The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Division of AIDS (DAIDS), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Division of AIDS Research (DAR) will host a workshop on methods for combining data from randomized controlled trials with real-world data ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Jennifer Kawi, Hulin Wu, and Jane Bolin will present “Key Insights From the UG3, Personalized Auricular Point Acupressure for Chronic Pain Self-Management in Rural Populations (APA-SM), and the Path Forward for the UH3.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, April 24, 2026, at 1:00 pm ...

The NIH Office of Science Policy will host a webinar to gather input on modernizing the NIH data and safety monitoring policy. The webinar, which is free and open to the public, will be held on May 13, 2026, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. From the announcement: To enhance efficiency and rigor, NIH intends to modernize ...

The NIH has posted a new highlighted topic for investigator-initiated grant applications in research on chatbots and their usage. From the topic description: This topic encourages multidisciplinary research that identifies, measures, and explains the benefits and harms associated with chatbot use…across a variety of populations, use cases, and settings. Of interest are studies that move beyond proof-of-concept ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Roy Perlis of Harvard Medical School will present “Keeping a Human in the Loop: Scientific Publishing and AI.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, April 17, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. Perlis is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He serves as the director ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Julie Lauffenburger of Harvard Medical School will present on the “Impact of Behavioral Science-Based Electronic Health Record Tools on Deprescribing for Older Adults.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, April 10, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. Lauffenburger is an associate professor of medicine at Brigham and ...

Two of the NIH Collaboratory Trials began enrollment last week. Congratulations to the study teams from AIM-CP and RAMP for reaching this important project milestone! AIM-CP (Adapting and Implementing a Nurse Care Management Model to Care for Rural Patients With Chronic Pain) is testing the implementation of a care management model to address disparate access to ...

The NIH issued a request for information inviting feedback on the Framework for the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2027-2031. The purpose of the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan is to communicate how NIH will advance its mission to support research in pursuit of fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems, and the application ...

Adding transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) to physical therapy reduced pain for patients with fibromyalgia, according to the FM-TIPS pragmatic clinical trial. The results of the study were published online in JAMA Network Open. FM-TIPS, an NIH Collaboratory Trial, examined whether the addition of TENS to routine outpatient physical therapy improves movement-evoked pain compared with physical therapy ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Nestoras Mathioudakis of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will present “AI for Diabetes Prevention.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, April 3, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. Mathioudakis is an assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Join the online ...

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), through its Innovation Center, announced a funding opportunity for its new MAHA ELEVATE model, which is designed to test evidence-based, whole-person functional or lifestyle medicine approaches to care. The model will provide approximately $100 million to fund 3-year cooperative agreements for up to 30 proposals that promote health ...

In a new episode of the NIH Collaboratory Podcast, Drs. Jonathan Moyer and David Murray discussed their recent publication, “Evaluating Analytic Models for Individually Randomized Group Treatment Trials With Complex Clustering in Nested and Crossed Designs.” The episode was moderated by Patrick Heagerty, co-chair of the Biostatistics and Study Design core working group. Listen to the ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Sarah L. Cutrona of UMass Chan Medical School will present “Text Messaging and Video Stories to Support Hypertension Self-Management in Black Veterans: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, March 27, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. Cutrona is the acting director of the ...

The study design paper for Chat 4 Heart Health has been published online in Trials. Congratulations to the study team on reaching this important milestone for all NIH Collaboratory Trials! The Chat 4 Heart Health trial is testing the comparative effectiveness of 3 text messaging delivery strategies that have been shown to improve individuals’ self-management health behaviors, including ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Lauralyn McIntyre and Monica Taljaard of the University of Ottawa will present “FLUID: A Cross-Over Trial of Hospital Wide Ringer’s Lactate vs Normal Saline.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, March 20, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. McIntyre is a senior scientist in the Acute Care ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, John A. Dodson of NYU Langone Health will present “Behavioral Economics and Medication Adherence for Hypertension: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, March 13, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. Dodson serves as the director of both the Geriatric Cardiology Program and the ...

The NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory will offer a preconference workshop at the Society for Clinical Trials 47th Annual Meeting in Phoenix. Registration for the workshop is now open. The half-day workshop, “Innovations in Embedded Pragmatic Clinical Trials,” will introduce concepts in the design, conduct, and implementation of pragmatic clinical trials embedded in healthcare systems. The workshop will ...

A pilot study of the AIM-CP intervention showed that an integrated nurse care management model is a feasible and effective way to deliver nonpharmacological chronic pain treatment to patients in rural communities. The findings will inform a full-scale randomized controlled trial to evaluate the intervention’s impact on a larger scale. The results were published online ahead ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Christopher C. Butler of the University of Oxford will present “Bringing Primary Care Clinical Trials Research Into the 21st Century: Lessons Learned and Developments From Large-Scale European Adaptive Platform Trials of Therapeutics for Acute Respiratory Infections.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, March 6, 2026, ...

The NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory will offer a preconference workshop at the Society for Clinical Trials 47th Annual Meeting in Phoenix. Registration for the workshop is now open. The half-day workshop, “Innovations in Embedded Pragmatic Clinical Trials,” will introduce concepts in the design, conduct, and implementation of pragmatic clinical trials embedded in healthcare systems. The workshop will ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Panos Kougias and Sherene Sharath of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University will present “Optimal Transfusion Strategy in High Cardiac Risk Patients After Major Surgery: Results of the TOP Trial.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, February 27, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. Kougias is professor and ...

The interventions tested in pragmatic clinical trials are embedded into routine care practices, which offers opportunities to study implementation and sustainment outcomes. In an article published online ahead of print in Implementation Science Communications, members of the NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory’s Implementation Science Core share the results of a survey about the measurement of implementation outcomes ...

In a new episode of the NIH Collaboratory Podcast, Drs. Christopher Lindsell and Adrian Hernandez discussed the need for virtual vigilance in decentralized trials. Listen to the podcast. For alerts about new episodes, subscribe for free on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, or SoundCloud. Decentralized trials  move research activities from a centralized location, such as a hospital, to a ...

A pilot study of the RAMP intervention suggests that a multimodal, telehealth-delivered intervention is both feasible and acceptable for rural veterans experiencing chronic pain. The findings demonstrate how mind-body and exercise strategies can be successfully delivered to populations that typically face significant barriers to specialized care. The article was published online ahead of print in Contemporary ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Diana Burgess, Roni Evans, and Katie Hadlandsmyth will present “Applying Mind-Body Skills for Pain Using a Whole Health Telehealth Intervention (RAMP): Early Progress and Lessons Learned.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, February 20, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. RAMP, an NIH Collaboratory Trial, is evaluating ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Michael D. Kappelman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will present “The Making of the PCORnet® COMPARE-Pediatric IBD Study.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, February 13, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. Kappelman is a professor of pediatric gastroenterology at the University of ...

The NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory published a new handout describing the variety of dissemination opportunities for pragmatic clinical trials to help investigators plan for broad dissemination. Pragmatic clinical trials embedded in healthcare systems are designed to answer pressing questions of interest to healthcare system leaders, patients, and frontline clinicians. The results of pragmatic trials can also ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Gert Bronfort and Brent Leininger of the University of Minnesota will present “Spinal Manipulation and Clinician-Supported Biopsychosocial Self-Management for Acute Back Pain: The PACBACK Randomized Clinical Trial.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, February 6, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. Bronfort is a research professor and ...

Early bird registration for the 2026 Annual Conference of the Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN) will on March 2. Postdoctoral students are eligible for discounted registration. This year’s conference will be held in Dallas from April 21 to 23, 2026. The them of the 2026 conference is “Scaling Learning Health Systems: Data Driven Pathways to Better ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Majid Afshar and Mary Ryan Baumann of the University of Wisconsin-Madison will present “A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial of Ambient Artificial Intelligence to Improve Health Practitioner Well-Being.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, January 30, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. Afshar is an associate professor and ...

Complete materials are now available from the NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory’s recent workshop, “Dissemination and Implementation in Embedded Pragmatic Trials: Science-Powered Strategies to Sustain and Spread Effective Interventions.” The full-day workshop, held on December 14 at AcademyHealth’s 18th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health, introduced concepts in the design, conduct, and ...

New qualitative findings from the GRACE trial reveal critical barriers and facilitators for incorporating complementary and integrative health interventions into routine clinical care. The study emphasizes that successful integration requires participatory approaches and significant adjustments to clinic workflows. The article was published online ahead of print in Pain Management Nursing. GRACE, an NIH Collaboratory Trial, is a ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Stephen P. Juraschek of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will present “DASH Groceries to Stop Hypertension: Results From the GoFresh Trial.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, January 23, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. Stephen Juraschek is a physician investigator at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical ...

In a new episode of the Rethinking Clinical Trials Podcast, David Zaas discussed key takeaways from his recent presentation: “Landscape of Healthcare in America: Gaps and Opportunities (That Researchers Need to Hear).” Listen to the podcast. For alerts about new episodes, subscribe for free on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, or SoundCloud. Zaas was the keynote speaker at the recent virtual workshop ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Mireille Jacobson of the University of Southern California Davis will present “Can Financial Incentives Increase Participation in a Memory Concerns Registry?” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, January 16, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. Jacobson is a professor at the University of Southern California Davis in ...

An economic evaluation from the BackInAction trial found that an enhanced course of acupuncture for older adults with chronic low back pain was cost-saving from both the Medicare and healthcare sector perspectives. The article appears in the upcoming issue of Spine. In a previously published report, the BackInAction research team established that acupuncture significantly improved pain and ...

The study design paper for BEST-ICU has been published online in Trials. Congratulations to the study team on reaching this important milestone for all NIH Collaboratory Trials! The BEST-ICU trial is evaluating 2 strategies grounded in behavioral economics theory and implementation science to increase adoption of the ABCDEF bundle in the intensive care unit and improve ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Ankeet S. Bhatt of the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center will present “Pragmatic Care Embedded Randomization: Insights From the KP-VACCINATE Megatrial.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, January 9, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern. Bhatt is a cardiologist, research scientist, and assistant professor with Kaiser ...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is requesting public input on its proposal to establish harmonized and transparent policy requirements for protecting human participant research data. Specifically, NIH proposes to: Establish policy requirements for which data should be controlled-access under NIH data sharing policies Revise the NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy to simplify and harmonize requirements Read the ...

In a new episode of the Rethinking Clinical Trials Podcast, Shruti Gohil and Jeffrey Guy discussed key takeaways from “INtelligent Stewardship Prompts to Improve Real-time Empiric Antibiotic Selection for Patients,” also known as the INSPIRE trial. Listen to the podcast. For alerts about new episodes, subscribe for free on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, or SoundCloud. INSPIRE, an NIH Collaboratory Trial, involved ...

The Duke University School of Nursing will convene healthcare professionals, educators, researchers, community leaders, and policymakers for a 1-day symposium dedicated to reducing rural health disparities across North Carolina through collaboration and innovation. On April 20, 2026, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina (and virtually via livestream), participants will ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Lee H. Schwamm, Kristine Olson, and Daniella Meeker will present “Use of Ambient AI Scribes to Reduce Administrative Burden and Professional Burnout: Lessons Learned and Future Directions.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, December 19, 2025, at 1:00 pm eastern. Schwamm is the senior vice president ...

In 2025, NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory investigators published new study designs and trial results, shared insights from program leadership, and developed innovative methods in the design, conduct, implementation, and dissemination of pragmatic clinical trials. Their work included perspectives from the Coordinating Center, best practices from the Core Working Groups, and results from the NIH Collaboratory ...

The NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory’s Community Health Improvement Core has developed a new resource on community health improvement in embedded pragmatic clinical trials (ePCTs). The Community Health Improvement in Pragmatic Clinical Trials guide includes information for research teams including: A clear definition of community health improvement in the context of ePCTs Examples of challenges to be addressed Information on ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Connor Drake and Susan Spratt will present “From Eligibility to Enrollment Without a Clinic Visit: The Eat Well Produce Prescription Trial for Patients with Diabetes at Risk of Food Insecurity.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, December 12, 2025, at 1:00 pm eastern. Drake is a ...

The Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN) has extended the submission deadline for abstracts and panel proposals for its 2026 Annual Conference to January 5. This year’s conference will be held in Dallas from April 21 to 23, 2026. Information about conference registration, preconference workshops, and accommodations is also available. Early-bird registration is open through March 2. The ...

In a new episode of the Rethinking Clinical Trials Podcast, Julie Fritz of the University of Utah and Sebastian Tong of the University of Washington expanded on key takeaways from their recent Grand Rounds presentation, “Integrating the BeatPain Study With PRaCTICe, a New Network Research Hub of the CARE for Health Initiative.” Listen to the podcast. ...

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Leslie J. Crofford, Dana Dailey, and Kathleen Sluka will present “Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation Reduces Movement-Pain in People With Fibromyalgia: Results From FM-TIPS, a Cluster Randomized Pragmatic Trial.” The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, December 5, 2025, at 1:00 pm eastern. FM-TIPS, an NIH Collaboratory Trial, ...

New findings from FM-TIPS show that targeted community engagement methods are highly effective in increasing recruitment and enrollment, particularly among rural participants who are typically underrepresented in clinical research. The report was published online in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science. FM-TIPS, an NIH Collaboratory Trial, is a cluster randomized trial examining whether adding transcutaneous electrical ...

In a single-site substudy of the PRIM-ER trial, an intervention to initiate palliative care in the emergency department did not increase the proportion of patients having goals-of-care conversations. However, when those conversations did occur, they frequently influenced patients’ care. The article was published online ahead of print in Internal and Emergency Medicine. PRIM-ER, an NIH Collaboratory Trial, ...