JHU OAIC Awards, Grant Year 2025-2026

LOI Due Date: March 15, 2025 . Download PDF Instructions here.

The National Institute on Aging-supported Johns Hopkins Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC; https://peppercenter.jhu.edu/) is soliciting Letters of Intent (LOI) for scientific projects related to physical frailty in older adults. Proposals should aim to improve clinical care and management and/or extend healthy, independent life for older adults via the translation of frailty concepts or measures. Highly prioritized areas include developing or implementing interventions/management strategies to prevent frailty or ameliorate its adverse effects, evaluating etiological pathways for frailty, developing novel biomarkers for early detection of frailty risk, preventing falls and other adverse events to which frail older adults are vulnerable, and assuring equal access to the health benefits of frailty research for all older adults. We welcome research along the entire spectrum of targets and approaches for ameliorating frailty, including basic science/pharmaceutical development, disease management, lifestyle interventions, technological innovations, AI/machine learning/statistical approaches to accelerate discovery, and the influence of familial or community health factors. Applicants from all backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. Mechanisms for funding are:

  • Pilot / Exploratory Studies Core Award (max $40K), which supports research costs for faculty conducting a frailty-related research project
  • Research Education Core (REC) Award (max $50K), which supports early career faculty (without prior NIH grant funding as PI) conducting a frailty-related research project and engaging in mentored career development activities

In addition to these funds, awardees will have access to biostatistical/analytical, molecular measurement, clinical translational, and technological resource core support.

LOI Submission Process:

The proposed principal investigator must be from Johns Hopkins. The LOI should be targeted to one of the awards described above, be up to 2 pages in length, and include the following components: 1) overview and study aims; 2) statement of significance to the field of frailty research; 3) summary of research, study design (including a description of feasibility for successfully implementing the proposed project within the 12-month funding period), and data analysis approach; and 4)  statement on translation potential and/or of how this proposal will seed future research. REC applicants should also include a named mentor and brief overview of proposed career development activities and commitment to protected time. LOI and NIH Biosketch should be submitted as either Word or PDF documents to the JHU OAIC Administrator, Brian Buta, [email protected], by March 15, 2025.

Review process and next steps:

LOIs will be reviewed and decisions on LOIs will  be sent by April 1, 2025.  Selected projects will be invited to submit full project proposals, due by Friday, May 1, 2025. Detailed information on full proposal requirements will be provided. Selected awardees will be notified by June 16, 2025. The award period for funded applications will be July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.

We encourage outreach to our team to discuss the suitability and relevance of proposed scientific projects ahead of the LOI deadline. Please direct questions to [email protected].