- Allergic and Irritant Dermatitis
- Cancer Research Methods
- Emerging Technologies
- Exposure Assessment Methods
- Fertility and Pregnancy Abnormalities
- Health Services Research
- Hearing Loss
- Infectious Diseases
- Indoor Environment
- Intervention Effectiveness Research
- Mixed Exposures
- Musculoskeletal Disorders (includes Upper Extremity and Low Back)
- Organization of Work
- Social and Economic Consequences of Workplace Illness and Injury
- Surveillance Research Methods
- Traumatic Injuries
Tracking Partnership Products
Requests for Applications (RFAs)
Through targeted RFAs, NORA has been successful in directing resources into the priority research areas. In FY 1998, NIOSH and NIH awarded 50 grants through a NORA RFA spending a total of about $8 million dollars in ten NORA priority research areas. In FY 1999, through two RFAs, NIOSH and NIH awarded 33 grants in 17 priority research areas totaling about $9 million. NIOSH also awarded another 53 NORA grants through the Institute's general grants Program Announcement. In FY 2000, NIOSH and NIH partners are targeting $10 million for an RFA on research related to Special Populations and Mixed Exposures and NIOSH has announced another $8 million available for additional RFAs focused on 11 NORA priority areas. Moreover, beginning in FY 2000, NIOSH is partnering with eight NIH institutes to seek proposals in all NORA priority areas on an ongoing basis.
Team Products
In addition to leveraging resources, as mentioned above, partnership teams are an integral part of implementation. Team products are also being tracked as a measure of NORA's success. The teams have been very active and as expected, each is proceeding somewhat differently. Many teams are writing white papers, documents that use variable approaches to advance issues in each priority area, such as summarizing the research in a priority area, defining gaps, and laying out opportunities for collaboration. In some areas, a well-defined research agenda currently exists (e.g., asthma), so a white paper was deemed not necessary. The following 16 NORA teams (covering 17 priority areas) have completed or are currently working on white papers:
Partnership Team activity can also be measured through conferences and workshops. From September 1996 through June 1999, NIOSH and its partners have sponsored 34 major meetings related to NORA as a whole or to specific priority areas (one in 1996, four in 1997, 10 in 1998, eight in 1999, and 11 scheduled through October 2000). A list of the NORA meetings follows. In addition to white papers, conferences, and workshops, teams are also developing surveys, establishing graduate-level training programs, participating in continuing medical education workshops, and developing other documents.
