The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research educational activities that complement other formal training programs in the mission areas of the NIH Institutes and Centers. The overarching goal of this R25 program is to support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs.The over-arching goal of this NCI R25 program is to support educational activities that  complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs. Applications are encouraged that propose innovative, state-of-the-art programs that address the cause, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of cancer, rehabilitation from cancer, or the continuing care of cancer patients and the families of cancer patients, in order to advance the NCI mission. To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this NOFO will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on:

• Curriculum or Methods Development:  Proposed curriculum or methods development activities should have high potential to improve biomedical, behavioral or clinical cancer research education, or involve the development of novel instructional approaches or computer-based tools for cancer research education. Innovative and de novo projects that educate participants on the translational potential of recent advances in cancer research are encouraged. Whereas the proposed activities can provide a foundation for new courses or be integrated into the existing curricula in the grantee institution, it is expected that the curriculum or methods developed can be readily adaptable by the cancer research education community
• The proposed curriculum or methods to be developed should be appropriate for offering to or being used by participant audiences that include biomedical researchers; health care providers; medical, dental, nursing, and other health professional students; graduate students; and/or members of the lay community involved in the dissemination of health information.
• This R25 NOFO  provides support for curriculum or methods development projects that may require up to 2 years to develop, test, and prepare for dissemination, prior to being offered to the intended participant audience. It does not support the actual offering of the developed curriculum or methods to identifiable participants at the applicant institution or elsewhere, which may be able to be supported through the companion funding opportunity, PAR-23-276 , Cancer Research Education Grants Program - Courses for Skills Development (R25). 

Non-responsive Applications

Applications with one or more of the characteristics listed below will be considered non-responsive and will not be reviewed:

• Proposed curriculum or method to be developed is not cancer-focused.
• Proposed curriculum or method to be developed is intended for students at or below the undergraduate level or for individuals who are not involved in providing health care or disseminating health information.
• Application proposes a research project, including an educational research project, rather than the development of a curriculum or method.
• Application proposes to adapt curricula or methods currently available through the existing core curricula at colleges, graduate schools, medical schools, or resident training programs.
• Application proposes to adapt a current or previous R25 funded curriculum or method to focus on a different target population.
• Application proposes to disseminate a current or previous R25 funded curriculum or method.

Research education programs may complement ongoing research training and education occurring at the applicant institution, but the proposed educational experiences must be distinct from those training and education programs currently receiving Federal support. R25 programs may augment institutional research training programs (e.g., T32, T90) but cannot be used to replace or circumvent Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) programs.