WHERE TO FIND FUNDING FOR YOUR CLINICAL OR BASIC SCIENCE RESEARCH PROJECT
Scott D. Gitlin, M.D., F.A.C.P. American Society of Hematology
December 6, 2003
WHY DO I NEED TO FIND MONEY?
1. You need funds to cover research expenses
Basic Research • salary support for others involved laboratory technicians post-doctoral or clinical fellows • reagents, laboratory assays/experiments • animals • laboratory equipment Clinical Research • salary support for others involved clinical fellows research nurses biostatistician • clinical tests/assays, radiology, procedures, pathology • clinical trials office, IRB • therapeutics • equipment
WHY DO I NEED TO FIND MONEY?
2. You need to cover part of your salary
• academic expectation • provides “protected time” for your research • demonstrates that your project is worthwhile enough to be awarded funding • helps you toward promotion (for the reasons above) • keeps your boss off of your back
WHY DO I NEED TO FIND MONEY?
3. No one else is going to do it for you
• it is your responsibility to find the funds needed to support your research
STEPS TO GETTING FUNDING
1. Develop a research question (i.e. hypothesis) and decide how to best design the “experiments” necessary to answer your question 2. Evaluate your research project as to what entities or groups would be interested in this work
3. Identify funding agencies and available grants or other sources of funds that might be appropriate for your research
4. Gather information about application requirements, types of support provided, application deadlines, amount of funding, duration of funding
STEPS TO GETTING FUNDING
5. Prepare and submit application(s)
• Don’t be shy about soliciting input and feedback from
other investigators, administrators, the funding agency, etc
• Spend whatever time is needed to present a well-thought out proposal • Start well ahead of the submission deadline - Internal reviews and approvals - Gathering supporting documents - Adequate time to solicit and incorporate feedback from others - Last minute revisions to proposal • Be certain to submit all of the funding agency’s required
materials ON TIME
STEPS TO GETTING FUNDING
6. Funding agency reviews and evaluates applications 7. Funding agency notifies you of their decision regarding your application
• Depending on the agency, you may or may not receive
feedback from the review of your application
• If you do receive reviews of your application, read them
and use them to help strengthen your project
• Reviews are often helpful when you are considering the
next grant application
SOURCES OF RESEARCH FUNDING
I. Federal
• National Institutes of Health (NIH) - a number of different types of grants for biomedical research are available - use NIH Guide for RFAs and PAs - www.nih.gov K08-Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award K23-Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award K12-Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Program Award RO1-Investigator-initiated Awards R21-Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Award R34-Clinical Trial Planning Grant Program
P01-Program Project Grants
SOURCES OF RESEARCH FUNDING
I. Federal
• National Science Foundation (NSF) - Funds basic science and engineering research that is generally not health or disease related • Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Review-investigator initiated awards Career Development awards
SOURCES OF RESEARCH FUNDING
II. Private Foundations
• Medical Professional Societies American Society of Hematology American Society of Clinical Oncology American Association for Cancer Research • Disease-specific Charitable Organizations The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society American Cancer Society Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Fanconi Anemia Research Fund, Inc. Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation, Inc. American Heart Association American Lung Association
SOURCES OF RESEARCH FUNDING III. Local Research Grants
• Your Academic Institution -there may be several sources of funds here Cancer Center Division Department Medical School Main campus research office General Clinical Research Center • Local Charities and Organizations State hematology/oncology society • Health Insurance Companies/Payors Medicare Blue Cross/Blue Shield
SOURCES OF RESEARCH FUNDING IV. Industry
• Primarily fund clinical research projects, but might
fund a laboratory component of a project that will impact clinical care
• Pharmaceutical companies • Medical device companies
SOURCES OF RESEARCH FUNDING IV. Private Donors
• Endowments • Gifts
SOURCES OF RESEARCH FUNDING V. Other
• Ask your mentor and others for ideas of where to look • Street corners • Collection jars • Return containers for their deposit
SOURCES OF RESEARCH FUNDING VI. Funding Search Sources
Community of Science
Grants Net Society of Research Administrators The Foundation Center U. Michigan Non-federal sources Illinois Researcher Information Service
www.cos.org
www.grantsnet.org srainternational.org Fdncenter.org cgi.research.umich.edu/ healthbook/healthbook.lasso www.library.uiuc.edu/iris/
Newsletter services
Google, other internet search engines
YOU NEED TO BE AGGRESSIVE AND PROACTIVE
• Use all resources available to you to identify funding sources for
your research project
• Most grant applications do not get funded • Seek out details of grant eligibility
- don’t assume you aren’t eligible by reading the title of the application notice
• You may need preliminary data for your application • Be aware of application deadlines • Obtain input and feedback from your mentor(s) and colleagues
YOU NEED TO BE AGGRESSIVE AND PROACTIVE
• Discuss your research proposal with the funding agency, if you
have any questions about their interest in your type of research or the application process
• Don’t rely on one submission---submit multiple applications
for the same project (worry about turning down the award later, if you get more than one application funded)
• Contact your central Grants Administration office to get lists of
funding organizations
HEMATOLOGY GRANTS WORKSHOP
San Diego Convention Center Room 33 Saturday, December 6 4:15 pm - 6:00 pm
Focusing on NIH K awards, this year
GOOD LUCK