NIMH Strategic Initiatives for Prevention Research

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has a longstanding history of supporting prevention research and has included clear opportunities for prevention science in the NIMH Strategic Plan. Prevention research at NIMH spans all phases of the disease lifecycle from understanding etiology and risk factors to developing and testing primary and secondary intervention strategies with universal, selected and indicated populations.  Although the type of prevention research supported by NIMH has evolved over time, several new directions taken by the NIMH have direct implications for prevention science researchers, and represent new opportunities to advance prevention science.  This roundtable discussion will bring together staff from NIMH and the NIH Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) to provide an overview of key initiatives and policy changes that have direct relevance to the field of prevention science. The session will provide ample time for discussion of these initiatives and their relationship to future funding of prevention science at the NIMH.   An overview of prevention research at NIMH will be provided.  The NIMH clinical trials funding opportunity announcements, which span early efficacy testing through services research, will be discussed.  The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Project, which defines basic dimensions of functioning (e.g., fear circuitry, working memory) to be studied across multiple units of analysis, cutting across disorders as traditionally defined will be introduced.  Opportunities to ask questions about potential strategies for integrating RDoC constructs into prevention research projects will be provided.  The new data sharing expectations for NIMH-funded clinical trials will be presented, as well as the recently launched National Database for Clinical Trials Related to Mental Illnesses (NDCT).  Gaps and future directions for research opportunities in the area of suicide prevention will be highlighted.   Finally, a representative from the NIH ODP will provide the cross-NIH perspective on prevention research and discuss the recently released ODP Strategic Plan.