# Center to Accelerate Translation of Interventions to Decrease Premature Mortality in SMI

> **NIH NIH P50** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $1,553,840

## Abstract

Persons with serious mental illness (SMI) comprise one of the most highly vulnerable groups in the US,
dying 10 to 20 years earlier and with mortality rates two to over three times higher than the overall population.
Much of this premature death is attributable to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and is potentially preventable; all
CVD risk behaviors (unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco smoking) and risk factors (obesity,
hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia) are markedly elevated in persons with SMI. Concomitantly, persons
with SMI often receive poor quality of care for these conditions. While these health and mortality gaps are
widely recognized as a public health crisis, individual, provider, organizational, and policy level barriers impede
progress. While many persons with SMI receive most of their care from the public mental health sector, tailored
interventions to decrease CVD risk shown effective in clinical trials for those with SMI (e.g., for weight loss,
smoking cessation) have not been widely adopted in community mental health settings. Meaningfully
advancing health and decreasing mortality disparities for persons with SMI requires urgent development and
testing of implementation strategies for scale-up of practical, effective interventions.
 In response to this extraordinary burden of years of life lost, our goal is to create the Center to Accelerate
Translation of Interventions to Decrease Premature Mortality in SMI that will use cutting-edge transdisciplinary
methods towards short and long-term progress to reduce CVD risk in this highly vulnerable population. The
Center’s uniquely qualified team will conduct 3 R34 studies to develop and pilot test innovative implementation
strategies to address all CVD risk behaviors and risk factors in persons with SMI in community mental health
settings. The R34s will focus on evidence-based approaches for: 1) behavioral weight loss with diet and
physical activity; 2) tobacco smoking cessation treatment; 3) care delivery for diabetes, hypertension and
dyslipidemia. The Methods Core will use a transdisciplinary approach incorporating clinical and behavioral
intervention research, implementation science, human factors engineering, systems science, and health
services research to support Center research. The Methods Core will also advance research methods in 1)
human factors engineering to support implementation; 2) avatar-assisted training and assessment in
motivational interviewing; 3) quantitative methods to support intervention scale-up; 4) and systems science.
The Administrative Core will engage stakeholders, building on well-established partnerships in Maryland and
nationally, and bring together all of the Center’s activities. The gaping differential in life expectancy and CVD
risk factor burden in persons with SMI calls for concentrated, transdisciplinary approaches to solutions. This
Center will create a nexus of innovation and momentum around T2 translation to reduce premature mortal...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9964916
- **Project number:** 5P50MH115842-03
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Gail L. Daumit
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $1,553,840
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-15 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9964916

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9964916, Center to Accelerate Translation of Interventions to Decrease Premature Mortality in SMI (5P50MH115842-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9964916. Licensed CC0.

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