Applications for this grant are no longer being accepted.

Tosteson & Fund for Medical Discovery (FMD) Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards (15-2)


Applications Deadline: Tuesday, May 12, 2015 – 5:00 PM

DESCRIPTION OF THE AWARDS 

The Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) is now accepting applications for the Tosteson and Fund for Medical Discovery (FMD) Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards for fellows at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).   Please note: while applications for this call are due in May 2015, ECOR has three selections of FMD awards per year with deadlines of March, May and October.  Applications are only eligible to apply once per year for any of the three calls.  The Tosteson and FMD call for proposals due in May and October do not have any areas of research restriction, whereas the FMD call for proposals due in March are restricted to Clinical applications only.  Click here for a summary of the FMD fellowship award deadlines.

The Tosteson & FMD Awards are for one year and include a stipend of $40,000. The awardee’s salary must be supplemented by the mentor to the appropriate stipend level under the new postdoctoral guidelines (for further information on the post doc guidelines, go to: http://mghresearch.partners.org/ECOR/PostDocSalaries.aspx).

As 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).


AWARD EXPENDITURES AND START DATE

  • Awards are not transferable to any other institution
  • The funds may be used only for salary and fringe benefits
  • The awards are unrestricted to the area of study
  • The awards are for $40,000 plus applicable fringe benefits and 15% indirect costs
  • Awards will begin September 1, 2015 


ELIGIBILITY

  • Applicants and their Fellowship Supervisors/Mentors must both have full-time primary appointments at MGH during the entire award period
  • These Postdoctoral Fellowships are only for MD and PhD Fellows/Post Docs who are working full-time in an MGH research laboratory
  • Fellows pursuing either basic or clinical investigation are eligible
  • If an applicant/awardee already has or subsequently receives other competitive fellowship awards, he/she is eligible for Tosteson & FMD Award funds only if allowed by the other sponsor, and only to the extent that the total combined stipend does not exceed the salary set by the department or division. Applicant should notify ECOR at ecor@mgh.harvard.edu  if they accept another award during the funding period
  • Internal MGH department/sundry funds may be used to supplement the stipend to the appropriate level under the new postdoctoral guidelines
  • Previous Tosteson / FMD award recipients are not eligible to reapply
  • Applicants may apply for an ECOR Postdoctoral Fellowship only once per calendar year
  • 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
  • Instructors are not eligible


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 9 items:

  1. Summary of research project (500 word limit)
  1. Research plan (5-page limit, excluding references), including:
  • Specific aims
  • Background and significance
  • Preliminary data
  • Experimental design and methods
  • References
  1. 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. 
  1. Biosketches of both the applicant and the fellowship supervisor.  The biosketch of the applicant and fellowship supervisor must be in the the new NIH General Biographical Format found here or previous NIH Biographical Format found here.

  2. Complete publications list

  3. Other Support, a list of other current and pending support sources, with amounts for both the applicant and the fellowship supervisor, in the NIH format.  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.

  4. Two letters of support: one from each category below, (address letters to ECOR Review Committee).

               I. Fellowship 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: This person should be 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. For more information on confidential  uploads, please see section 3 of the “How to apply” section below.

     

     8. Training Plan, Environment, Research Facilities

Please include a training plan for the applicant.   This may be based on the NRSA application guidelines (SF424) paraphrased below:

  • Training Plan, Environment, Research Facilities

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/Trainees

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.

        9. Unit, Service/Department Chief signed statement. Click here to obtain the form.

FORMAT GUIDELINES

  • Use margins of 0.5 inches or greater for the Summary of Research Project, Description of Long-term Career Plans, Biosketches and Other Support.
  • Use 11pt or 12pt font size or greater for the Summary of Research Project, Description of Long-term Career Plans, Biosketches and Other Support.
  • 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 accepts all 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
  • Assign a delegate to submit applications on your behalf (optioinal)
  • 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.
  1. 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.
  1. Confidential submission process: The ECOR Online Grant Management Portal now has the means of incorporating confidential files.

In section six 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.  Confidential letters should then be emailed directly to ECOR@mgh.harvard.edu with the subject line: applicant’s name-FMD letter (e.g. Smith-John-FMD-letter).

  1.  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

Click "Apply" below to begin the application.


QUESTIONS

Please visit the ECOR website http://ecor.mgh.harvard.edu/ and specifically the FAQ page for the Tosteson and Fund for Medical Discovery under the Awards and Grants tab of the site.

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