Palliative Care Needs of Individuals with Rare Advanced Diseases and Their Family Caregivers (R21) | PA 17 017

Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 17 017

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant opportunity titled "Palliative Care Needs of Individuals with Rare Advanced Diseases and Their Family Caregivers (R21)" (Funding Opportunity Number PA-17-017) is a discretionary research grant designed to build a stronger evidence base for palliative care in the context of advanced rare diseases, including rare cancers. The central goal is to generate new knowledge that can improve both physical and psychosocial well-being and overall quality of life for people living with serious, advanced rare conditions, while also addressing the needs and outcomes of their family caregivers. In practical terms, the opportunity is aimed at research that helps clinicians, health systems, and communities better understand what patients and caregivers in rare-disease settings actually experience, what gaps exist in current palliative care approaches, and what strategies might work to relieve symptoms, reduce distress, support decision-making, and improve day-to-day functioning and quality of life.

This announcement uses the NIH R21 mechanism, which typically supports early-stage, exploratory, or developmental research that can open up new lines of investigation or produce preliminary evidence that later supports larger clinical or implementation studies. Projects funded under an R21 are often expected to be innovative and focused, such as developing and piloting an intervention, testing the feasibility of a care model, refining measurement tools tailored to rare disease populations, or identifying key palliative care needs that have not been well characterized. Because rare diseases frequently involve small, geographically dispersed patient populations and variable illness trajectories, this FOA implicitly supports work that can overcome common barriers in rare-disease research, such as limited sample sizes, challenges in recruitment, and a lack of validated palliative care outcomes measures specific to these conditions.

The funding instrument is a grant, and the activity areas fall under education and health. The opportunity lists CFDA numbers 93.361, 93.393, 93.395, and 93.399, indicating alignment with multiple NIH program areas that can include cancer and other health-related research domains. The award ceiling is listed as $200,000, which signals a relatively modest budget consistent with exploratory R21 studies. The original closing date shown in the source information is January 24, 2018, and the record creation date is October 18, 2016, meaning this is a historical listing; anyone interested in applying would need to verify whether NIH has reissued, updated, or replaced this FOA with a newer version and what the current deadlines and application requirements are.

A notable feature of the announcement is its broad eligibility. In addition to standard eligible applicants such as state, county, city, township, and special district governments, independent school districts, and public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, it includes public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, federally recognized Native American tribal governments, and Native American tribal organizations that are not federally recognized tribal governments. It also allows nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (outside of higher education), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), and small businesses, along with an "Others" category that further expands who may apply.

The FOA also explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant types that NIH wants to encourage, reflecting an interest in reaching diverse communities and enabling research in settings where patients and caregivers actually receive care and support. These include Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions; Asian American, Native American, and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs); Hispanic-serving institutions; Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs); and Indian/Native American tribal governments that are not federally recognized. It also allows eligible federal agencies, faith-based or community-based organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, regional organizations, and even non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations). That breadth suggests NIH anticipated that meaningful palliative care research for rare advanced diseases may need partnerships across academic centers, community organizations, tribal entities, and international groups, especially given that expertise and patient communities for certain rare diseases may be distributed globally.

Overall, this R21 opportunity is focused on strengthening the science behind palliative care for advanced rare diseases by supporting exploratory research that can identify needs, test promising approaches, and improve quality of life outcomes for both patients and family caregivers. It is structured to invite a wide range of applicants and settings, likely because rare-disease palliative care gaps are multifaceted and often require collaboration across disciplines, institutions, and communities to make progress.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Palliative Care Needs of Individuals with Rare Advanced Diseases and Their Family Caregivers (R21)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.361, 93.393, 93.395, 93.399.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-10-18.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-01-24. (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 $200,000.00 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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