Deadline Date: September 09, 2026
The National Institutes of Health is inviting applications for its Research Coordinating Center to support a consortium of clinical centers conducting research on optimal anti-obesity medication treatment strategies for children and adolescents with obesity.
The funding opportunity focuses on anti-obesity medication treatment strategies for youth with obesity, healthy growth and development, nutritional status and intake, healthy eating behaviors, physical activity promotion, mental health and well-being, quality of life, clinical implementation of obesity treatments, optimal developmental timing for medication initiation, weight loss management, medication dosing and duration, lifestyle interventions, predictors of treatment response, data harmonization, clinical research coordination, and collaborative multicenter studies.
The initiative seeks to identify treatment strategies that maximize the benefits and minimize the risks associated with anti-obesity medication use among children and adolescents. Research supported through this consortium should promote healthy physical and psychological development while ensuring interventions are practical and feasible for implementation in clinical care settings.
Priority research areas include determining the most appropriate developmental stage for initiating anti-obesity medications, identifying optimal rates and amounts of weight loss, evaluating different medication classes, dosages, frequencies, and treatment durations, and assessing the content and intensity of accompanying lifestyle interventions. Studies should also investigate factors that predict treatment response and nonresponse to support more personalized and effective obesity management approaches.
The selected Research Coordinating Center will play a central leadership role within the consortium. Responsibilities include providing administrative and management support, leading statistical design and analysis activities, coordinating with a central laboratory, harmonizing data collection procedures, establishing common data elements, developing and maintaining the consortium database, managing data analyses, and fostering collaboration among participating research teams.
Clinical centers participating in the consortium may conduct either independent or multicenter trials. However, all participating sites will collaborate on protocol development, standardized procedures for data and biospecimen collection, common measures, central laboratory activities, data analysis, and dissemination of findings through scientific publications.
The funding opportunity provides an estimated total program funding of USD 1,000,000. Projects may be funded for a maximum period of five years, including up to one year dedicated to a planning phase.
Eligible applicants include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, state and local governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, public housing authorities, Native American tribal governments and organizations, nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status, independent school districts, small businesses, and for-profit organizations other than small businesses.
The initiative aims to generate evidence that will guide the safe and effective use of anti-obesity medications in children and adolescents while supporting long-term health outcomes and reducing the potential for lifelong dependence on medication-based treatment approaches.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
