Addressing Suicide Research Gaps: Understanding Mortality Outcomes (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed ) | RFA MH 20 305

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA MH 20 305

The grant opportunity "Addressing Suicide Research Gaps: Understanding Mortality Outcomes (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" (RFA-MH-20-305) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding announcement that supports research aimed at closing key knowledge gaps about suicide mortality outcomes by making better use of data that already exist. Rather than funding new clinical trials, the FOA is centered on secondary analyses and data integration, meaning investigators are expected to leverage and combine existing sources such as prior basic science, clinical, and intervention studies on suicide risk and suicidal behaviors, along with real-world data streams like healthcare records and social media data. The core goal is to generate new insights into what predicts suicide death and what factors may change risk across individuals or contexts, using innovative analytic approaches on already-collected information.

A major emphasis of this FOA is identifying predictors and moderators of suicide risk, particularly those tied to mortality outcomes. Predictors can include biological variables (for example, biomarkers or physiological indicators), experiential and environmental factors (such as trauma exposure, life stressors, or social determinants), and other measurable characteristics that may signal heightened risk. Moderators are factors that influence the strength or direction of those relationships, helping explain why certain predictors matter more for some people than others, or under certain circumstances. The announcement explicitly encourages dimensional variables, which typically means measuring traits, symptoms, or behaviors along continuous scales rather than as simple yes/no categories. It also encourages multi-level analyses, which can involve integrating information across different layers such as biology, behavior, clinical presentation, social context, and system-level factors like healthcare access and service use.

Because this is an R01 mechanism, the intent is to support substantial, well-scoped research projects with strong scientific rigor, clear hypotheses, and robust analytic plans. The "Clinical Trial Not Allowed" designation is important: applications should not propose prospective interventional studies that assign participants to conditions to test health outcomes. Instead, the work should focus on secondary data analysis, harmonization of variables across datasets, linkage of datasets (where permitted and feasible), and advanced modeling approaches to better understand pathways to suicide mortality. Projects that can responsibly connect different data types (for instance, clinical histories with digital traces or administrative health outcomes) fit especially well with the FOA's focus on leveraging existing resources to answer questions that single datasets cannot address alone.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of organizations that can contribute to suicide research infrastructure and analysis. Applicants may include state, county, city, township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (outside higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses, among others. The FOA also highlights additional eligible applicant categories, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and even non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations), reflecting an interest in diverse institutional participation and potentially broader data resources.

Key administrative details from the source listing include that the opportunity is discretionary and uses a grant funding instrument under the health activity category, with CFDA number 93.242. The original closing date listed is February 10, 2020, with a stated award ceiling of $500,000. The listing does not specify the number of expected awards in the provided text. Overall, the program is designed to accelerate progress by encouraging researchers to combine and reanalyze existing datasets in sophisticated ways to uncover actionable, multi-dimensional indicators of suicide mortality risk, with the ultimate aim of improving understanding that can inform prevention strategies and future research directions without conducting new clinical trials under this specific mechanism.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Addressing Suicide Research Gaps: Understanding Mortality Outcomes (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed )" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.242.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-11-20.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-02-10. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

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