1. Funding Opportunities for Investigator-initiated Grants with Foreign Components at the NIH Somdat Mahabir, PhD, MPH Program Director Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program Division of Cancer Control & Population Sciences

2. 2 NCI

3. NIH Budget The NIH invests over $30 billion annually in medical research for the American people. FY 2009 NCI budget: Over $4.967 billion

4. Research Funding 4 NIH supports external research in 3 ways: –Grant: Investigator decides the research design and approach –Contract: Government decides the research scope to fill need and establishes detailed requirements –Cooperative Agreement: Similar to grant, BUT both awarding Institute/Center and recipient have substantial involvement in design and conduct of the research

5. Goal: Provide an organized approach to obtain NIH funding Outline 1) Forms & Registration 2) Planning & Strategy 3) Writing & Submission 4) Review process 5

6. Forms & Registrations Application Forms: Most submissions electronic (SF 424) http://www.grants.gov Registrations needed: –NCAGE code (NATO Commercial and Governmental Entity) if contractor. http://www.dlis.dla.mil/nato_poc.asp. http://www.dlis.dla.mil/nato_poc.asp. –DUNS number (Data Universal Numbering System) for institution http://fedgov.drb.com/webform –eRA Commons for both institution and investigator https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons/ https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons/ 6

7. Planning & Strategy Reporting Tool (RePORT) Website to discover: http://report.nih.gov/index.aspx –Data on what NIH spends each year By Institute and Center By disease type –Scientific concepts, emerging trends, success rates –Funded grant abstracts –Find which NIH institutes are interested in your research area –NOTE: unlike journals, RePORT data is in real time 7

8. Planning & Strategy Go to website of relevant Institute - Center: –http://www.cancer.gov/researchandfunding –Must use existing Funding Opportunity Announcements (ie. PA-10-067) Mechanisms (ie. R01, R21, R03) –Identify dollar limits, submission dates, Awaiting Receipt of Application, eligibility. 8

9. Planning & Strategy Decide whether to apply directly as a foreign institution or a sub-contractor with a US institution Seek out US collaborators whenever possible. 9

10. Planning & Strategy - NIH Guide Searchable funding opportunities Rules for writing and submission of applications http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html 10

11. Planning & Strategy - Referral Center for Scientific Review (CSR): –http://cms.csr.nih.gov/ –Assigns applications to specific areas in an IC –Assigns specific review groups –Find likely Integrated Review Groups (IRG), and related Study Sections, review the rosters. 11

12. Writing & Submission Prior to writing you should: –Understand the mission of the funding agency and their guidelines –Check Center for Scientific Review (or institute itself) –Review the review panelists interests and credentials –Contact the person listed in funding opportunity announcement 12

13. Writing & Submission While you are writing you should: –Seek mentoring from funded investigators –For foreign grants justify: Why in a non-U.S. country? What is benefit/relevance to the U.S. population? –Test your ideas on colleagues –Form a mini-panel to discuss grant –Seek collaborators –http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/extra/extdocs/apprep.htm 13

14. Writing & Submission - Foreign Grants Does project present special opportunities that either are not readily available in the United States or augment existing U.S. resources? (This is also a review consideration) Special opportunities may include: –Unusual talent –Resources –Populations –Environmental conditions 14

15. Writing & Submission Cover letter Write a cover letter: helps determine referral to study section. –Briefly explain the hypothesis and the aims. –Suggest a study section. –Any special expertise needed? –Include brief justification for foreign grant 15

16. Review Process – Obtaining Funding 16 1) Study Section determines Scientific Merit 2) Institute/Center determines Funding by: Scientific Merit Programmatic priorities Availability of funds

17. Review Process – Sources of scientific review Sources of review –Center for Scientific Review –Institutes’ own review panels (RFA) –Special Emphasis Panels (PAR) 17

18. Review Process – Selected changes In most cases now 5 criteria Each criterion receives impact score 1-9 Overall impact score – 10-90 – average of overall scores (x10) from all reviewers, not average of 5 criteria. Critiques are bulleted rather than paragraphs Only one resubmission allowed http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/ 18

19. Review Process - Five Review Criteria Significance: Does this study address an important problem? If the aims of the application are achieved, how will scientific knowledge be advanced? Approach: Are the conceptual framework, design, methods, and analyses adequately developed, well-integrated, and appropriate to the aims of the project? Innovation: Does the project employ novel concepts, approaches or method? Are the aims original and innovative? Investigator: Is the investigator appropriately trained and well suited to carry out this work? Environment: Does the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success? 19

20. Review Process - Impact Scores 20

21. Thank you Drs. Mukesh Verma & Britt Reid helped in developing this presentation. 21