The National Institutes of Health has announced five new Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs) to accelerate scientific discoveries into treatments for patients.

Administered by the National Center for Research Resources, these 2011 grants extend the CTSA consortium to 30 states and the District of Columbia. With these most recent awards, the NIH is funding 60 CTSA institutions. The five new institutions are the Pennsylvania State University, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City; University of Kentucky, Lexington; and University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

The NIH news release about the 2011 awards is available at www.nih.gov/news/health/jun2011/ncrr-14.htm, and more information about the CTSAs and related science advances can be viewed at www.ncrr.nih.gov/ctsa.

In addition, NIH has awarded the Vanderbilt University Medical Center with a grant to encourage and facilitate collaboration, sharing and interaction among the CTSAs, as well as with other NIH-funded institutions and organizations. For more information after 11 a.m., view the Vanderbilt news release at www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases.php.

To learn more, visit HealthResearchFunding.Org or write to healthresearchfunding@nhcouncil.org.

Each year, there are numerous research proposals for promising new treatments that make their way through a peer-review process but do not receive funding, although they have the potential to make significant contribution to scientific discovery. The National Health Council (NHC), with input from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has developed a web database designed to bring researchers together with patient advocacy organizations and other funding sources. It’s called HealthResearchFunding.Org.

We seek to execute new and better ways to advance the development of solutions to the health care concerns faced by the more than 133 million Americans living with chronic diseases and disabilities and their family caregivers. Working together, we want to foster the funding of new research that will provide hope to patients and their families for years to come.

The NIH receives more than 50,000 grant applications each year. Each application is peer reviewed, and about half are deemed to have scientific merit and could be considered for funding. These applications are then scored and ranked. Of these grant applications that the NIH deems worthy, fewer than half receive funding. NHC member patient organizations that fund research also receive numerous proposals that they peer review, deem meritorious, but are unable to support.

Our Response

By using this database, potential research supporters among NHC membership and those outside the NHC community can avoid duplication of effort and more efficiently identify and evaluate NIH-reviewed research proposals. During the testing phase of the database, the NHC received feedback from its member patient advocacy organizations regarding the lack of a standardized mechanism to filter proposals.

By utilizing the HealthReserachFunding.Org database, researchers gain an organized and unvarying environment in which to exhibit their proposals alongside their peers. Their respective research institutions could spend less time, effort, and resources looking for financial support and more time conducting research to aid in the development of new treatments for patients.

The HealthResearchFunding.Org database has been tested by the chief scientific/medical officers and research directors from NHC member patient advocacy organizations. We will eventually expand its availability to corporations and private investors.

Our Objectives

• Expedite the process by which participating non-government funding organizations (i.e., patient advocacy organizations, corporations, venture capitalists, etc.) underwrite health research and behavioral research by linking them with researchers whose proposals to NIH have been deemed meritorious and worthwhile.

• Help participating funding organizations avoid duplication of effort as they seek to fund research by making use of the significant public investment of intellectual capital, time, and funds in the NIH peer-review process.

• Help investigators who have developed specific research proposals obtain a broad audience of potential funding sources from the nonprofit sector for their proposed research by offering them the opportunity to promote their peer-reviewed research proposals to these and other potential funding sources.

• Help NHC members fulfill their missions to support research for prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic diseases and disabilities by brokering a user-friendly, reliable information exchange among interested parties.

How It Works

Researchers whose proposals have been peer reviewed by either the NIH or by an NHC member patient advocacy organization will be invited to register with HealthReserachFunding.Org and add an abstract. They will have the ability to also search for NHC member organizations that fund research. NHC member organizations will be able to search for research proposals, search for individual researchers, and search and view other funding organizations. They will also be able to upload requests for proposals, including posting ideas for collaboration with other funding sources. The site will eventually expand to include corporations and private investors.

To learn more, visit HealthResearchFunding.Org or write to healthresearchfunding@nhcouncil.org.

The National Health Council is the only organization of its kind that brings together all segments of the health care community to provide a united voice for the more than 133 million people with chronic diseases and disabilities and their family caregivers. Made up of more than 100 national health-related organizations and businesses, its core membership includes approximately 50 of the nation’s leading patient advocacy groups, which control its governance. To learn more, visit www.nationalhealthcouncil.org.

As you may be aware, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced the availability of $100 million to support Community Transformation Grants, created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The grants were a key component of the Prevention Fund supported by APHA and other public health advocates for inclusion in the ACA. The funding is available to support evidence- and practice-based community and clinical prevention and wellness strategies that will lead to specific, measurable health outcomes to reduce chronic disease rates. CDC will be holding a conference call prior to the deadline for submitting Letters of Intent to apply for funding.  The Letters of Intent are due to CDC on Monday, June 6, 2011. The call-in information for the various time zones is posted below:

• Atlantic, Eastern and Central time zones May 25, 2011, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. (EDT) -  This conference call can be accessed by calling 1-888-972-9343. The leader for this call is Lori Elmore and the passcode is 8899773.
• Mountain and Pacific time zones May 25, 2011, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (EDT) – This conference call can be accessed by calling 1-888-972-9343. The leader for this call is Lori Elmore and the passcode is 8899773.
• Alaska and Hawaii-Aleutian time zones May 25, 2011, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (EDT) – This conference call can be accessed by calling 1-888-790-3249. The leader for this call is Lori Elmore and the passcode is 6417596.

Local and state government agencies, local and state non-profit organizations and federally recognized American Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages and Tribal organizations are eligible to apply.

For additional information, please visit the Community Transformation Grants website where you can find additional resources and a list of frequently asked questions about the program and the application process.

Below, please find information about two new HRSA supported funding opportunities!!  These include the Public Health Training Centers (PHTCs) Program and the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP).  Grant applications for the PHTCs program are due May 23, 2011 8:00 PM ET. Grant applications for the HCOP are due May 25, 2011 8:00 PM ET.  Feel free to share the information below with colleagues and peers who may be interested.

PHTC: On Monday, March 21 HRSA posted the FY2011 grant competition for the Public Health Training Centers (PHTC) Program We have $6.5 million in funding available through FY 2011 appropriation and the Prevention and Public Health Fund  for up to 10 cooperative agreements (up to $650,000 each annually) to support up to ten new Public Health Training Centers (PHTCs) as cooperative agreements in an amount up to $650,000 each annually. PHTCs provide education, training and other services to help meet public health workforce needs and address related shortages. CEPH-accredited schools of public health and public health programs are eligible; grant applications will be due May 23.  There will be a technical assistance call for potential PHTC grantees on March 30 at noon. If you missed the call, the slides and recording will be available afterward. The link to the funding announcement is: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=hGcqNHhZkQ2cS1GvWt0rcgXfQh7pPdcQ5px8TQGyhVTMhQJHbjvt!1145704052?oppId=80873&mode=VIEW.

NOTE re eligibility: Supplemental applications from existing centers MAY be submitted through this announcement, although the intent of the competition is to stand up new centers. Therefore supplemental applications are likely to be viewed (in the Objective Review Process) as less strong applications compared to those of new applicants, and potential applicants are urged to evaluate whether the effort of putting together a supplemental application is worthwhile. HRSA will clarify this on the TA call, as well.

HCOP: On Thursday, March 24, we posted the FY11 grant competition for the Health Careers Opportunity Program. The HCOP program helps provide tutoring, mentoring and other services for students from disadvantaged backgrounds pursuing careers as physician assistants; in behavioral and mental health, public and allied health; dentistry; optometry; pharmacy; and in general, osteopathic, chiropractic, podiatric and veterinary medicine.  HRSA expects to make approximately $9.8 million available to fund 14 academic institutions and training programs. The link to the funding announcement is: https://grants.hrsa.gov/webExternal/FundingOppDetails.asp?FundingCycleId=E094A5D3-EF6A-4E0E-8D1D-4E6D4C79F99A&ViewMode=EU&GoBack=&PrintMode=&OnlineAvailabilityFlag=&pageNumber=&version=&NC=&Popup

The NN/LM Southeastern/Atlantic (SE/A) Region is accepting applications from SE/A Network members interested in attending the Symposium for Information Professionals Meeting Disaster Health Information Needs to be held at the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, March 29-30, 2011. A $1,000 travel stipend is offered for individuals in SE/A member institutions (librarians, library staff, library students, information professionals, etc.) with a disaster communications focus or interested in networking with other disaster information professionals. For more information about the symposium and registration see: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/symposium2011.html

For more information on the SE/A stipend and application see: http://nnlm.gov/sea/funding/symposium.html

Press Contact
Gina White, 202-653-4745
gwhite@imls.gov

Deadline for applications: February 1, 2011

Washington, DC—The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is accepting grant applications for the agency’s 2011 National Leadership Grant (NLG) program. Applications, guidelines, and examples of successful proposals can be found on the agency’s Web site. The deadline for submitting applications is February 1, 2011.

For the past 13 years, the National Leadership Grants program has been the capstone program for IMLS, providing the agency’s highest level of support for innovative projects that generate transformative research, new tools, models, services, professional practice, and alliances that advance the awarded institution as well as the field.

National Leadership Grants also allow eligible institutions and their partners to address field-wide challenges and initiatives such as those described in: Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills, Museums and Libraries Engaging America’s Youth, Advancing Research and Practice in Digital Curation and Publishing, and the Future of Museums and Libraries.

Interested museums and libraries can apply for a Project or Collaborative Planning grant in one of the following four funding categories: Research, Demonstration, Advancing Digital Resources, and Library-Museum Collaboration.

The Institute has scheduled two conference calls to give prospective applicants an opportunity to ask IMLS staff questions pertaining to National Leadership Grants. The calls will be held on the following dates and times:

Wednesday, December 15, 3:00 pm ET
Thursday, January 13, 3:00 pm ET

Please check the National Leadership Grants page closer to the date of the call for specific dial-in instructions.

Applicants are also encouraged to contact program officers with their questions.

Program Contacts for Libraries:

Anthony D. Smith, Senior Program Officer
Phone: 202-653-4768
E-mail: asmith@imls.gov

Charles “Chuck” Thomas, Senior Program Officer
Phone: 202-653-4663
E-mail: cthomas@imls.gov

Kathy Mitchell, Program Specialist
Phone: 202-653-4687
E-mail: kmitchell@imls.gov

Robert Trio, Program Specialist
Phone: 202-653-4689
E-mail: rtrio@imls.gov

Program Contacts for Museums:

Helen Wechsler, Senior Program Officer
Phone: 202-653-4779
E-mail: hwechsler@imls.gov

Tim Carrigan, Program Specialist
Phone: 202-653-4639
E-mail: tcarrigan@imls.gov

The Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) is pleased to announce the availability of research activity grants for community, tribe, or practice-based research.

The Community/Practice/Tribe-Based Research Activity Funding Program is sponsored by two ITHS cores: the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) and the Community Outreach and Research Translation (CORT) core.  The CORT team supports research partnerships across community and academic settings.

The goal of this funding program is to enhance two-way working relationships between communities, practices, and academic researchers in participatory research, which means community, tribes and practice members are directly involved in research processes. Grants are designed to help community, tribes and practice partners:

• gain research skills and boost research capacity
• conduct research or quality improvement work
• establish relationships with academic/university-based research partners

Who can apply?

This funding program is for community, tribes and practices only. Members of the academic research community are NOT eligible to apply. You are eligible ONLY if you are a:
Community, tribe, or practice member (individual or organization). Located in one of these five states: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, or Idaho

• Community, tribe, or practice member (individual or organization). Located in one of these five states: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, or Idaho
• Interested in developing research capacity and in working with academic/university-based researchers in clinical or translational health science
• An ITHS member.  Please see frequently asked questions and answers below. Please contact Leah Tuzzio at tuzzio.l@ghc.org or (206) 287-2109  or Abigail Echo-Hawk, Tribal Liaison, at hawkd3@uw.edu or (206) 616-5957  to become a member.  You can also visit http://www.iths.org/membership to learn about the benefits of membership.

Scope of Project

Funds can be used for small pilot research, quality improvement projects, or non-research activities that develop research capacity. All proposed research must be participatory, which means involving community, tribe and practice members in the health research processes.  Examples include but are not limited to:

Activities that build research skills and boost research capacity (examples only):

• Attend or host a course, seminar, training workshop or conference related to community, tribe, or practice-based participatory health research that will help increase research capacit
• Present a poster or oral presentation on community-based participatory research or translational health research, such as at the Community Campus Partnership for Health (CCPH) conference
• Build research review or regulatory capabilities at your organization, community, or practice.  Examples include creating cultural or tribal review boards, institutional review boards (IRBs), or other regulatory systems

Research or quality improvement projects (examples only):

• Collect preliminary data from a community or practice to support a future grant proposal.
• Conduct chart reviews to find gaps in services, such as racial and ethnic health disparities.
• Conduct an interview or focus group (qualitative study) with providers and patients to learn why a health intervention does not work as well for some groups of people.

Application and schedule

Proposal application instructions are available at www.iths.org

For research involving human subjects, funds will be awarded after Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval or an exemption has been obtained by the applicant.

*The “Institute of Translational Health Sciences” (ITHS) is funded through the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA). The ITHS brings together scientists at the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Children’s, Group Health Research Institute, Benaroya Research Institute and other partner institutions in the Puget Sound region and in the WWAMI states to advance and transform clinical and translational research. The Institute is supported by grant UL1RR025014 from the NIH National Center for Research Resources.  Please help us continue to support your research by citing our grant number in publications we supported.

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is now accepting applications for The Donald A. B. Lindberg Research Fellowship. The purpose of this fellowship is to fund research aimed at expanding the research knowledgebase, linking the information services provided by librarians to improved health care and advances in biomedical research. The endowment will provide a 10,000 grant, awarded by MLA through a competitive grant process, to a qualified health sciences librarian, informatician, health professional, researcher, educator, or health administrator.  Research in alignment with MLA’s research agenda’s top ranked research questions is preferred over other areas of research and is located at http://www.mlanet.org/research/agenda_2008.html.

An application and more information about the fellowship can be accessed at www.mlanet.org/awards/grants/ or by contacting Lisa C. Fried, MLA’s Credentialing, Professional Recognition and Career Coordinator at mlapd2@mlahq.org.

The awardee will be notified in late February 2011.

The Office of Minority Health Resource Center (OMHRC) is pleased to announce the American Indian/Alaska Native HIV/AIDS Tribal Awards for FY 2011.  The Tribal Initiative on HIV/AIDS is a capacity building, training, and technical assistance project of the OMHRC, funded by the Minority AIDS Initiative, and in collaboration with the Indian Health Service National HIV/AIDS Program. The Initiative aims to directly address and support HIV/AIDS education, testing, anti-stigma, LGBT and Two-Spirit outreach and programs.

Please see the OMHRC Tribal HIV miniaward Application (Sept202010),  for full description, application and forms.

NIH Director’s Transformative Research Projects Award Program
Announcing funding for Transformative Research Projects (T-R01) Award Program:

• Exceptionally innovative, high risk, original and/or unconventional research
• Clinical, basic, and/or behavioral/social science research projects
• Up to $25 million total costs per year for a single project
• One-third of total funding budget geared to projects with more than $1 Million in direct costs.

The deadline for submitting Transformative Research Project applications is October 27, 2010 with Letters of Intent due by September 27, 2010.  See the instructions in the RFA <http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-10-010.html> (RFA-RM-10-010). Additional information, including Frequently Asked Questions about the Transformative Research Projects Program is available at: http://commonfund.nih.gov/T-R01 . Send questions to T_R01@mail.nih.gov.

NIH Director’s Pioneer and New Innovator Awards Program
NIH welcomes proposals for 2011 NIH Director’s Pioneer Awards and New Innovator Awards for innovative approaches to major challenges in biomedical or behavioral research.

• Pioneer Awards:
  • Up to $2.5 million in direct costs over 5 years
  • Open to scientists at any career stage.
• New Innovator Awards:
  • Up to $1.5 million in direct costs over 5 years
  • For early stage investigators (ESI), defined as those who have not received an NIH R01 or similar grant and are within 10 years of completing their terminal research degree or medical residency.

NIH expects to make at least 7 Pioneer Awards and at least 33 New Innovator Awards in summer 2011.  To continue its strong record of diversity in these programs, NIH especially encourages women and members of groups that are underrepresented in NIH research to apply.

The deadline for submitting Pioneer Award applications is September 13, 2010. See the instructions in the RFA <http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-10-008.html> (RFA-RM-10-008) and http://commonfund.nih.gov/pioneer for more information. Send questions to pioneer@nih.gov.

The deadline for submitting New Innovator Award applications is September 20, 2010. See the instructions in the RFA <http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-10-009.html> (RFA-RM-10-009) and http://commonfund.nih.gov/newinnovator for more information. Send questions to newinnovator@nih.gov.