Rhode Island Hospital

Rhode Island Hospital Lifespan Division, a division of Lifespan Corporation and an academic medical center affiliated with Brown University, acts as prime recipient and subcontractor on federal grants spanning biomedical research, clinical trials, and specialized medical services to the National Institutes of Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, and other health agencies. The hospital operates as a tax-exempt, nonprofit corporate entity headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, with a sibling relationship to The Miriam Hospital under the Lifespan parent structure.

Rhode Island Hospital's federal footprint is dominated by grant-funded research rather than federal contracts. The hospital serves as a prime recipient on 526 awards (65% of all awards) and subcontractor on 284 awards (35%), with distinct customer concentration in research funding. The top five funding agencies by award count are the National Institutes of Health and its subordinate institutes—particularly the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institute on Drug Abuse; the National Institute of Mental Health; and the Office of the Director—together accounting for 47% of recent awards. By dollar value, the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 leads with 24 awards valued at $2.1 million, followed by CDC Pittsburgh with nine awards worth $521 thousand, reflecting a split between small research grants and larger clinical service contracts.

Concrete capability work centers on three domains: specialized pathology and clinical laboratory services delivered to the VA; NIH-funded biomedical research in infectious disease, cardiovascular health, substance use disorders, mental health, and pediatric health; and clinical trial research and implementation science. Representative contract work includes a $278,801.25 Blanket Purchase Agreement with VA VISN 1 (awarded January 15, 2026, ultimate completion November 30, 2026) for statistical and non-statistical clinical laboratory testing, muscle and nerve biopsies, and dermatopathology consultation services under NAICS 621511 (Medical Laboratories). Representative grant work includes NIH awards: a $2.737 million National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant (awarded September 24, 2025) for a randomized controlled trial evaluating praziquantel treatment frequencies for schistosomiasis-related hepatic fibrosis in Uganda; a $3.03 million National Institute on Drug Abuse grant (awarded September 15, 2025) for the Police PATHS Study, implementation research on police-assisted diversion programs in Philadelphia and Baltimore; and a $855,638 National Institute of Mental Health grant (awarded August 20, 2026) for a hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial of the ED_REACH family navigation intervention for youth discharged from emergency departments after suicide or self-injurious behavior evaluations. The hospital also serves as a sub-recipient on dozens of research projects led by Brown University, Emory University, Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins University, providing subject recruitment, sample processing, data collection, clinical oversight, or biostatistical support.

Activity has grown substantially—from 47 awards in 2022 to 120 in 2024 and 103 in 2025—reflecting expanded research volume and research-network participation. Sixty-four awards (combined potential value $279 thousand) complete within the next twenty-four months and face recompete. The hospital's grant portfolio tilts heavily toward research infrastructure and training support: approximately 40 of the recent awards are career development, training, or infrastructure awards (K01, K23, R21, R33, T32, COBRE, Advance-K programs), which anchor its role as a Brown University-affiliated research institution.

In its subcontractor capacity, Rhode Island Hospital delivers clinical research services to Brown University (the most frequent prime across 50+ subawards), the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, Emory University, Yale University, and smaller primes. SCI-reported federal service activity is minimal—4 records spanning FY2024–FY2025, with 2.6–4.4 FTEs delivered as a named subcontractor—reflecting the hospital's primary role in grant-funded research rather than federally managed service contracts above the $150,000 SCI threshold.

The hospital competes in full-and-open federal grant mechanisms (NIH R01, R21, U01, K awards; NIDA; NIMH; NHLBI; NIAID) with no set-aside designations. Federal contract awards (primarily VA BPA calls for laboratory services) are similarly full-and-open. The hospital does not hold GSA Schedules or GWAC seats; its federal vehicles are single-award or competitively awarded BPAs and IDCs with the VA and research-focused cooperative agreements with NIH institutes. The hospital's federal posture is characteristic of an academic medical center: research-intensive, grant-dependent, and deeply embedded in NIH training and clinical trial networks rather than commercial federal contracting.