Health-professional Education Partnership Initiative (HEPI) (R25 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA TW 17 001

HEPI (RFA-TW-17-001) Grant Opportunity FAQs

1) What is the HEPI funding opportunity?

The Health-professional Education Partnership Initiative (HEPI) is an NIH Fogarty International Center Research Education Program (R25) grant opportunity intended to strengthen research-related education and workforce capacity in settings with heavy HIV burden and limited resources. It is positioned as a research education mechanism (training-focused), not a traditional hypothesis-driven research project award.

2) Which NIH program and mechanism does HEPI use?

HEPI is offered through the NIH Fogarty International Center and uses the R25 Research Education Program mechanism. The funding instrument is a discretionary grant.

3) What is the main purpose of HEPI?

The main purpose is to build and strengthen a pipeline of health professionals and researchers in low-income, high HIV-burden settings by improving research education, skills, mentoring, and institutional training capacity. The program aims to support national and regional health research needs and help strengthen how evidence is generated and used in healthcare environments.

4) What geographic regions and country contexts are emphasized?

The opportunity specifically emphasizes low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly settings with a heavy HIV burden and limited resources.

5) Does HEPI support clinical trials?

No. The opportunity is explicitly labeled "Clinical Trial Not Allowed." Supported activities should not include conducting clinical trials as part of the award.

6) If clinical trials are not allowed, what kinds of activities are supported?

HEPI supports "creative educational activities" that focus on structured training and education rather than conducting hypothesis-driven research. Examples named in the opportunity include skills development courses, research training, mentoring activities, and curriculum or methods development.

7) What does "research education" mean in the context of HEPI?

In this context, "research education" means designing and delivering organized educational programming that builds research competencies and workforce readiness (for example, coursework, short courses, mentoring structures, and modernized curricula), rather than funding a stand-alone research project aimed at producing specific experimental results.

8) What kinds of training or education components would be considered responsive to HEPI?

Based on the description provided, responsive components would likely include structured skills development courses to build research competencies, formal research training experiences, strong mentoring systems for trainees and early-career professionals, and curriculum or teaching methods development that can be sustained locally.

9) What is the role of mentoring in HEPI?

Mentoring is an explicitly supported activity type. The opportunity highlights mentoring activities as a core part of building research capacity and helping trainees and early-career professionals develop toward research careers and roles in evidence generation and use.

10) Is curriculum development an allowable or encouraged activity?

Yes. Curriculum or methods development is called out as an activity type. The description suggests an emphasis on developing or modernizing curricula and teaching approaches that can be sustained locally.

11) Does HEPI encourage interprofessional education?

Yes. The opportunity emphasizes interprofessional education approaches that bring different health disciplines together to improve team-based healthcare delivery and problem-solving, especially in high HIV-burden environments.

12) How does HEPI address diversity in the research workforce?

The opportunity highlights diversity in the research workforce as an emphasis area and encourages approaches that broaden participation. It also notes recruiting and developing individuals with particular specialties or disciplinary backgrounds into research careers in biomedical, behavioral, and clinical sciences in low-income countries.

13) Is outreach and broad recruitment expected?

Yes. The opportunity stresses outreach to broad communities to widen participation in training and mentoring opportunities. This implies applicants should plan recruitment strategies that expand access beyond a narrow pool of participants.

14) Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility includes higher education institutions such as public/state-controlled and private institutions of higher education, with additional "other" applicants permitted as described in the full FOA. Importantly, foreign (non-U.S.) organizations and foreign institutions are eligible to apply directly.

15) Are foreign (non-U.S.) organizations allowed to apply as the applicant organization?

Yes. The description states that foreign (non-U.S.) organizations and foreign institutions are eligible to apply directly, aligning with the program goal of strengthening capacity in sub-Saharan Africa.

16) Can a non-U.S. component of a U.S. organization apply as the applicant?

No. Non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply as the applicant entity, based on the information provided.

17) Are foreign components allowed on an application?

Yes. Foreign components (as NIH defines them in its Grants Policy Statement) are allowed. This means a U.S. applicant may include foreign components in the project structure when appropriate, but those components would not be the applicant organization.

18) What research areas or fields does HEPI aim to support?

HEPI is intended to support training and career development relevant to biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research priorities, particularly as they relate to health needs in high HIV-burden, resource-limited settings.

19) How does HEPI connect training to healthcare delivery?

The opportunity emphasizes strengthening teams and improving how care is delivered, alongside improving how evidence is generated and used. In other words, HEPI focuses on building practical research understanding and skills that can inform evidence-based health services and problem-solving in real-world care settings.

20) What is the funding opportunity number?

The funding opportunity number listed is RFA-TW-17-001.

21) What is the CFDA number associated with this opportunity?

The CFDA number provided is 93.989.

22) What is the award ceiling?

The award ceiling is listed as $600,000, which indicates an upper bound on the budget level NIH anticipated for an individual award under this announcement (with specific allowable costs governed by the FOA and NIH policy).

23) What is the closing date listed for this opportunity?

The original closing date listed is March 28, 2018.

24) What kind of grant is HEPI from an administrative standpoint?

It is described as a discretionary grant opportunity administered by the National Institutes of Health, with the funding instrument listed as Grant.

25) How is HEPI positioned relative to traditional research grants?

HEPI is positioned as capacity-building and education-forward. It is intended to strengthen training ecosystems, mentoring, curricula, and research understanding, rather than fund a traditional research project. It also maintains a clear boundary that clinical trials are not to be conducted under this award.