Specific Reward Processes Underlying the Maintenance of Binge-Eating Disorder using EEG and EMA ABSTRACT Binge-eating disorder (BED) is the most common and most expensive eating disorder in the United States. Further, BED is associated with significant medical complications (e.g., obesity) and premature death. Treatments for BED have demonstrated limited effectiveness, signaling a critical need for improved understanding of the mechanisms underlying BED maintenance to help guide novel or enhanced interventions. Reward-related processes (e.g., wanting, liking, learning) are highlighted within the National Institute of Mental Health’s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), and have been increasingly implicated in BED persistence. However, the specific reward processes that maintain BED are currently unknown. The incentive-sensitization theory suggests that food reward wanting, in particular, may serve as the primary maintenance factor underlying BED. Although preliminary data from our group indicate that food reward wanting may indeed play a critical role in BED maintenance, these data suggest that food reward liking and learning processes may also contribute to binge-eating persistence, highlighting their potential as novel targets for clinical intervention. Given this, research is critically needed to systematically evaluate the relative roles of food reward wanting, liking, and learning using both neural and naturalistic assessment approaches in BED, in order to pinpoint the specific reward mechanisms underlying BED persistence and guide treatment development. To address this need, the current proposal seeks to 1) evaluate the concurrent associations between binge-eating symptoms and food reward processes (i.e., wanting, liking, and learning) assessed at the neural level in the laboratory using electroencephalography (EEG); 2) evaluate the momentary prospective relationships between binge- eating symptoms and food reward processes (i.e., wanting, liking, and learning) assessed in the natural environment using ecological momentary assessment (EMA); and 3) evaluate the longer-term prospective associations between food reward processes (i.e., wanting, liking, and learning) assessed in the laboratory (via EEG) and the natural environment (via EMA), with change in binge-eating symptoms over 6-month follow-up. The research team includes experts in eating disorders, EMA, EEG, multilevel statistical modeling, and the neural basis of reward. Data from this study will clarify the specific neural and behavioral reward-related processes that contribute to binge-eating maintenance within BED. Knowledge gained from this study will help guide the development of targeted therapeutic approaches (e.g., neuromodulation, pharmaceutical, psychotherapy) that are designed to directly engage empirically-identified disorder-maintaining mechanisms, which will enhance the efficacy and efficiency of treatments for BED.

NICHD - Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Differential susceptibility theory proposes that children’s temperament confers greater susceptibility to both supportive and harsh family environments. Subsequent studies have provided compelling support for the designation of children’s environmental sensitivity (ES) as a top differential susceptibility factor. ES precisely captures differential susceptibility in its identification of behaviors that reflect a low threshold of environmental stimulation and responses that are finely tuned to varying environmental properties within and across contexts. Relative to the weak, inconsistent results of temperamental characteristics, the moderating role of ES has been consistently expressed in a susceptibility manner by both potentiating children’s risk for psychological problems in harsh family conditions and magnifying their better mental health outcomes in supportive family contexts. However, little is known about how ES confers child susceptibility across these varying socialization conditions. To address this significant gap, the present application is designed to break new ground by providing the first empirical delineation of the mechanisms that underpin the susceptibility of children who are high in ES. Guided by a synthesis of temperament and resource allocation theory, the aims of the proposal are designed to examine whether the moderating role of children’s ES in associations among family functioning and their psychological adjustment (i.e., internalizing and externalizing symptoms; social adjustment) is mediated by three classes of susceptibility mechanisms: (1) stress responses to family adversity across behavioral and representational dimensions; (2) emotion processing characteristics of preferential attention to specific types of emotion cues, emotion recognition, and emotion situation knowledge; and (3) exploratory approaches that vary in prioritization of securing short-term or long-term resources. Building on a strong foundation of theory and promising preliminary findings, this application will examine plasticity mechanisms underpinning ES by following a sample of 265 4-year-old children and their parents over three annual measurement occasions. The multi-method, multi-informant measurement battery, longitudinal design, and powerful quantitative analyses are designed to generate rigorous tests of hypotheses on the mechanisms mediating the moderating effects of ES in prospective associations among family functioning and children’s psychological sequelae. High methodological innovation and rigor are evident in the use of the latest, sophisticated measures of ES (e.g., observational and Q-sort assessments) and the proposed mediators (e.g., eye tracking measures of emotion-biased attention; novel and theoretically informed assessments of stress reactivity, computational modeling of exploratory strategies). Thus, by offering the first systematic tests of the child plasticity mechanisms underpinning ES, our application is poised to provide valuable theoretical and scientific knowledge on how children express differential susceptibility over time and translational guidance on modifiable mechanisms for optimizing the full psychological potential of susceptible children.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Loneliness, characterized by the subjective feeling of social disconnection, has significant adverse effects on physical and mental health, including increased risks of premature death, anxiety, depression, and suicide. These consequences are particularly severe among individuals with serious mental illness (SMI), where over 80% report loneliness, and individuals die 15 to 25 years earlier than those in the general population. Current interventions for loneliness in SMI lack broad efficacy and are hindered by a lack of theoretical guidance and a one-size-fits-all approach, failing to address individual (idiographic) differences effectively. This project proposes a novel, theory-informed approach to understanding idiographic mechanisms of loneliness among SMI populations. It is based on the social homeostasis theory, which posits that loneliness results from deficits in social utility, a measure of the fulfillment of social needs. The theory suggests that both the quality and quantity of social interactions contribute to social utility, and discrepancies between actual and preferred states of these interactions lead to loneliness. This research aims to employ intensive longitudinal data collection on daily social experiences of individuals with SMI to model social utility ideographically. The project's aims are to, at the individual level, (1) characterize the heterogeneity of relationships between social utility and loneliness using individual connectivity networks produced with group iterative multiple model estimation, (2) establish extent to which decreases in social utility relate to increases in loneliness by applying response surface analysis within individuals, and (3) clarify the temporal dynamics between these constructs using time-varying network modeling and differential time-varying effects modeling for each participant. The study uses two samples of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data: the first sample utilizes existing data from SMI patients to explore the theorized relationships in SMI directly. The structure of this existing data will allow for analysis of Aim (1) while a second, non-SMI sample is recruited online. The non-SMI sample will be enriched for loneliness and schizotypal personality traits to test and develop models of social utility more comprehensively. This second set of data is designed to be analyzed for all Aims, and results will generate hypotheses for similar research applied directly to SMI in future studies. By developing idiographic modeling techniques to study social utility, this research aims to advance personalized understanding of the heterogeneity of mechanisms to loneliness in SMI. This work not only progresses the field of clinical psychology by addressing a significant gap in the understanding and eventual treatment of loneliness among those with SMI but also enhances the researcher's skills in idiographic science through mentored training in sophisticated modeling techniques, thus empowering an independent program of future research investigating personalized treatment mechanisms for loneliness in SMI.

Indian Health Service

Supports substance abuse prevention, mental health services, and suicide prevention for American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

IL Dept of Veterans Affairs

Grants to nonprofits providing housing, employment, and mental health services to Illinois veterans.

Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs

Grants to organizations providing direct services to Illinois veterans and their families including legal aid, mental health counseling, housing assistance, and employment support.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

PROJECT SUMMARY During adolescence, individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often show escalating academic and social impairments and comorbid psychopathology, a rapid decline in medication use and adherence, less engagement in psychosocial treatments, and limited data to guide those treatments. Sleep has emerged as a promising new intervention target to mitigate this confluence of undertreatment and risk. Even compared to their notoriously sleep-deprived typically-developing (TD) peers, adolescents with ADHD have worse sleep, irrespective of whether they are taking ADHD-targeting medications. Growing evidence links this poor sleep to functional impairment, and our team has shown these links to be causal. Experimentally shortened sleep causally degrades core inattentive symptoms and common comorbid symptoms for adolescents with ADHD. Conversely, the effects of lengthening sleep in these studies rivaled those of more intensive behavioral treatments. Sleep-targeted interventions show tremendous promise for adolescents with ADHD, but other observational data from our group also highlight a crucial puzzle to unlock this promise: how to best integrate sleep duration with sleep timing. Adolescents with later chronotypes (“owls,” who prefer later bedtimes and rise times) perform worse in school than those with earlier chronotypes (“larks”), even after controlling for sleep duration and quality. We assert that this reflects a “misalignment effect”: a timing mismatch between the early demands of school and the late circadian phase (internal body clock) of owls. Emerging data from our labs suggest that attention in TD adolescents is improved by lengthening sleep only if it is timed to align with the individual’s circadian phase. If this also holds true for adolescents with ADHD, it would light new paths towards individualized interventions that address misalignment. In addition, evidence suggests that adolescents with ADHD may have delayed circadian phase, which would make morning activities (e.g., school) misaligned. If so, it would point to circadian-informed interventions for adolescents with ADHD as a group. To guide and justify circadian-informed intervention development, we propose two concurrent studies that will yield complementary data. The first is an observational school-year study that will determine, for the first time, test whether adolescents ages 13-17 with ADHD (n=85) average a later circadian phase than sex- and age- matched TD peers (n=85), and whether misalignment is linked to real-world deficits in attention and functional outcomes. The second is a summer mechanistic clinical trial that will test, also for the first time, the causal impact of circadian misalignment on attention in adolescents with ADHD (N=50). Findings will provide unique insight into the role of circadian factors in adolescent ADHD, concurrently testing cause-effect relationships and real-world implications. If, as we predict, circadian misalignment is common amongst adolescents with ADHD, causally impacts attention, and is linked to real-world functional impairment, it would open important new avenues for intervention in a difficult-to-treat population at high risk for poor outcomes.

National Institutes of Health

<p style="margin-left:0in;">The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) intends to publish a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) to solicit biphasic research applications to evaluate the impact of HIV immunotherapies on central nervous system (CNS) outcomes in people with HIV and to identify mechanisms, benefits, and risks associated with their use in the CNS compartment. The primary goal is to generate evidence that informs whether HIV immunotherapies can safely and effectively target CNS HIV persistence while minimizing neurotoxicity and neuroinflammation. By addressing CNS-specific barriers such as blood brain barrier penetration, compartmentalized viral dynamics, and immune-mediated effects, this NOFO will support the development of strategies that contribute to sustained virologic remission across anatomical compartments and improve long-term neurologic and cognitive outcomes in people with HIV. Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop meaningful collaborations and responsive projects. Investigators with expertise and insights into the impact of HIV immunotherapies on the CNS and viral reservoirs are strongly encouraged to apply to this new NOFO. This NOFO will utilize the R21/R33 activity code.</p>

National Institutes of Health

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) intends to publish a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) to solicit biphasic research applications to evaluate the impact of HIV immunotherapies on central nervous system (CNS) outcomes in people with HIV and to identify mechanisms, benefits, and risks associated with their use in the CNS compartment. The primary goal is to generate evidence that informs whether HIV immunotherapies can safely and effectively target CNS HIV persistence while minimizing neurotoxicity and neuroinflammation. By addressing CNS-specific barriers such as blood brain barrier penetration, compartmentalized viral dynamics, and immune-mediated effects, this NOFO will support the development of strategies that contribute to sustained virologic remission across anatomical compartments and improve long-term neurologic and cognitive outcomes in people with HIV. Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop meaningful collaborations and responsive projects. Investigators with expertise and insights into the impact of HIV immunotherapies on the CNS and viral reservoirs are strongly encouraged to apply to this new NOFO. This NOFO will utilize the R21/R33 activity code.

OD - NIH Office of the Director

PROJECT SUMMARY Access to quality health care is a persistent public health challenge for children living with disabilities (CWD) and contributes to elevated rates of poor physical and mental health, especially for CWD who live in low- income households, live in rural areas, or are Black or Hispanic. School-based health centers (SBHCs) are a promising health care delivery intervention for children and families that provide primary care and other preventive services at no or reduced costs and on or near school grounds, thereby overcoming financial and transportation barriers to care. Prior studies suggest that SBHCs improve health care access and health and academic outcomes but benefits to CWD have not been examined. This proposed study will address this gap using a sequential explanatory mixed methods design to examine the impacts of SBHCs on outcomes among CWD in California and Oregon, states with longstanding SBHC programs and diverging approaches to SBHCs. Using multiple years of health insurance claims data and survey data, we will: (Aim 1) characterize access to and use of SBHCs and (Aim 2) estimate SBHC impacts on health care utilization and health outcomes among CWD (overall and by impairment type) and examine differences by income, urbanicity, and race and ethnicity. Using in-depth interviews with CWD, parents of CWD, and clinicians at SBHCs (Aim 3), we will elicit stakeholder perspectives on the perceived barriers and facilitators to SBHC utilization among CWD. The proposed research is timely and important due to the rapid expansion of SBHCs (128% increase between 1998 and 2017) and recent increases in funding to support SBHCs ($25 million increase between Fiscal Years 2021 and 2022). Elucidating whether and how CWD benefit from SBHC access and use is critical to understanding whether continued expansion and funding will contribute to (or exacerbate) health care access barriers and poor health in CWD.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are increasingly prevalent among youth in the United States. Pediatric outpatient mental healthcare settings are critical sites for suicide prevention. Despite changes in clinical practice guidelines and accreditation standards recognizing pediatric mental health providers’ responsibility to implement evidence-based practices (EBPs) for suicide prevention, little is understood about how to optimize such practices for the outpatient context. Further, minimal research has captured the perspectives of youth patients who have received suicide prevention EBPs during treatment or those of their caregivers, who are often at the forefront of suicide prevention efforts. The specific aims of the proposed study are to: (1) Understand the lived experiences of key constituents and identify contextual determinants of implementation of a evidence-based suicide prevention pathway within outpatient pediatric mental healthcare, and (2) Develop a set of contextually tailored implementation strategies to optimize and sustain suicide prevention implementation in pediatric mental healthcare using a community-engaged approach. The current study proposes to recruit a sample of pediatric mental health clinicians, youth patients (ages 12-18), and patient caregivers from public, outpatient child psychiatry clinics to participate in qualitive interviews. Additionally, the current study proposes to form a group of implementation leaders (pediatric clinicians and clinic directors) to participate in the Implementation Mapping process. Researchers and leaders will partner to operationalize implementation strategies that are: responsive to the needs of youth patients and families and enhance EBP fit with the outpatient care context. Research aims support the applicant’s training goals to: (1) Enhance knowledge of dissemination and implementation science with a focus on qualitative research and Implementation Mapping, (2) Develop specialized expertise in suicide prevention research and practice in health systems, and (3) Gain foundational training in community-engaged research methods with a specific focus on partnering with community members to develop strategies to increase access to evidence-based mental health services. The applicant’s mentorship team is comprised of experts in youth mental health services and community-engaged research methods (Dr. Meinzer), implementation science and qualitative methods (Dr. Rudd), and suicide prevention research (Dr. Weinstock). The mentoring team will advance the applicant’s goals to pursue research training at the intersection of suicide prevention and implementation science and to utilize participatory methods. The proposed research and training plan ultimately supports the candidate’s long-term goal of pursuing a career as an NIH-funded, independent researcher dedicated to understanding strategies for enhancing suicide prevention within youth-serving systems. The proposed study centers the lived experiences of frontline clinicians, youth, and families in the development of implementation strategies that can be harnessed in future clinical research trials of suicide prevention interventions.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

Mental health (MH) disorders affect over 970 and 59.3 million people worldwide and the U.S, respectively, and remain the leading cause of disease burden across the lifespan, driving significant disability, premature mortality, and elevated risk for comorbid physical health conditions and a staggering national economic impact. Despite decades of research, the burden has not measurably decreased since 1990. In the U.S., nearly half of individuals with mental illness and over 70% with substance use disorders do not receive adequate care. Structural obstacles—including workforce shortages, high costs, negative attitudes, and fragmented care systems—continue to impede access. Implementation Science (IS) offers vital evidence-based approaches to close the persistent gap between evidence-based MH research and routine practice, yet few proven interventions have been scaled successfully to benefit large populations. The IMPACT-MH T32 Training Program (Implementation Science and Partnerships Advancing Care and Training in Mental Health) seeks to cultivate the next generation of MH IS researchers committed to sustainably reducing the U.S. treatment gap. Postdoctoral fellows will engage in intensive mentorship and a fully integrated curriculum spanning all research phases: pre-intervention design, intervention delivery, and post-implementation evaluation. Early emphasis on sustainability and partnerships with communities and policymakers will inform design choices—ensuring that interventions can be effectively delivered, scaled up, and rigorously evaluated over time. Training domains include deployment-focused research—contextual adaptation and stakeholder co-design of evidence-based interventions (EBI) across varied settings—and dissemination, implementation, scale-up, and policy research aimed at securing sustainable MH services. Through tailored mentorship and collaborative training with faculty experts in public health, psychology/psychiatry, IS, and health policy, fellows will develop the interdisciplinary perspectives and the conceptual, methodological, and technological competencies necessary to advance MH IS research. Mentored by experienced faculty, a cohort of four fellows, appointed for two to three years, will partner with communities and policymakers to design projects and pursue competitive NIH awards (including K-series and R-series proposals) will enhance the relevance, feasibility, and impact of their research. Leveraging well-established multisectoral partnerships with community service organizations, health networks, faith-based coalitions, and government programs, IMPACT-MH T32 ensures that fellows’ research informs real-world services and policy. Graduates of IMPACT-MH will be equipped to translate emerging discoveries into sustainable, evidence-informed mental health care systems and policies that strengthen the public health impact of NIMH-supported research (NIMH objective). By training leaders, fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration, building multi-sector partnerships, tailoring and scaling EBI, and advancing sustainable solutions, this program will make significant strides toward closing the U.S. mental health treatment and research gap.