Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Clinical Scientist Awards in
Translational Research
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(For faculty--established physician-scientists--assistant
professors and early associate professors)
Sponsor website
Internal deadline: Monday, June 23, 2008 4pm
Sponsor deadline (new date this year): Oct. 1, 2008
# of applicants permitted: up to 4*
Internal selection process required-see guidelines
below
*An institution may nominate up to two candidates. Exceptions to this number follow:
To encourage applications from women, institutions that nominate a female candidate will be allowed three nominations.
To encourage applications from members of underrepresented minority groups, institutions may have a single additional nomination if they nominate an African-American, Hispanic, or Native American candidate.
Amount of funding: $750,000 over 5 years
($150,000/year) BWF will make up to 10 awards for the 2009 series. Indirect costs may not be charged against the awards.
Eligibility
- Candidates must have an M.D. or M.D.-Ph.D. degree and hold an appointment or joint appointment in a subspecialty of clinical medicine. (References to “M.D.” and “Ph.D.” include all types of medical and scientific doctoral degrees.)
- Candidates must be academic investigators at the assistant professor or early associate professor level (preferably no more than two years after promotion to assoc. prof.), holding a tenure-track or equivalent position*, at the time of application. Individuals holding the rank of professor are ineligible. Candidates must present evidence of having established an independent research career, as this is not a “new investigator” award. Examples of such evidence include NIH RO1 funding and a track record of independent publications.
- *Stanford Clarification: MCL or UTL appointments are eligible.Special Note: Burroughs Wellcome's program official's comment about MCL faculty: "To answer your question, yes, the Stanford University Medical Center Line (MCL) faculty would be considered eligible to apply to this program under the tenure-track position or equivalent requirement. If a candidate is nominated from the MCL faculty, their nomination letter should indicate clearly the commitment that the institution has made to them/their research."
- Candidate nominations may come from a wide range of departments, such as pharmacology, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, medicine, neurology, pathology, or psychiatry. BWF particularly encourages applications in the area of reproductive science.
- Candidates must present evidence of having established a track record and commitment to mentoring physician-scientist trainees.
- BWF expects that the institution will provide a tangible demonstration of its commitment to support each candidate it nominates, including the protection of 75 percent of the awardee’s time for research.
- Candidates must hold a current license to practice medicine in the U.S. or Canada.
- Candidates must be citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. or Canada at the time of application. Persons who have applied for permanent resident status but have not received their government documentation by the time of application are not eligible. Certification of residency status by the nominating institution is required.
- Other support: Award recipients may obtain funds from other sources for research in the same or similar areas as that conducted under these awards, so long as there is no conflict with meeting the terms of BWF’s award. (See program announcement for additional terms)
The program’s goal is to foster the development and productivity of established independent physician-scientists who will strengthen translational research through their own studies as well as by mentoring physician-scientist trainees.
The awards are intended to give recipients the freedom and flexibility to explore fundamental scientific questions, to apply the resulting knowledge at the bedside, and to bring insights from the clinical setting back to the laboratory for further exploration. BWF hopes these efforts will lead to a better understanding of disease mechanisms and to new methods of diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease.
BWF is interested particularly in supporting investigators who will bring novel ideas and new approaches to translational research. Proposed activities may draw on recent advances in the basic biomedical sciences—including such fields as biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, immunology, molecular biology, and pharmacology—that provide a wealth of opportunities for studying and alleviating human disease.
Translational research: For the purposes of the Fund’s award, translational research may involve studies in these broad areas:
• Etiology, pathogenesis, and mechanisms of disease (particularly studies with direct application to disease prevention and treatment).
• Clinical knowledge, improved diagnosis (including development of new biomarkers, diagnostic methods, or devices), natural history of disease, and biomedical informatics. This includes the use of large clinical and genomic datasets for the purpose of generating and testing hypotheses.
• Disease management (including therapeutics aimed at molecular targets), molecular epidemiology, and limited small-scale clinical trials involving novel approaches or interventions that provide evidence for effectiveness of therapy.
Large-scale clinical trials, epidemiological studies, and health services research are not eligible for support.
With appropriate justification, award recipients may use the award to support a sabbatical of up to one year at another institution or in a different department at their home institution in order to acquire new research skills (e.g., in molecular biology, genetics, biomedical informatics, or clinical experimental design) that are directly related to their research.
Program Background
Basic research into the mechanisms of disease has accelerated in recent years, but the knowledge gained has been slow to reach the clinic and patient care. Both the translation of basic research knowledge into improved patient care and the translation of clinical insights into hypotheses that can be validated in the laboratory are threatened by changes in medical research and health care financing. The rapid growth of managed care, for example, has limited the financial resources available to many academic medical centers, which historically have been at the forefront of both basic and clinical research. Consequently, many physician-scientists, who play a critical role in identifying clinical questions and implementing advances in the basic sciences, have fewer financial resources, less time, and smaller patient populations available for clinical studies.Recognizing this problem, the Clinical Scientist Awards in Translational Research program supports established independent physician-scientists who are dedicated to translational research—the two-way transfer between work at the laboratory bench and patient care. The program is intended to help protect award recipients’ time to pursue the vital link between basic and clinical research. Importantly, the program aims to identify and reward proven mentors and to increase their capacity to train the next generation of investigators skilled in translational research. In this way, BWF hopes to increase the ranks of experienced physician-scientists critically positioned to bridge the gap between bench and bedside.
Selection criteria will be based on:
Qualifications of the candidate and potential to conduct innovative translational research.
Career stage of the candidate: the ideal candidate is an assistant professor with R01 funding and an independent publication record.
Demonstration of track record and commitment to mentoring physician-scientist trainees.
Quality and originality of the proposed research and its potential to advance clinical care. Proposals that contain novel ideas and new approaches for probing difficult problems will be considered more competitive.
Clear and concise plans for translating results into the clinical setting. Research that is likely to require institutional review board approval during the five-year award period will be considered more competitive.
Quality of proposed collaborations: Candidates are encouraged to name a co-investigator.
Detailed evidence from the nominating institution that its laboratory and patient facilities are adequate for the proposed research, and that the institution has made a tangible commitment to translational research and to fostering the career development of physician-scientists.
Internal Submission Guidelines
By Monday, June 23, 2008, 4pm please submit one original and 10 sets of copies (arrange each set of copies in the order below (then staple each of copies): nomination letter, research proposal, biosketch, other support and deliver to:
Jeanne Heschele/Research Management Group. Jeanne will be at our former office location at
1215 Welch Road, Mod. B, Room 20 (near MSOB) to accept proposals between 2pm and 4pm. Please let Jeanne know via email if you will be submitting a proposal. She can be reached on her cell phone at 650-245-2351.1) Nomination letter addressed to Dr. Michael Cleary and the School of Medicine Awards Committee, printed on your department letterhead signed by your division chief (if applicable) and department chair. This letter should include, but is not limited to:
-- Qualifications of the candidate and potential to conduct innovative translational research
-- Commitment to mentoring physician-scientist trainees;
-- Quality and originality of the proposed research and its potential to advance clinical care. (Proposals that contain novel ideas and new approaches for probing difficult problems will be considered more competitive.)
-- Clear and concise plans for translating results into the clinical setting.
-- Confirm: that the nominee can meet the requirement: to spend at least 75% percent of their time in research-related activities in general.2) Four page research proposal (references and illustrations are not included in the page total) The plan should include: Specific aims; background and significance, including relevance to clinical medicine.Long-term objectives, including specific plans for application to clinical medicine.
3) NIH-format biosketch
4) Current and pending grants and awards with proposal titles, name of the principal investigator, annual direct amounts, beginning and ending dates, and source of support.
Your proposals will be distributed to Dr. Michael Cleary and the Awards Committee members. The committee will select up to 4 applicants who will submit complete applications materials to the sponsor by the Oct. 1, 2008 deadline.
