COVID-19 Funding Opportunities and Resources

COVID-19 Clinical Trials at Northwestern University

A new COVID-19 Clinical Trials website continues to compile ongoing research taking place at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Pfizer Update on COVID-19 Vaccine Grant Support

With the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, in addition to previous authorizations in the U.K., Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico, there is an understandable interest from the healthcare community with how Pfizer will be supporting independent grants in this area. For more information on how Pfizer plans to support independent efforts in the areas of research, education, and quality improvement with a primary goal of optimizing the prevention of COVID-19, please visit the COVID-19 vaccine grants page on the Pfizer website.

Given the urgency and complexity of efforts required to respond to the global pandemic, Pfizer is launching a COVID-19 vaccine grant program in phases. Pfizer is currently accepting COVID-19 general research grant requests that address the following areas:

• Studies evaluating COVID-19 burden of disease and sero-epidemiological surveys among specific populations
• Epidemiology studies evaluating direct & indirect impact, including modeling approaches, of Pfizer’s vaccine particularly in specific patient populations
• Studies measuring the impact of efforts to overcome vaccine hesitancy and enhance vaccine uptake

Community Engagement in COVID-19 Research

If you are developing a community or population health research project focused on COVID-19, the Center for Community Health (CCH) can provide consultations on community-engaged research designs and strategies to engage relevant stakeholders throughout the research process. CCH can also help facilitate connections for community-academic research partnerships. Please use this form to request a consultation. You can access general guidance on community engagement in research during COVID-19 here.

CCH recently collaborated with community and academic partners to develop a Latino COVID-19 Resources Directory to respond to needs of the Latino community throughout Illinois.

Support, Propel our COVID-19 Research and Response Efforts

Our faculty physicians, scientists, and public health experts are passionate about combining their efforts, mobilizing resources, and developing tools to help save lives and prevent the spread of disease. From laboratory scientists delving into the genetics and behavior of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, to public health experts developing models to predict the disease’s spread, to physician-investigators leading clinical trials in the quest for therapies that may be effective and widely adopted to treat the pandemic, our efforts to combat this unprecedented challenge are underway all across the medical school. Make a difference

New Support for Faculty Planning COVID-19 Research with Human Participants

The NUCATS Institute's Center for Clinical Research is initiating new support for faculty planning human subjects research on COVID-19. The goal is to assist clinical, translational and population health researchers at an early stage in their planning, and before submission of a protocol to the Northwestern IRB. Please note: Cancer-relevant COVID-19 research should continue to follow established Lurie Cancer Center procedures and workflows, and does not need to use this new NUCATS-facilitated process.

This new process will maximize research feasibility and alignment with health system capabilities and University resources. It will also help to minimize any delay in deploying urgently needed resources in a challenging situation. It is complementary to, and precedes, IRB review that focuses on protecting the rights and welfare of research participants. The NUCATS process starts with completion of a brief REDCap form that is available at: is.gd/covid19research. This new tool will allow NUCATS to provide advice early in project planning. It remains our goal to continually increase the quality, safety, efficiency and speed of all innovative clinical and translational research, and this is essential in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Northwestern Office for Research Development funding opportunities page
• Northwestern Research COVID-19 updates
• Northwestern's Institute for Public Health and Medicine has created a resource page to gather and disseminate information for the community around COVID-19.
• The Galter Health Sciences Library and Learning Center has cultivated a COVID-19 Resource Guide containing information on the virus, published articles, locally relevant content and more.
• The Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) and the Center for Community Health (CCH) have put together the Chicago COVID-19 Resource Repository, a working document featuring information and resources that may be useful for Chicago community organizations and community members.
• INVO has created a page highlighting some of the Northwestern technologies and startups with potential COVID-19 applications.

National Institutes of Health Resources

• Open Mike blog: Dr. Michael Lauer is NIH's Deputy Director for Extramural Research, serving as the principal scientific leader and advisor to the NIH Director on the NIH extramural research program.
• COVID-19 Resources for Applicants and Recipients of NIH Funding
• NIH Late Application Policy, Administrative Flexibilities, and FAQs Related to 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Guidance for NIH-Funded Clinical Trials and Human Subjects Studies Affected by COVID-19
• Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Information for NIH Applicants and Recipients
• OLAW Guidance in Preparing for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak
• Special OLAW Webinar: Pandemic Contingency Planning and Its Impact on Animal Care
• Flexibilities for Assured Institutions for Activities of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) Due to COVID-19
• Guidance for NIH-Funded Clinical Trials and Human Subjects Studies Affected by COVID-19
• General Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Proposal Submission and Award Management Related to COVID-19
• NIH Late Application Policy Due to Public Health Emergency for United States for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Flexibilities Available to Applicants and Recipients of Federal Financial Assistance Affected by COVID-19
• FAQs on COVID-19 Flexibilities for Applicants and Recipients

City of Chicago and Community Resources

• Center for Community Health COVID-19 Community Recovery and Response Fund
• This PDF document can be used as a tool for Staying True to Principles of Engagement in Community-Engaged Research Partnerships during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The document provides ideas and resources to support community and academic partners.
• A Community Document for Sharing Ideas, Questions and Resources. This Google Doc is meant to facilitate open sharing of additional ideas and questions. Everyone is able to add and share.
• Looking for a way to lend your support to fellow Chicagoans in response to covid-19?
• Volunteer to help at an emergency shelter

Other COVID-19 Resources

• COVID-19 Collaboration Platform
• NEJM: Creating a Framework for Conducting Randomized Clinical Trials during Disease Outbreaks
• CD2H COVID Case Report Forms and Phenotyping Standards website
• The Center for Leading Innovation and Collaboration COVID-19 page
• The American Heart Association is working to ensure optimal care for patients with cardiovascular disease who contract coronavirus (COVID-19). Patients with underlying cardiovascular diseases appear to have an increased risk for adverse outcomes with COVID-19. Here are some helpful resources for health systems, clinics, care providers, patients and the public.
• Brigham and Women’s Hospital COVID-19 Critical Care Clinical Guidelines
• The National Library of Medicine, through its GenBank® sequence database, is providing the biomedical community free and easy access to genome sequences from the novel coronavirus associated with the recent outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, China. The outbreak was declared a global health emergency on January 30, 2020 and GenBank® continues to rapidly release data associated with this outbreak as it comes in and welcomes sequence data submissions as well.
• LitCovid is a curated literature hub for tracking up-to-date scientific information about the 2019 novel Coronavirus.
• In response to the outbreak in Western Washington, UW Medicine has developed this COVID-19 Resource Site.
• The New England Journal of Medicine has made a collection of articles and other resources on the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, including clinical reports, management guidelines and commentary freely available