New-to-the-Field Analysis for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias Focused Administrative Supplements.

Abstract

Background and objectives: The "Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD) Focused Administrative Supplements for National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grants that are not focused on Alzheimer's disease (AD Supplements to Non-AD awards)" program provides funded investigators from scientific areas other than AD/ADRD with administrative supplements to parent NIH grant awards to expand their current work into AD/ADRD.

Research design and methods: This analysis reviewed awardees of the supplement from fiscal years 2018 to 2022 using data obtained from NIH's internal grants administration data. The goal was to identify awardees who were New-to-the-Field (NTF) of AD/ADRD and assess outcome measures of success (subsequent applications, awards, and publications).

Results: In total, 1,555 AD Supplements to Non-AD awards were awarded (16% awarded to National Institute on Aging [NIA] grants; 84% to all other NIH Institutes and Centers [ICs]). Seventy-two percent of all awards went to awardees considered NTF. At the time of this analysis, administrative supplements to NTFs were awarded, on average, 3.42 years ago, so some projects have had little time to have substantial outcomes. The total awardee subsequent funding rate for all ICs was 60% (62% for NIA only). Regarding subsequent publications across all IC NTFs, 2.8% of NIH grants led by an NTF investigator had associated publications on an AD/ADRD-relevant topic after the supplement. For NIA-only administrative supplements, 5.4% of parent grants led by NTFs had associated subsequent AD/ADRD publications.

Discussion and implications: The findings suggest that AD Supplements to Non-AD awards have stimulated scientific interest among investigators who were new to AD/ADRD research at the time of application and may facilitate interdisciplinary research by bringing investigators into new and/or growing areas of research.