# Anticipating ethical challenges and disparities in the dissemination of novel neurotechnologies

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2024 · $392,550

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
A central goal for the second half of the BRAIN Initiative is to develop new circuit-based treatments for
brain diseases. However, improving care for neuropsychiatric illness will require not only discovering
interventions, but also ensuring that research products meet patients’ needs and are accessible to
underserved groups. While neuroethics to date has largely examined individualistic concerns (such as
privacy, consent and identity), this application uses closed-loop neuromodulation as a circuit-based
treatment paradigm for examining neuroethical challenges at a societal level such as equity/access and
the democratization of research methods. To address challenging topics including socioeconomic,
racial/ethnic, and geographic disparities will require special expertise in rigorous social science and in
community engagement, to include perspectives missing in academic neuroethical discourse. Applying
principles of community-engaged research, a Community Advisory Board will be recruited to meet
quarterly with project leaders and advise on preliminary findings, research methods and the
dissemination of results. Nationwide collaborations have been developed to facilitate research pursuing
three specific aims: 1) Compare ethical concerns about novel neurotechnology among diverse groups;
2) Examine practice and patient factors in access to closed-loop neuromodulation in varied clinical
settings; and 3) Investigate ethical and practical challenges in reducing barriers to closed-loop
neuromodulation research. Aim 1 will address the views of prospective patients/users about
neurotechnology in a nationally-representative sample with a focus on underserved groups. Aim 2 will
examine the clinic setting via comparative ethnographic research in epilepsy centers using NeuroPace
RNS treatment, which is currently the only FDA-approved and commercially available closed-loop brain
implant, and therefore can be used to anticipate broader challenges in psychiatry and neurology with
future applications of closed-loop approaches. Aim 3 will utilize a novel opportunity for studying ethical
concerns in research through a new NIH-funded international collaboration to disseminate expertise and
best practices in closed-loop neuromodulation. The approach is innovative, in the applicants’ view,
addressing societal-level neuroethical concerns with advanced social scientific and community
engagement methods not widely applied in neuroethics. The proposed research is significant because it
addresses considerations of equity and democratization that are critical to future neurotechnology and
neuroscience. Ultimately, this work will broaden the scope of normative issues addressed in
neuroethics, such as distributive justice and tensions in broadening research. In neurotechnology, the
work will contribute to fuller engagement with ethical challenges in the adoption of new techniques and
the early integration of neuroethics in efforts to lower research bar...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10842375
- **Project number:** 5R01MH126997-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Winston Chiong
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $392,550
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-10 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10842375

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10842375, Anticipating ethical challenges and disparities in the dissemination of novel neurotechnologies (5R01MH126997-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10842375. Licensed CC0.

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