PCORI's Research Project Agenda comprises a set of Topic Themes that inform focused funding opportunities for patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) through a series of funding cycles. This set of Topic Themes evolves over time to promote PCORI funding across the full range of health issues and conditions faced by the U.S. population.
The list below applies to PCORI funding announcements beginning with Cycle 1 2027 and includes examples that illustrate opportunities for patient-centered CER that could fall under each topic theme. The examples serve as springboards for applicant idea generation.
In addition to the Research Project Agenda, PCORI also encourages proposals from the CER community that address areas of need for patient-centered CER that advance PCORI’s National Priorities for Health aligned with the Research Agenda. See the complete list of upcoming and open PCORI funding opportunities.
See the complete list of upcoming and open PCORI funding opportunities.
Addressing Cancer
Example opportunities for CER include:
- Strategies to improve uptake of recommended cancer screening in populations with documented low cancer screening rates
- Impact of modality, timing and dosing of standard, targeted or multi-modal cancer therapy on symptom-, financial- and time-related toxicities
- Survivorship care models for adolescent and young adult cancer survivors
Advancing Caregiving to Improve Health
Example opportunities for CER include:
- Comparative effectiveness of approaches to integrate care coordinators/navigators into healthcare teams to support caregivers and patients with complex chronic medical conditions
- Comparative effectiveness of approaches to educate, train, and support parents of children with complex medical conditions post-hospitalization
- Comparative effectiveness of approaches to train caregivers to perform medical or nursing tasks for the patients for whom they care
- Comparative effectiveness of approaches to improve communication and shared decision-making about treatment options with families of patients in the intensive care unit
Harnessing Digital Health Technologies
Example opportunities for CER include:
- Wearable devices to improve clinical outcomes of chronic disease self-management
- Strategies to integrate patient-generated data into clinical decision making and outcomes improvement
- Precision medicine strategies for artificial-intelligence-assisted imaging
Improving Outcomes for People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD)
Example opportunities for CER include:
- Approaches to treatment of co-occurring conditions (e.g., diabetes, heart disease, gastrointestinal conditions)
- Interventions to support caregivers of people with IDD
- Models of care to support lifespan transitions to maximize participation and improve health (e.g., models
of supported living, employment) - Interventions to improve mental health outcomes for people with IDD
- Strategies to improve access, delivery and quality of care for people with IDD
Addressing Kidney and Urologic Disease
Example opportunities for CER include:
- Comparative effectiveness of strategies to increase patient and provider awareness of risk factors and screening needs for CKD
- Comparative effectiveness of strategies to reduce pain and other symptoms in patients receiving dialysis.
- Comparative effectiveness of nonsurgical treatment among older adults with urinary incontinence
- Comparative effectiveness of immediate antibiotic treatment versus delayed treatment pending culture among adults with suspected uncomplicated UTI
Preventing Maternal Morbidity and Mortality (MMM)
Example opportunities for CER include:
- Approaches to address maternal mental health or substance use disorder during pregnancy and postpartum
- Health system strategies to address maternal care gaps (e.g., rural or urban care deserts)
- Optimal clinical prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies for high-risk pregnancies and in the postpartum period
Improving Mental and Behavioral Health (MBH)
Example opportunities for CER include:
- Pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions to address attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and mood disorders in children and youth
- Approaches to addressing anxiety disorders, mood disorders and serious mental illness across the adult
life course, including for women during the perinatal period - Health care delivery approaches that target improvements in access to high quality screening, diagnosis and treatment options for patients with MBH conditions and that address crisis prevention
Improving Metabolic and Endocrine Health
Example opportunities for CER include:
- Pharmacologic, lifestyle modification, surgical and/or combination approaches to weight management
and maintenance - Hormonal and nonhormonal therapies for menopause symptom management
- Approaches to care coordination among individuals with Type 2 diabetes and multiple chronic conditions
Managing Pain
Example opportunities for CER include:
- Approaches, including non-pharmacological, complementary and alternative medicine strategies, to managing pain and other symptoms in chronic or advanced illness or subpopulations, such as community-dwelling older adults
- Approaches to improve prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and management of pain among people living with limitations in cognitive functioning
- Prevention and treatment of chronic pain conditions such as back and neck pain, migraine or neuropathy
- Treatment interventions for acute pain
Advancing CER to Promote Health and Prevent Disease
Example opportunities for CER include:
- Integrated, coordinated, collaborative and whole person care models to promote health and prevent disease
- Health behavior and lifestyle interventions such as different diets, supplements, exercise or mind-body
interventions related to clinical health outcomes - Prevention strategies or the implementation of evidence-based prevention strategies and behaviors
Addressing Rare Diseases
Example opportunities for CER include:
- Approaches to improve primary care for individuals with rare disease unable to access care in specialty centers
- Approaches to symptom management for individuals with rare disease
- Approaches to timely diagnosis of rare diseases
- Integrated multidisciplinary models of care for management of rare diseases
- Models of care for children with rare disease transitioning to adult care
Addressing Sensory Health
Example opportunities for CER include:
- Approaches to screenings that identify and reach populations with elevated health risks while removing obstacles to participation
- Treatment and management strategies for sensory health condition treatments (e.g., hearing loss; vision loss; sensory processing disorders; smell, taste and touch-related conditions)
- Approaches to care coordination for family care partners of individuals with sensory health related conditions
- Approaches addressing mental health and stigma of individuals with conditions related to sensory health and their family care partners
Last reviewed: Sept. 16, 2026