skip to main content
Research funding

Urging a flexible National Institutes of Health funding framework for future clinical trial investigators

APA is urging NIH to create flexible funding pathways that pair opportunity with the mentorship early-career investigators need to thrive

Last updated: October 16, 2026 Date created: October 6, 2026 2 min read
APA Style leaf logo Cite This Article in APA Style
American Psychological Association. (2026, October 16). Urging a flexible National Institutes of Health funding framework for future clinical trial investigators. https://www.apaservices.org/advocacy/news/flexible-nih-funding-clinical-trial

Two healthcare researchers in lab coats review clinical trial samples at a laboratory workstation.

On behalf of APA, Executive Lead Psychologist for Science Adrienne Stith urged the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to adopt a flexible framework for developing future clinical trial investigators. The recommendation came in APA’s response (PDF, 302KB)opens in new window to NIH’s recent Request for Information (RFI) on Potential Funding Approaches To Support These Investigatorsopens in new window (NOT-OD-26-095). This type of framework would preserve mentored leadership opportunities for appropriately scoped pilot and feasibility trials while providing separate or transition-stage support for larger, costlier, riskier, multisite, or infrastructure-intensive research. 

APA advised NIH not to treat the two approaches outlined in the RFI as mutually exclusive. Instead, the agency should match the funding mechanism to the investigator’s career-development stage and the proposed trial’s scope, cost, risk, and infrastructure requirements, particularly in behavioral and psychological science. APA could support separate trial funding during the NIH Career Development (K) award if NIH ensures that access is timely, predictable, and administratively manageable.

If NIH adopts approach 1, which employs separate trial support during the mentored K award period, APA recommends that the agency:

  • Coordinate review and award timelines;
  • publish clear eligibility and scope standards;
  • minimize duplicative requirements;
  • support developmentally appropriate studies;
  • and Protect continuity of funding and research.

Election 2026 APA Services Voter Guide

Many issues affecting psychologists and their communities are on the ballot this November, and your engagement in the upcoming election can impact the future of your work and the well-being of society. Use the 2026 APA Services Voter Guide to learn how you can engage in the upcoming election and educate candidates and communities about the importance of psychology and the issues that matter to you.

For approach 2, which would create a phased transition to an independent research award, APA supports the K/R transition model as an option for larger, later-stage, multisite, or infrastructure-intensive trials. However, the association does not support using this model as a universal replacement for mentored trial leadership. APA recommends that any transition model preserve meaningful, supervised leadership during the K award period and allow investigators to refine their proposed studies.

APA further recommended that any K-supported trial preserve protected training time and include explicit mentor oversight of scientific, ethical, regulatory, and operational matters. NIH should also apply consistent criteria across its Institutes and Centers and establish clear, predictable processes that do not assume institutions can absorb unfunded costs.

For more information, email Angela L. Sharpe.

You may also like