NIH Funding Priorities (FY2026)

Last updated: 2026-04-29 Scope: This document distills active NIH priorities relevant to behavioral oncology, supportive cancer care, caregiving, and adjacent fields. It is the funding-fit filter applied during idea evaluation.

How to use this document

When evaluating a candidate research idea, score it against the priorities below. Strong candidates can name a specific institute, a specific priority area, and ideally a specific notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) it would target. Ideas that fit no current priority get flagged — not because the science is bad, but because the path to a funded program is missing.

Note on FY2026: NIH is in a period of significant structural change. A proposed administration budget would consolidate the 27 institutes into eight and cut total NIH funding ~40%, but Congressional appropriations have so far protected most institutes — NCI received a $128M increase to $7.35B for FY2026. The Director (Jay Bhattacharya) has issued a new "Unified Funding Strategy" emphasizing implementation science, chronic disease, replication, real-world evidence, and "solution-oriented" rather than purely descriptive disparities work. Paylines have been replaced by program-officer-driven prioritization. Several NOFOs were withdrawn in 2025; always verify status on grants.gov before writing a proposal.

Cross-cutting priorities (apply across institutes)

CC1. Solution-oriented disparities research (not just measurement)

The Director has explicitly called for moving "beyond measuring health disparities to focusing on solution-oriented approaches" — testing, scaling, and implementing interventions that close outcome gaps. Pure descriptive disparities work is now a weaker fit; intervention and implementation are favored.

CC2. Implementation science

Implementation, dissemination, and translation of evidence-based interventions is a stated cross-NIH priority. The Director's August 2025 strategy statement explicitly elevates implementation science as a way to improve uptake of existing evidence-based interventions; this is favored over discovery-stage work in the current environment.

CC3. Chronic disease and prevention of progression

The Director's stated priority — also aligned with HHS Secretary Kennedy's priorities — is on chronic disease, lifestyle and nutrition factors, and prevention of disease progression in already-affected patients.

CC4. Real-world evidence and pragmatic trials

Pragmatic, real-world-embedded trials in routine care settings are elevated; lab-to-clinic translational paths that don't include a real-world deployment plan are weakened.

CC5. Replication and reproducibility

The Director has emphasized replication studies and reproducibility reform. Studies that include replication of prior findings or that build in reproducibility-as-deliverable are well-positioned.

CC6. Bold / high-risk research and early-career investigators

The Director has stated intent to "empower early career scientists to pursue transformative work" — consistent with continued support for R37 (MERIT), R21 (exploratory/developmental), and DP1/DP2 (innovator) mechanisms.

CC7. Health equity through access, not categorization

Disparities work is being reframed away from population-categorical research toward access-and-implementation framing. The proposed budget eliminates NIMHD as a separate institute (Congress has not yet adopted this), so disparities-focused proposals are best targeted at NCI's Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities or the relevant institute's general portfolio rather than NIMHD as a primary funder.

NCI — National Cancer Institute

NCI received $7.35B for FY2026 (+$128M). Cancer behavioral / supportive care research is overwhelmingly within NCI's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS).

NCI / DCCPS — Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences

The lead division at NCI for behavioral, survivorship, supportive-care, health-services, and surveillance research. Hosts:

Behavioral Research Program (BRP)
Office of Cancer Survivorship (OCS)
Healthcare Delivery Research Program (HDRP)
Implementation Science (the BRP-IS arm)
Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program

DCCPS FY26 Topics of Interest (Administrative Supplements)

DCCPS publishes annual topics of interest used as the filter for administrative supplements to existing grants. The FY26 list signals where the division is investing. Highlights relevant to behavioral oncology and supportive care:

Interoception in cancer control research — incorporating interoceptive (self-report, behavioral, or physiological) measures into existing NCI-funded studies to examine interoceptive processes in symptom burden, behavioral regulation, stress responsivity, treatment tolerance, and survivorship outcomes including pain management. This is unusually concrete and named. (source)
Long-term cancer survivorship — expanding recruitment and data collection of long-term survivors to address late effects and unmet needs; engaging survivors disconnected from cancer survivorship care. (source)
Contemporary modifiable exposures — how prevalent exposures (GLP-1 medications, cannabis/cannabinoid use, e-cigarettes) affect cancer etiology, progression, and survivorship.

Office of Cancer Survivorship priorities

Survivorship research — late effects, ongoing symptom management, survivorship care models, transitions from oncology to primary care, and survivors disconnected from follow-up. The OCS portfolio is explicitly behavioral- and supportive-care-friendly. (source)

Healthcare Delivery Research

Pragmatic studies of how cancer care is actually delivered, including ePRO-driven care, telehealth, navigator interventions, multi-level interventions, and rural / underserved populations. NCI HDRP maintains a list of currently-open NOFOs. (source)

NCI palliative-care research

NCI is a co-funder of the Advancing the Science of Palliative Care Research Across the Lifespan (ASCENT) Consortium (U54AG093230, lead NIA, established 2025). NCI's interest within ASCENT: studies advancing palliative care science in cancer patients, survivors, and affected others; tailored palliative-care strategies for cancer- and treatment-related symptoms; sustainable models of palliative care for people living with advanced cancer. (source)

NCI mechanisms of interest

R01 — Investigator-initiated; the workhorse for behavioral and supportive-care interventions.
R37 (MERIT) — Extension mechanism for productive R01s; Carissa already holds one (ROSA).
R21 — Exploratory/developmental; pilot data for next-stage R01.
U-mechanisms (U01/U54) — Cooperative agreements; ASCENT and similar consortia.

OBSSR — Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research

OBSSR is a coordinating office (no direct grants) within the NIH Director's office. Its Strategic Plan 2025-2029 sets agenda priorities adopted across institutes. (source)

OBSSR 2025-2029 priorities

Collaborative Science — integrating BSSR across institutes; trans-NIH initiatives spanning behavioral phenomena.
Methods, measures, and data infrastructures — improving measurement and data infrastructure for behavioral/social phenomena.
Adoption of research findings in practice — the implementation / translation arm; aligns with the Director's CC2 priority.
Workforce diversity and underrepresented groups in BSSR.

OBSSR-stamped priorities are honored across NCI, NIA, NIMH, NINR, NICHD, etc.

Other relevant institutes

NIA — National Institute on Aging ($4.518B FY26)

Key relevance: cancer + aging is a major NIA-funded space; NIA co-funds ASCENT palliative-care consortium; NIA leads Alzheimer's / ADRD caregiving research (much of this methodology is reusable in cancer caregiving).

Dementia care and caregiving interventions — major priority area; the FY26 NIA budget includes a Professional Judgment Budget for Alzheimer's research. (source)
2026 Dementia Care and Caregiving Research Summit (May 2026) — signals priority topics: economic impacts of caregiving, community in care, intervention development, care models, data infrastructure. (source)
Behavioral and Social Research on AD/ADRD — the DBSR portfolio includes much methodology directly transferable to cancer caregiving. (source)
Disparities in quality, access, and outcomes of care and caregiver support interventions is a stated NIA behavioral/social priority.

NIMH — National Institute of Mental Health

Key relevance: psychosocial interventions in medically-ill populations; LLM/AI-mediated mental health interventions; suicide prevention in chronically/seriously ill patients.

Mental health in medical populations is funded by NIMH when the intervention is psychiatric / psychotherapeutic in nature.
Digital therapeutics / AI in mental health is an active NIMH area, though with safety scrutiny.

NINR — National Institute of Nursing Research

Key relevance: end-of-life, palliative care, symptom science. NINR maintains a dedicated end-of-life/palliative-care funding-opportunities page. (source)

NCCIH — National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

Key relevance: mind-body interventions, integrative oncology, symptom management research that NCI/NINR don't fully cover. (source)

Anti-priorities / what's out of scope or weakened

Things that are not favored under the current NIH strategy:

Pure descriptive disparities research without an intervention or implementation arm. (CC1 reframing.)
Methodological/biomarker-validation studies without a near-term path to a clinical or population-level intervention. (CC4 emphasis on real-world evidence + pragmatic deployment.)
Standalone basic-mechanism cancer biology without a translational bridge — explicitly deprioritized in the Director's strategy in favor of implementation, real-world, and chronic-disease work.
Studies framed primarily as "feasibility / acceptability" unless they directly enable a confirmatory next-stage trial.
Single-institute siloed research when the same question could be posed trans-NIH — collaborative, cross-institute proposals are favored.
Research with politically-disfavored framings (gender-identity research, certain DEI-framed projects) — multiple high-profile grant terminations in 2025; check current administration guidance before pursuing. Equity work is best framed as access / implementation.

Mapping to ideas

When pitching an idea, name:

Institute (NCI / NIA / NINR / NIMH / NCCIH).
Division/program (DCCPS-BRP / DCCPS-OCS / DCCPS-HDRP / NIA-DBSR / NINR EOL-PC / etc.).
Cross-cutting priority (CC1-CC7 above).
Mechanism (R01 / R37 / R21 / U54 / supplement).
Specific NOFO if one exists. (Always check grants.gov / the institute's open-NOFOs page; NIH Guide is being phased out for new NOFOs starting FY26.)