Funding Opportunities

Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program: Health Disparity Research and Training Awards

DoD Fiscal Year 2010 Prostate Cancer Research Program:

The Fiscal Year (FY) Department of Defense 2010 Appropriation included $80 million for the Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP). The PCRP has released the following two Health Disparity related program announcements:

1. Health Disparity Research Awards: Synopsis Chart , page 1 http://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/pdf/10pcrpreftable.pdf; Program Announcement on http://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/archive/10pcrphdra_pa.pdf

2. Health Disparity Training Awards: Synopsis Chart, page 2 http://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/pdf/10pcrpreftable.pdf; Program Announcement on http://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/archive/10pcrphdta_pa.pdf

Please forward to bio-life, oncology, basic, biomarkers, genetics, epigenetics, imaging, behavioral, rehabilitation therapies, and pharmacology scientists considering prostate cancer research funding at the University of Michigan. You may disseminate this information to the widest possible audience using links, list serves, funding websites, newsletters, and forwarding this e-mail.

New for FY10: PCRP Overarching Challenges

The overarching goals of the FY10 program are aimed towards eliminating death and suffering from prostate cancer. Applications for the PCRP Health Disparity Training Award and Health Disparity Research Award are encouraged but not required to address at least one of the following PCRP overarching challenges:
· Develop effective treatments for advanced prostate cancer
· Distinguish lethal from indolent disease

Applications for the PCRP Health Disparity Training Award and Health Disparity Research Award must address at least one of the following FY10 PCRP focus areas(revised for FY2010):
1. Biomarkers: Discovery and validation of biomarkers for the detection, prognosis, and progression of prostate cancer.
2. Genetics: Understanding the genetics and epigenetics responsible for susceptibility, disease progression, and treatment outcomes for clinically significant prostate cancer.
3. Imaging: Development of new imaging technology for the detection and prognosis of prostate cancer, including progression to systemic disease.
4. Survivorship: Studies on the impact of treatment, nutrition, metabolism, and exercise on the well being of prostate cancer patients and their families.
5. Therapy: Identification of new targets, pathways, and therapeutic modalities or molecules for the treatment of prostate cancer.
6. Tumor Biology: Understanding the heterogeneity and microenvironment for the prognosis and progression of prostate cancer.

Award Mechanism Summaries:

1) The PCRP Health Disparity Research Award supports new ideas that represent innovative approaches to prostate cancer health disparity research with the potential to make an important contribution to eliminating death and suffering from prostate cancer. The Health Disparity Research Award reflects the PCRP’s commitment to resolving disparities in prostate cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality by funding health disparity-focused projects. Studies proposed for this award mechanism are expected to improve the understanding of, and ultimately eliminate, health disparities. Applicants for this award must explicitly state how the proposed research is related to an area of prostate cancer health disparity. Appropriate health disparity areas include, but are not limited to, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, access to health care, insurance status, age, geography, and cultural beliefs. (Note: In FY09, through a Request for Information (RFI), the PCRP solicited feedback from the prostate cancer research community on critical needs to facilitate prostate cancer health disparity research. This award mechanism has been modified for FY10 in response to the RFI feedback received.)

New for FY10! The following components of the Health Disparity Research Award are new for this fiscal year:

1. Qualified Collaborator Option: The FY10 Health Disparity Research Award strongly supports collaborative research between basic and clinical researchers, between researchers with prostate cancer expertise and those with health disparity expertise, and between researchers and community organizations that may be critical to the study of populations disproportionately affected by prostate cancer.

2. New Investigator Option: The FY10 Health Disparity Research Award mechanism encourages applications from investigators in the early stages of their careers. The New Investigator Option is designed to allow applicants, early in their faculty appointments or in the process of developing independent research careers, to compete for funding separately from established investigators.

3. Health Disparity Research Resources: Responses to the FY09 PCRP RFI identified difficulties in establishing relevant collaborations and obtaining access to relevant study populations as major barriers to prostate cancer health disparity research. Therefore, potential applicants for the Health Disparity Research Award are encouraged to seek collaborations and access to appropriate study populations through the resources identified on Page 4 of the Program Announcement.

It is the responsibility of the PI to clearly and explicitly articulate how the project addresses the following important aspects of the Health Disparity Research Award:
1. Research Question
2. Innovation
3. Impact
4. Responsiveness to PCRP focus areas and overarching challenges.

Other interesting features of the PCRP Health Disparity Research Award include:

A. Eligibility: open to independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent); for the New Investigator Option applicants must meet the following criteria by the application submission deadline date:
a. Must have the freedom to pursue individual aims without formal mentorship, and
b. Have not previously received a PCPR New Investigator Award, and
c. Either have completed at least three years of postdoctoral training or fellowship OR are within five years of having begun first independent faculty position (or equivalent). New Investigators working within a laboratory team are eligible to apply for this award provided that they can demonstrate they have the freedom to pursue individual aims without formal mentorship
B. Funding: Maximum funding of $450,000 for direct costs plus appropriate indirect costs, for a period of performance of up to three (3) years. If applying for the Qualified Collaborator Option, the maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $600,000 in direct costs.

2) The PCRP Health Disparity Training Award supports predoctoral and postdoctoral training opportunities focused on prostate cancer health disparity research. The trainee will be considered the Principal Investigator (PI) and author of the proposal. These awards primarily provide salary support for the PI and require the active involvement of a mentor who is an experienced prostate cancer health disparity researcher, as evidenced by a demonstrated record of funding and publications. The focus of these awards is on the PI, the mentor, and the training program and environment. The Health Disparity Training Award reflects the PCRP’s commitment to resolving disparities in prostate cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality by preparing young investigators to focus their careers on prostate cancer health disparity research. Applicants for this award must explicitly state how the proposed training program and research project are related to an area of prostate cancer health disparity. Appropriate health disparity areas include, but are not limited to, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, access to health care, insurance status, age, geography, and cultural beliefs.

Health Disparity Research Resources: Potential applicants for the Health Disparity Training Award are encouraged to seek out other investigators and information on prostate cancer health disparity research through the resources indicated on Page 3 of the Program Announcement.

It is the responsibility of the PI to clearly and explicitly articulate how the project addresses the following important aspects of the Health Disparity Training Award:

1. Principal Investigator and Mentor: The PI must demonstrate strong qualifications for and a commitment to pursuing a career as a prostate cancer researcher or clinician addressing health disparities. Submission to this funding opportunity requires a mentor, appropriate to the proposal, who has experience in prostate cancer health disparity research as demonstrated by a record of funding and publications. The selected mentor should be well-qualified to significantly contribute to the development of the PI toward a career in prostate cancer health disparity research.

2. Training Program and Environment: The PI must outline an individualized training program designed to prepare him/her for an independent career in prostate cancer health disparity research or patient care. An environment appropriate to the proposed training
and research project must be clearly described.

Other interesting features of the PCRP Health Disparity Training Award include:

A. Eligibility: applicants must meet the eligibility requirements for one of the following categories:
a. Predoctoral Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. PIs must be graduate students enrolled full-time in an accredited doctoral program and must have successfully completed comprehensive examinations or otherwise met pre-dissertation requirements by October 1, 2010.
b. Postdoctoral Ph.D. PIs must have successfully defended a doctoral thesis by October 1, 2010 and must have three years or less of postdoctoral fellowship experience by October 1, 2010.
c. Postdoctoral M.D. PIs must hold an M.D. degree, must be able to participate at a minimum of 40% level of effort for the performance period of the award, and, by August 1, 2010:
i
Must be enrolled in an accredited intern training program, or
ii
Must be enrolled in an accredited residency or fellowship training program with at least two years of training remaining, or
iii
If not enrolled in an accredited intern, residency or fellowship training program, must be within 3 years of the last formal training.

B. Funding:
a. Predoctoral Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. PIs
· The maximum period of performance is 3 years.
· The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $92,500 in direct costs.
b. Postdoctoral Ph.D. and M.D. PIs
· The maximum period of performance is 2 years.
· The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $115,000 in direct costs.
· Regardless of the period of performance proposed, the applicant may not exceed the maximum direct cost in the applicable category of PI listed above. In addition to the direct costs, indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the organization’s negotiated rate agreement, up to a maximum rate of 8%.

Award Mechanism Deadlines:
· Pre-Application (including one page Letter of Intent narrative) through http://cdmrp.org required and due: May 5, 2010; 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
· Application through http://www.grants.gov due May 26, 2010, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
· The Health Disparity Training Award application only also requires, in addition to the completed Grants.gov application, the submission of three (3) Confidential Letters of Interest submitted by the individuals designated during the pre-application process, due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on May 26, 2010. Please refer to the respective Program Announcements for additional details.

For more information, please visit the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs website: http://cdmrp.army.mil.