Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Firearm Injury and Mortality Prevention Research

Based on research topic, choose the appropriate contact from the program website or the related announcement.

This opportunity is a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) for research to improve understanding of the determinants of firearm injury; the identification of those at risk of firearm injury; the development, piloting, and testing of innovative interventions to prevent firearm injury and mortality; and the examination of approaches to improve the implementation of existing, evidence-based interventions to prevent firearm injury and mortality.

A focus is on populations at risk for victimization and/or perpetration, such as health disparity populations and other populations that are disproportionately impacted by firearm injury and mortality, including:

• People with developmental disabilities and cognitive impairments
• People with mental and behavioral health comorbid conditions
• Pregnant and post-partum women
• Justice system involved individuals
• Veterans and members of the military
• Blacks/African Americans
• Hispanics/Latinos
• American Indians/Alaska Natives
• Asian Americans
• Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders
• Socioeconomically disadvantaged populations
• Underserved rural populations
• Sexual and gender minorities

Priority research topics include but are not limited to:

• Improve the ability to identify individuals at risk for firearm injury and mortality (victims and perpetrators), including suicide, homicide, and accidental injury and mortality
• Develop, validate, and study implementation procedures, particularly for healthcare systems (including emergency departments and primary care) to determine who should be screened and how to screen accurately and efficiently for risk of firearm injury and mortality
• Improve understanding of developmental, situational, structural and contextual factors associated with firearm injury and mortality that extends individual risk assessment to include factors related to the specific incident as well as other potential contextual influences
• Develop and/or pilot innovative and culturally competent interventions delivered online, in healthcare, and/or community settings to prevent injury and mortality and revictimization/repeat injury or retaliatory firearm violence among those at risk
• Hybrid effectiveness-implementation trials designed to test the effectiveness of preventive, intervention, and service interventions while also examining factors or testing strategies to improve implementation or dissemination efforts
• Improve understanding and promotion of potential protective factors at the individual, family, community and structural levels that could be enhanced to reduce the negative effects of risk exposure
• Conduct implementation research with existing evidence-based interventions to assess barriers at multiple levels; improve fidelity, adherence, adoption and scale-up of these programs; and rigorously test strategies for implementing evidence-based interventions with fidelity and potential for sustainability
• Apply precision health and personalized medicine strategies to public health questions that determine for whom various firearm injury and mortality prevention programs are likely to be most effective.
• Assess the impact of combining public health and criminal justice approaches to reduce firearm injury and mortality

Eligible applicants include:

• Higher education institutions
  • Public/state controlled institutions
  • Private institutions
• Nonprofit organizations
  • With 501(c)(3) status
  • Without 501(c)(3) status
  • Native American tribal organizations
  • Faith-based or community-based organizations
  • Regional organizations
• Governments
  • State
  • County
  • City or township
  • Special districts
  • Federally recognized Indian/Native American tribal governments
  • Indian/Native American tribal governments (other than federally recognized)
  • Eligible agencies of the federal government
  • U.S. territory or possession
• Other
  • Independent school districts
  • Public housing authorities
  • Indian housing authorities
  • Non-domestic entities and non-domestic components of U.S. entities
  • Small businesses
  • For-profit organizations

Budget information varies based on the related announcement.

This is a NOSI that is attached to related NIH announcements listed on the program website.

Applicants should submit proposals to the related announcement and indicate that it is a response to the NOSI.

Investigators planning to submit an application are strongly encouraged to contact and discuss their proposed research with program staff well in advance of the anticipated submission date to better determine appropriateness and interest.

This NOSI expires on February 5, 2026.