NICHD funds research in areas relevant to normal and abnormal human development, including contraception, fertilization, pregnancy, childbirth, prenatal and postnatal development, childhood development through adolescence, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and rehabilitation medicine.
If you have questions about projects within a specific research area, you can find an NICHD program officer (PDF 293 KB) to contact with questions.
Grant applications and project proposals must fall within the missions of the scientific branches of NICHD's Division of Extramural Research (DER) or its National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research, and must align with research priorities outlined in the NICHD Strategic Plan.
Priority areas for each branch and for the Center are provided on their homepages. Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to visit these pages for recent scientific advances and emerging public health topics. For more information about NICHD's research themes, cross-cutting topics, and aspirational goals, visit the plan's Scientific Research Themes and Objectives.
DER Scientific Branches
- Child Development and Behavior Branch
- Contraception Research Branch
- Developmental Biology and Congenital Anomalies Branch
- Fertility and Infertility Branch
- Gynecologic Health and Disease Branch
- Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Branch
- Maternal and Pediatric Infectious Disease Branch
- Obstetric and Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics Branch
- Pediatric Growth and Nutrition Branch
- Pediatric Trauma and Critical Illness Branch
- Population Dynamics Branch
- Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch
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