Grantsmanship 101

1. Grantsmanship 101 Greg Cooper, MD

2. Goals • Scope of grants available • NIH/NCI • ACS • Foundations • Basic grant strategies • Examples of funded grants

3. NIH Grants • Training grants (T series, R25) • New investigators • K07 • K08 • K23 • Small grants • R03 • Exploratory/Developmental • R21 • Established investigators • R01

4. K07 Award • Cancer Prevention, Control, Behavioral, and Population Sciences Career Development Award • 3-5 years salary (up to $75,000) + research support (up to $30,000) • Open to PhD + health professional degrees • Minimum 75% effort • Mentor +/- comentors • Include career development + research plans

5. K08 Award • Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award • Open to health professional degrees • Includes basic + translational research • Otherwise similar to K07

6. K23 Award • Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award • Open to health professional degrees • POR: conducted with human subjects (or material); mechanisms of disease, therapeutic interventions, clinical trials, development of new technologies • Exclude existing data or specimens if can’t be identified • Otherwise similar to K07

7. R03 Award • Small grants • Shorter application • Budget up to $100,000 year for 2 years • Funding at higher rate at NCI

8. ACS Awards • Mentored Research Scholar Grant • Up to 5 years and up to $135,000 per year • Categories: clinical and epidemiological, psychosocial, behavioral, health policy and health services, and targeted to poor and underserved (no basic science) • Full time faculty, within first 4 years • Minimum of 60% effort, up to $10,000 for mentor/year

9. Foundations • Damon Runyon/Walter Winchell • RWJ • Subspecialty Societies

10. Main Structure of Grants • Specific Aims • Background • Preliminary Studies • Research Design and Methods

11. Specific Aims • Usually 1 page (include opening paragraph with summary) • Typically 2-5 Aims • Organize around Sections • Include hypotheses that will be tested (if not descriptive) • Balance between too narrow and over-ambitious

12. Background • Typically 2-3 pages • At beginning, summarize what you will say • Organize into sections/themes • Include others’ work • At end, summarize what you have said and give gaps in knowledge

13. Preliminary Studies • Typically 6-8 pages • Opening paragraph -summary • Include work by yourself and co-investigators/mentors • Include reprints in Appendix • Summarize at end and highlight gaps in knowledge and how proposal will fill in gaps

14. Research Design and Methods • Typically 10-15 pages • Introduction with model (Figure) • Organize around sections • Analyses – include hypotheses • Include power/sample size calculations • Include limitations • Include implications/further studies

15. Career Development Plan • The Candidate (included in 25 pages) • Background, Career Goals and Objectives, Career Development Activities • Statements by Sponsor • Environment & Institutional Commitment

16. Other Sections • Human Subjects • Inclusion of women, minorities, children • Clinical Research/Trials • Protection of human subjects • Data and safety monitoring plan • References • Supporting Information • Letters • Mentor’s section

17. Resubmissions • Limited to 3 pages • Point-by-point response • “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”