FY18 The National Lupus Training, Outreach, and Clinical Trial Education Program (Lupus Program) | MP CPI 18 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for MP CPI 18 001

The FY18 National Lupus Training, Outreach, and Clinical Trial Education Program is a discretionary federal grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (CFDA 93.137), focused on improving lupus-related education and strengthening equitable participation in clinical trials. The program is grounded in the reality that lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues, causing inflammation and potential damage across multiple organs and body systems. The opportunity highlights systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as the most common form, noting that it can affect the skin, joints, kidneys, brain, lungs, blood vessels, and other organs. While treatment and disease management have improved, the cause remains unknown and there is still no cure, which makes research participation and effective clinical care education especially important.

A major emphasis of the grant is the disproportionate burden of SLE on racial and ethnic minority populations and the way that burden intersects with persistent underrepresentation in clinical trials. The notice points out that lupus is substantially more common among African Americans (reported as two to three times more common than in other groups), and that American Indians and Alaska Natives may have rates similar to or higher than African Americans, with Hispanics and Asians also significantly affected. It also stresses that women of childbearing age (roughly 15 to 44) are at the highest risk for disease onset and that women are affected far more often than men, cited as an estimated 12 to 1 ratio. Pediatric lupus is also specifically called out as a serious concern: reported prevalence for children ranges from 3.3 to 24.0 per 100,000 in the U.S., and about 10 to 20 percent of SLE diagnoses occur during childhood or adolescence, with pediatric-onset disease often being more severe and associated with faster accumulation of organ or tissue damage than adult-onset SLE.

The core problem the grant seeks to address is not only lupus education, but the structural and practical barriers that prevent minority communities from being recruited, enrolled, and retained across all phases of clinical trials. The opportunity explains that, despite decades of national effort, minority participation remains uneven and often drops off in later trial phases, which raises concerns about whether research findings generalize to the populations most affected by lupus and whether treatment advances will reduce or widen existing health disparities. The notice ties low participation to multiple recurring barriers documented in the literature: mistrust of the medical and research system (including mistrust connected to historical misconduct), limited access to affordable and continuous health care, transportation challenges that make participation difficult, gaps in patient understanding of what clinical trials are and why they matter, uncertainty about risks and benefits as presented in recruitment and consent materials, and the added challenge of reaching people with Limited English Proficiency when study materials and consent forms are not translated or culturally accessible.

The opportunity also underscores the role of health care providers and health systems in either enabling or constraining trial participation. It notes that providers are central messengers for lupus information and referrals, yet implicit bias and stereotypes can lead to fewer trial discussions or referrals for minority patients, sometimes based on assumptions about adherence to complex research protocols. Alongside patient-facing education, the grant framing suggests that improving provider practices, referral behaviors, and trust-building approaches is part of the pathway to better enrollment and retention. It references a multilevel, systems-based approach (attributed to Hamel et al.) in which institutions increase minority participation by building trusted community partnerships and strengthening relationships with local providers who primarily serve minority communities, with the broader goal of sustained community engagement rather than one-time recruitment efforts.

Administratively, the grant is listed as a discretionary award using the grant funding instrument, with an award ceiling of $375,000, an anticipated six awards, and a closing date of March 30, 2018 (created January 4, 2018). Eligibility is described broadly as "Others" with additional clarification expected in the full eligibility text. In practical terms, the program is aimed at supporting training and outreach efforts plus clinical trial education models that meaningfully increase awareness, trust, referrals, enrollment, and retention of diverse lupus patients in clinical research, thereby improving the quality and representativeness of lupus research and helping address persistent disparities in outcomes and access to advances in care.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY18 The National Lupus Training, Outreach, and Clinical Trial Education Program (Lupus Program)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.137.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 04, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 30, 2018 No Explanation. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $375,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 6 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for MP CPI 18 001

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