Useful Links for Getting Started
Searching for grants and active projects
- NIH RePORT (Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools) — Search funded NIH projects by topic, investigator, or institution. Use this to identify potential mentors and to understand current funding patterns in your area.
- ClinicalTrials.gov — Registry of clinical studies worldwide. Useful for identifying active trials, ongoing recruitment, and gaps in the evidence base.
Applying for NIH grants
- NIH Funding Code Explanation — Explains NIH activity codes (R01, R03, R21, K23, etc.) and what each mechanism supports.
Summary data about NIH funding history
- NIH Data Book — Aggregate statistics on NIH funding, success rates, and award trends.
- NIH Awards by Location & Organization — Search NIH awards by institution to identify research-active programs and potential collaborators.
Databases Available for Research
Publicly available and institutionally subscribed datasets can support secondary analyses, hypothesis-generating studies, and pilot work for grant applications.
Publicly available datasets
| Program | Description |
|---|---|
| NIDDK Central Repository | Datasets and biospecimens from NIDDK-funded studies. Includes data relevant to urinary incontinence, pelvic floor disorders, and related conditions. |
| NICHD Data and Specimen Hub (DASH) | Repository of de-identified data and biospecimens from NICHD-supported research. |
| National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) | Contains population-level data on urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor symptoms — frequently used in epidemiologic studies of PFDs. |
| American Community Survey | U.S. Census Bureau survey providing detailed demographic and socioeconomic data, useful for population-level analyses and contextualizing health disparities research. |
| European Open Data Portal | European Union open datasets — search results pre-filtered for incontinence-related data. |
Institutionally-subscribed databases
Most academic medical centers maintain institutional subscriptions or data use agreements with one or more of the following. Check with your research office or biostatistics core for access:
- CMS Medicare and Medicaid claims data — for population-level surgical outcomes, healthcare utilization, and cost research.
- Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) — AHRQ-sponsored inpatient, ambulatory, and emergency department databases.
- National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) — risk-adjusted 30-day surgical outcomes data, including gynecologic and urologic procedures.
Validated Questionnaires
AUGS maintains a list of validated questionnaires that can be used in clinical research.
