# NBER Roybal Center for Behavior Change in Health

> **NIH NIH P30** · NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH · 2024 · $783,294

## Abstract

OTHER PROJECT INFORMATION – Summary/Abstract
Overall Component
Health outcomes are affected by myriad mechanisms, including behaviors. An important question is how such
behaviors might be influenced in ways that improve health outcomes on a broad population-wide scale. The
NBER Roybal Center explores this question by conducting clinical trials with analytic and theoretical foundations
in the behavioral sciences. All trials implemented by the Center have appropriate sample sizes and sufficient
statistical power to contribute important learnings about the mechanisms that drive behavior change and
interventions that may change behavior. The interventions are selected to the cost-effective and scalable, with
the potential to progress through the NIH Stage Model during the Center’s life. Our Center focuses primarily on
efficacy (Stage 2-3) and effectiveness (Stage 4) testing; some trials also involve elements of intervention
development and preliminary tests (Stage 1) and implementation research (Stage 5). Among the major
categories of research we plan to conduct are ways to increase healthy behaviors (e.g., increase uptake of
vaccinations, improve diet and exercise regimens), decrease unhealthy behaviors (e.g., smoking cessation), and
improve provider decision-making. A cross-cutting theme of our Center is to study the way socioeconomic
disparities contribute to inequality of health outcomes, and to explore interventions that best serve disadvantaged
and vulnerable populations. The research plan is strengthened by a partnership with Geisinger Clinic, a non-
profit health care network and insurer with a rich history of innovative delivery reforms and experimental research
to improve population health in an active, well-integrated, health care delivery and community health setting. The
NBER-Geisinger partnership provides the core infrastructure for implementing experimental interventions on-
site with an engaged and committed health care delivery partner. The Center also engages a collaborative
network of leading behavioral scientists and other experts who conduct clinical trials, share research activities
and findings, and collaborate on joint projects. The Center is currently in its fifteenth year and we seek to renew
the Center for another five years.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10874243
- **Project number:** 2P30AG034532-16
- **Recipient organization:** NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
- **Principal Investigator:** Marcella Alsan
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $783,294
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2009-09-30 → 2029-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10874243

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10874243, NBER Roybal Center for Behavior Change in Health (2P30AG034532-16). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10874243. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*