United States National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
The first three years of BPDRF ’s initiative have been very successful. Perhaps the most impressive success has been the National Institute of Mental Health's (NIMH) encouragement of research in the field via Requests for Applications (RFAs). The National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) has joined NIMH for the RFA for Translational Borderline Personality Research and is seeking new, science-based treatment models and procedures for persons who are drug dependent and who also have BPD. NIMH values translational research (integrated basic and clinical science) for BPD, including new, valid measures of BPD and its characteristics and the development and exploration of new, science-based treatment models and procedures. BPDRF and NIMH work very closely together in particular in the goal of supporting young investigators in order to enable them to conduct the necessary pilot studies to qualify for grants with governments and private sponsors.

In 2000, NIMH delegated its Director, Steven Hyman, to serve as trustee of BPDRF. In 2001, NIMH and BPDRF co-sponsored a workshop for young investigators in New York, with a follow-up workshop in 2002 in Minneapolis. In 2003 BPDRF delegated its Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board, Andrew Skodol, to serve in the the Review Committee of NIMH's RFA in BPD. Also in 2003 a conference of 25 experts is co-sponsored by NIMH and BPDRF with the task to find a consensus on the BPD phenotypes and defining characteristics that in particular can inform genetic studies.