Applications for this grant are no longer being accepted.

Fund for Medical Discovery (FMD) Clinical Research Fellowship Awards 2019 (19-1)

One-Year MGH ECOR Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards

Application Deadline: Friday, February 1, 2019 – 5:00 PM

 

DESCRIPTION OF THE AWARDS
The Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) is now accepting applications for the Fund for Medical Discovery (FMD) Clinical Research Fellowship Awards. These Fellowships are for MD, PhD Fellows/Post Docs and Instructors within 5 years total since initiating their research fellowship training and who are working full time at MGH on a problem of direct clinical relevance. Please note: while applications for this call are due February 1, 2019, ECOR has three selections of FMD awards per year with deadlines February 1, June 1 and October 1.  The Tosteson and FMD call for proposals due in June and October do not have any areas of research restriction, whereas the FMD call for proposals due in February are restricted to clinical research applications only.  Click here for a summary of the FMD fellowship awards and deadlines.  

As a reminder, ECOR will accept only one application per applicant for MGH ECOR Fellowship Awards per calendar year (two general calls and one additional call focused on clinical research are posted each year as noted)

The following definition for Clinical Research (from the NIH Grants Policy Statement Glossary) will be used to assess eligibility (however, a good rule of thumb to follow is that the research requires an IRB review):

  1. Patient-oriented research: Research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens, and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator directly interacts with human subjects.  In vitro studies that utilize human tissues that cannot be linked to a living individual are therefore not eligible for this award.

    Patient-oriented research includes:

  • mechanisms of human disease
  • therapeutic intervention  
  • clinical trials
  • development of new technologies
  1. Epidemiological and behavioral studies.
  2. Outcomes and health services research.


AWARD EXPENDITURES AND AWARD START DATE
 

  • Awards will begin July 1, 2019
  • The awards are for $48,500 plus applicable fringe benefits and 15% indirect costs. Funds shall be spent during the award's budget period unless ther applicant requests and justifies an extension prior to the closing date of the award and the request is approved by ECOR
  • Awards are not transferable to any other institution
  • The funds may be used only for salary and fringe benefits
  • The awards are restricted to clinical research as defined above and by the NIH Grants Policy Statement

 

ELIGIBILITY

  • Previous Tosteson/FMD Award recipients are not eligible.
  • Applicants and their Supervisors/Mentors must both have full-time primary appointments at MGH during the entire award period. 
  • These Fellowships are only for MD, PhD Fellows/Post Docs and Instructors within 5 years total since initiating their research fellowship training and who are working full time at MGH on a problem of direct clinical relevance. 
  • No more than two fellows from the same laboratory may apply in the same cycle, and no more than one applicant from the same laboratory will be funded in a given cycle.  
  • The awardees salary must be supplemented by the mentor to the appropriate stipend level under the MGH postdoctoral salary guidelines (for further information on the post doc salary  guidelines, go to https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-18-175.html 
  • Internal MGH departmental/sundry funds and other sponsored funds may be used to supplement the stipend.
  • If the applicant already has or subsequently receives other fellowship awards:
    • The applicant's total stipend should not exceed an annual salary appropriate for his/her experience
    • In addition, the receipt of this support must be allowed by the other sponsors
    • Applicants must notify ECOR at ecor@mgh.harvard.edu if they accept another award during the funding period
    • If the other award duplicates the purpose and funding of the MGH Tosteson/FMD award, the unused MGH Tosteson/FMD funding will be returned to the central ECOR pool for further Tosteson/FMD awards.

REVIEW PROCESS
Applicants are reviewed by the ECOR Subcommittee on Review of Research Proposals (SRRP), including a panel of diverse reviewers from across the institution.  The SRRP recommendations are reviewed for final approval by ECOR Leadership. In evaluating applications, SRRP will consider the candidate, the training environment, and the quality and relevance of the proposed study. Candidates will not be provided with critiques for their application.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Applications must include the following 16 items:


1. Title of the Research Proposal

2. Research Supervisor Contact Details, i.e. name, email address, telephone number

3. Post-doctoral Research Training Information, i.e. applicant's total number of post-doctoral years (everywhere, including MGH) and applicant's total number of post-doctoral years (or months) with current mentor at MGH.  Do not include clinical training, i.e. residency, clinical fellowships.

4. Stipends and Awards, i.e. list of stipends and awards currently held by the applicant (type and amount of award)

5. Summary of Research Project (500 word limit)

6. Confirmation that research involves human subjects. Is this research project subject to IRB review? If no, please explain.

7. Research Plan (5-page limit, excluding references), including:

• Specific aims
• Background and significance
• Preliminary data
• Experimental design and methods
• References

8. Applicant’s Description of Long-Term Career Plans (1 page limit).  Include a statement of why/how this  Award will contribute to the applicant’s achievement of these goals. 

9. Applicant's Biosketches must be in the NIH General Biographical Sketch Format found here.  You can also find the NIH Biosketch FAQ page here.  

10. Complete Publications List

11. Applicant's Other Support, a list of other current and pending support sources, with dollar amounts, in the NIH format.  This includes both external and internal support. If the applicant does not have other current or pending support sources, please indicate “none” when applicable.  Click here for a sample Other Support list in the NIH format.

12. Fellowship Supervisor's Biosketch, must be in the NIH General Biographical Sketch Format found here. You can also find the NIH Biosketch FAQ page here.

13. Fellowship Supervisor's Other Support, a list of other current and pending support sources, with dollar amounts in the NIH format. This includes both external and internal support. If the Fellowship Supervisor does not have other current or pending support sources, please indicate "none" when applicable. Click here for a sample Other Support list in the NIH format.

14. Two Letters of Support, one from each category, (address letters to ECOR Review Committee and include with grant application):

i) Research Supervisor.  This letter should specify the contributions of the applicant to the hypotheses, preliminary data, and research plans described in the proposal and indicate the respective roles of the supervisor and applicant in preparing the  application.  Include a statement of why this candidate should receive this award. 

 ii) Previous supervisor or colleague  preferably someone who is familiar with the applicant’s prior research.  This individual must be from outside the applicant’s current laboratory.

The above letters can be submitted as confidential files, however, submitting the letter confidentially is not required.  For more information on confidential uploads, please see section 3 of the “How to apply” section below as the confidential upload process has changed.

   15.   Training Plan, Environment, Research Facilities 

The training plan should be closely coordinated between the applicant and the mentor, and the mentor must clearly show commitment to the individualized training plan outlined by the applicant.   This may be based on the NRSA application guidelines (SF424) paraphrased below:

  • Training Plan, Environment, Research Facilities (4 page limit)

Please describe the research training plan that you have developed specifically for the Fellowship applicant. Include items such as classes, seminars, and opportunities for interaction with other groups and scientists. Indicate the relationship of the proposed research training to the applicant's career goals. Describe the skills and techniques that the applicant will learn. Relate these to the applicant's career goals.

  • Sponsor's/Co-Sponsor’s Previous Fellows and Trainees (2 page limit)

 

Give the total number of predoctoral and postdoctoral individuals previously sponsored. Select up to five that are representative and, for those five, provide their present employing organizations and position titles or occupations.

16. Unit, Service/Department Chief Signed Statement. Please click here to obtain the form.

 

FORMAT GUIDELINE

  • Use margins of 1.0 inch or greater and 12pt font size or greater for the Summary of Research Project, Research Plan, Description of Long-term Career Plans and Complete Publications List, and the Training Plan.
  • Upload PDF documents only.  Limit characters to A-Z, a-z and 0-9 when naming PDF documents. Do not use periods, commas, or dashes in the file name.

For a guide to help make your application more competitive, click here.

 

HOW TO APPLY
ECOR is now accepting applications online via the ECOR Online Grant Management Portal. This user-friendly system will allow MGH researchers to submit electronic applications to ECOR. The system has been designed to allow users to:

  • Create a personal profile which will auto populate your future ECOR applications
  • View current calls and apply to open opportunities
  • Save and edit current applications in progress
  • Submit completed applications
  • View all your ECOR applications that have been submitted via the online grants system

Instructions for Applying Online

1. Create your account: Login using your Partners credentials and fill-out the profile information.

2. Complete the application: once your profile is complete, you will automatically progress through the online application. If you cannot complete the application at one time, “save” the application and return to it at a later time to finish. Before submitting your application, you will have the ability to make changes to the application.

3.Confidential submission process: The ECOR Online Grant Management Portal has the means of incorporating confidential files.  (optional)

In section eleven of the online application - check the box labeled “Will be uploaded confidentially” only if files are being submitted confidentially by someone other than the applicant.   Do not check this box if the applicant is uploading files themselves to this section. 

4. When "Will be uploaded confidentially" is checked, a new field will appear for you to provide the Supervisor's name and email address.  Once you "save" or "submit" your application, the supervisor(s) listed will receive an email from "MGH ECOR" with a link that will allow him/her to upload the letter. If you choose to "save" (and not "submit"), you will have a choice of sending the email requesting the letter from your supervisor(s) immediately or waiting until you are ready to submit the full application. However once your application is "submitted", an email will be sent automatically to the Supervisor(s). 

 

Please allow time for the supervisor(s) to submit the letters of support by the February 1st  deadline. 


5. Submit your application: once you have completed the application click on the “submit” button at the bottom of the page. Once you submit it, you will not be able to make further changes unless you send a request to ECOR (note that once the deadline passes, request to make changes will not be accepted).

Useful tips:
• To avoid losing your work, remember to save frequently
• You can only upload PDF documents
• If you previously created a profile, please ensure your information is current
 

QUESTIONS

Please visit the ECOR website http://ecor.mgh.harvard.edu/ and specifically the FAQ page for the FMD Clinical awards under the Awards and Grants tab of the site.

If you still have questions remaining, please submit them via e-mail to ECOR.