Community Engaged Research to Promote Health Equity (CERPHE) Pilot Grants
Accepting Applications
The Stanford MCHRI is pleased to announce the Community Engaged Research to Promote Health Equity (CERPHE) Pilot Grants, formerly called the Structural Racism, Social Injustice, and Health Disparities in Maternal and Child Health Pilot Grants. It is imperative to address the impact of structural racism and social injustice as key drivers in health disparities that affect maternal and child health. A community-engaged research (CEnR) approach in which researchers partner with community organizations, patients, public health agencies, advocates, policymakers, or other groups throughout the research process is an effective strategy to promote health equity. CEnR enhances the creative process by bringing to the table new and relevant insights and contributes to a culture of health equity in all aspects of translational research in maternal and child health. Community-engaged research also facilitates more rapid dissemination of study findings to impact policies and practices. As such, this MCHRI funding mechanism seeks to support researchers who use or propose to use a community-engaged research approach to study and inform health equity.
This pilot grant is aimed at supporting community-engaged research that not only highlights an important maternal and child health disparity (e.g., racial and ethnic, socioeconomic and geographic, sexual orientation and gender identity) but also focuses on reasons or drivers of these disparities. The projects are expected to propose 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 using a community-engaged research approach. Prior to submission (at least 6-8 weeks in advance), applicants are required to consult with the MCHRI Office of Community Engaged Research (OCEnR).
Category I: Pilot Early Career and Mid/Senior Investigators
Amount of funding: up to $50,000 for up to 18 months.
This award provides PI, staff, and community partner salary and non-salary support for hypothesis-driven or hypothesis-seeking pilot research that is expected to advance health equity and where pilot findings are likely to lead to external funding, with the ultimate goal to inform actions to advance health equity. The study must be a pilot, concept, development, or feasibility proposal.
- Category Ia: Pilot Early Career ($50K)
- Category Ib: Pilot Mid/Senior Investigators ($50K)
Category II: Pilot Trainee Grants for Postdoctoral and Clinical (MD) Fellows
Amount of funding: up to $5,000 for up to 18 months.
This award provides non-salary support for hypothesis-driven or hypothesis-seeking pilot research that could lead to research that is externally fundable as a result of the proposed study and also inform actions to advance health equity. Applicants must demonstrate that they 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 funder). The study must be a pilot, concept, development, or feasibility proposal. The goal of this pilot grant is to have funding specific to CEnR to pay study participants, community partners, policy partners, etc.
APPLICATION DEADLINE
October 16, 2023
NOTIFICATION OF AWARD
December 2023
AWARD START DATE
January 1, 2024
- Applications welcome from all faculty (instructors, CE, UML, NTLR, NTLT, UTL). Postdoctoral scholars and clinical fellows are eligible for the 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.
- All applicants must plan to engage in partnerships with communities using community-engaged research approach to promote health equity. Community partners need to be identified in the application. If they are not identified, please provide a clear plan for how you will engage and establish new community partners with an example of these groups.
- All applicants and their mentors must be MCHRI Members.
- A Primary Research Mentor must be identified for postdoctoral scholars and clinical fellows, instructors, and assistant professors in all faculty lines.
- All applicants must continue to be appointed at the instructor rank or above for the duration of the award, including any extensions.
- The following are not eligible:
- Visiting scholars to Stanford
- 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) in previous MCHRI awards prior to applying.
The project proposed must be feasible to complete within 18 months.
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.
| YEAR | # of Applications | # of Awards | Funding Rate | Total Awarded |
| FY 23* | 9 | 6 | 67% | $209,827 |
| FY 22 | 13 | 7 | 54% | $244,112 |
| FY 21 | 28 | 10 | 36% | $344,516 |
* FY 23 Funding Rates currently reflect one of two FY 23 cycles