Community-Engaged Research to Promote Health Equity (CERPHE) Trainee Pilot Grants
Accepting Applications
The Stanford MCHRI is pleased to announce the Community-Engaged Research to Promote Health Equity (CERPHE) Pilot Grants. This initiative aims to use a community-engaged research approach to address the impact of structural racism and social injustice as key drivers of health disparities affecting maternal and child health.
Community-Engaged Research (CEnR) is defined as:
“A process that incorporates input from people who the research outcomes will impact and involves such people or groups as equal partners throughout the research process. This involvement may include co-designing research questions to solve problems, making decisions, influencing policies, and creating programs and interventions that affect their own lives.”
--- Yale Equity Research and Innovation Center.
CEnR is an effective strategy for promoting healthy equity by partnering with community organizations, patients, public health agencies, advocates, policymakers, or other key groups throughout the research process. It enhances creativity and innovation, contributes to a culture of health equity in translational research, and facilitates the rapid dissemination of study findings to inform policies and practices.
CERPHE Pilot Grants support community-engaged research that:
- Highlights significant maternal and child health disparity (e.g., racial and ethnic, socioeconomic and geographic, sexual orientation and gender identity).
- Focuses on the reasons or drivers behind these disparities.
- Proposes action-oriented strategies to promote equity and improve health outcomes in diverse communities through policy or programmatic changes and innovations.
Investigators are required to engage in partnerships with communities, patients, or other relevant groups using a community-engaged research approach.
ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS
APPLICATION DEADLINE
April 1, 2025
NOTIFICATION OF AWARD
June 2025
AWARD START DATE
July 1, 2025
Forms for Applicants
Category I: Pilot Grants
Eligibility: Instructors and Assistant Professors, (Early Career Investigators), Associate Professors and Professors (Mid/Senior Investigators), including Clinician Educators
Funding Amount: Up to $50,000 for up to 18 months
Full CERPHE Pilot Grant details here.
Category II: Pilot Trainee Grants
Eligibility: Postdoctoral Scholars and Clinical Fellows
Funding Amount: $5,000 for up to 18 months (non-salary support)
Purpose: To provide non-salary support for hypothesis-driven or hypothesis-seeking pilot research. The goal of this pilot grant is to have funding specific to CEnR to pay study participants, community partners, policy partners, etc. This grant is intended to support community-engagement that builds upon a parent project that is supported by another funding mechanism or funding source
Applicants must have a primary research mentor and funding for their salary/stipend for 75% minimum research effort (e.g., MCHRI postdoctoral support or MD fellow award, T32 or equivalent, or other funding). The proposal must be a pilot, concept, development, or feasibility study.
- Applications are welcome from all faculty (instructors, CE, UML, NTLR, NTLT, UTL). Postdoctoral scholars and clinical fellows are eligible for pilot trainee grants.
- All applicants must have, or plan on having, a focus on maternal child health research. Research must be primarily related to maternal child health. “Child” refers to the expectant mother, oocyte, zygote, embryo, fetus, infant, child or adolescent.
- Partnerships with communities, patients, or other key groups using a CEnR approach are required. A focus on health equity is also required. Applicants must identify community partners in their application or provide a plan to engage and establish new ones.
- All applicants and their mentors must be MCHRI Members. Please apply here.
- A Primary Research Mentor must be identified for postdoctoral scholars and clinical fellows, instructors, and assistant professors in all faculty lines.
- All applicants must maintain appointments at the instructor rank or above for the duration of the award, including any no-cost extensions.
- The following are not eligible:
- Visiting scholars to Stanford
- Adjunct Faculty and Affiliates
- Senior Research Scientists, Research Associates/Assistants
- Former recipients of MCHRI sponsored awards who have not complied with award/reporting requirements.
- Mentor or applicants who have not cleared overdraft(s) from prior MCHRI awards prior to applying.
The project proposed must be feasible to complete within 18 months.
We advise all applicants to notify their division or finance managers prior to submitting their application.
Eligibility by Investigator Type
| Postdoctoral Scholars/Clinical Fellows | Instructor | Assistant Professor | Associate Professor | Professor | |
| Trainee | * | ||||
| Early Career | * | * | |||
| Mid/Senior Investigator | * | * |
Examples of Funded Projects:
- Research that engages with community partners to support under-represented racial/ethnic minority patients experiencing food insecurity and allergies through a pilot program.
- Research to determine whether shorter, more frequent telehealth visits are feasible for publicly insured children with type 1 diabetes without compromising outcomes.
- A pilot project to validate and improve an AntiRacism Perinatal Preferences Tool before use in a prospective study.
- A pilot project to collect vocabulary data of children from diverse backgrounds impacted by socioeconomic disparities (SES) to examine causal links between SES - related factors and children’s language outcomes
Further Resources
A recording of an previous info session:
"How to Embed a Racial and Ethnic Equity Perspective in Research Practical Guidance for the Research Process" by Kristine Andrews, Jenita Parekh, and Shantai Peckoo strongly encouraged to ensure that research topics include an equity perspective across the entire research process.
MCHRI is committed to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in all aspects of our work supporting research, education and resources in maternal and child health.
All applicants will be asked to provide a DEIJ statement in their application