Despite significant advances in science and medicine, the United States continues to experience an overall decline in health and a decrease in life expectancy. To address this challenge from a research perspective, there is a critical need to bring clinical research opportunities to where patients live, work, and seek medical care. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the CARE for Health™ program in June 2024 to test the feasibility of a network of networks that embeds clinical research in primary care settings with the aim to improve medical care and health outcomes and strengthen public trust in science. 

In September 2024, the program announced the initial three Network Research Hubs establishing this network of networks. In January 2025, the NIH CARE for Health™ program further expanded the network with awards to three additional Network Research Hubs.

The new Hubs will engage rural communities to increase access to ongoing NIH-supported clinical studies that cover a wide range of common conditions important to primary health care, such as obesity, hearing loss, back pain, side effects of cancer treatment, polysubstance use disorder, and osteoarthritis. In parallel, Hub awardees will also partner directly with primary care providers and their communities to identify critical clinical questions of the highest priority and contribute to the development of new innovative studies that address these questions. 

The new awardee institutions of NIH CARE for Health™ are:

• University of Alabama – Birmingham (UAB), in partnership with the University of Arkansas and the University of Mississippi, established the Primary Care Health Equity through Access and Research in Transformative Networks (HEART-NET). HEART-NET aims to develop a primary care infrastructure to address clinical priorities and improve access to health care research in Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
• University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) established the Primary Care Research in More Environments in Oklahoma (PRIME-OK). PRIME-OK will leverage existing and develop new partnerships to build and expand primary health care research across the state, including strengthening partnerships serving indigenous tribal nations in Oklahoma.
• University of New Mexico (UNM) Health Sciences Center established the Primary Care - Building Research Integration in Diverse Geographic Environments (PC-BRIDGE). PC-BRIDGE will engage with primary care partners that serve rural patients to extend research participation opportunities in New Mexico and Arizona. 

For more details on the program and the individual awards, visit the CARE for Health™ Funded Research Page. To receive updates, join the CARE for Health™ program listserv.

To learn more about the NIH-supported clinical studies conducted in collaboration with the three Network Research Hubs, visit the following study pages:

• Addressing Rural Health Disparities by Optimizing “High Touch” Intervention Components in Digital Obesity Treatment (iREACH)
• Improving Access and Affordability of Adult Hearing Healthcare (Hearing Healthcare)
• Geriatric Evaluation and Management for Survivorship (GEMS)
• Supporting Peer Interactions to Expand Access to Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Spanish-speaking Safety-Net Patients in Primary Care (SUPERA)
• Remote Tai Chi for Knee Osteoarthritis: An Embedded Pragmatic Trial (TAICHIKNEE)

CARE for Health™ is part of the NIH Common Fund. The NIH Common Fund supports cross-cutting programs expected to have exceptionally high impact. For more information about NIH Common Fund opportunities, join the Common Fund Listserv or subscribe to the Weekly E-Mail with New NIH Guide Postings.

 “CARE for Health” is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).