The goal of the Smart and Connected Health (SCH) Program, which is a joint funding announcement between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is to accelerate the development and use of innovative approaches that would support the much needed transformation of health from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, person-centered and focused on well-being rather than disease. SCH is now in its second year. Initial grants have been funded by both NSF and NIH. Successful applications are those that address important health problems while advancing fundamental science. They also include multidisciplinary teams with appropriate expertise to address both the health and fundamental science issues. The next round of Exploratory (EXP) applications are due October 10, 2013, while the Integrative (INT) applications are due December 10, 2013. The full announcement can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13543/nsf13543.htm

Wendy Nilsen, Health Scientist Administrator in the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, Office of the Director at NIH, says:

“We at NIH are thrilled to see innovative proposals that provide scientific synergies between the biobehavioral world and computer science and engineering. We see some of these proposals as having the potential to have a truly transformative effect on health research.”

Howard Wactlar, Division Director for Information & Intelligent Systems (IIS) in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) at NSF, says:

“NSF is very pleased that NIH has worked so hard with us to establish this partnership for the Smart and Connected Health Program.  Through our collaboration, we can motivate a broader set of researchers and health practitioners across a range of disciplines and specialties to work together to transform healthcare.”

The solicitation cited the 2010 CCC white paper Information Technology Research Challenges for Healthcare: From Discovery to Delivery. The paper was a product of the 2009, “Discovery and Innovation in Health IT,” CCC visioning workshop.

The CCC built upon this in the fall 2012 workshop, “Computing and Health: New Opportunities and Directions.”