Research Training Fellowship Grant

The Neurocritical Care Foundation is pleased to announce a training fellowship for physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, scientists, and others involved with neurocritical care. This program addresses the increasing need for early research career support in neurocritical care. The direct goal of this program is to foster initial support to individuals with high potential to become independent researchers. Specific goals of this funding mechanism pertain the development of mentorship ties, protection of research time, the pursuit of research training, and generation of preliminary data necessary to apply for subsequent scientist development training grants. Projects with a clinical or translational research focus are welcomed. The present award supports research efforts throughout a 12-month period, which will allow effective competition for subsequent training opportunities. It is expected that at the end of the award, the trainee will be in the process of submitting applications for national, peer-reviewed funding mechanisms to continue the research and research training.

The Neurocritical Care Foundation is committed to fostering clinical, translational, and outcomes research focused on developing innovative and cost-effective interventions for acute neurological disorders. Although research topics pertaining acute central nervous system (CNS) injuries or general critical care will be considered, special weight will be given to projects involving neurological critical illness.

Requirements & Eligibility

Requirements

1. One or several identified mentors who is (are) an established investigator with independent funding.
2. Protected research time by the applicant’s department of at least 75%. This translates to no more than 10 weeks/year of clinical time, regardless of where this clinical time is spent.
3. Career training/development program with specific goals (e.g. course work, non-course work).
4. A research project that can be completed within the award year, or a clear plan/commitment outlined aimed at completion of the project post the award year.
5. Clear evidence of institutional/departmental chair support to protect the applicant’s 75% research time (no more than 10 weeks/year clinical time) and cover the salary gap and potential additional research costs.

Eligibility

1. Clinical and translational research projects focused on mechanisms of disease, diagnosis, treatment, or prognosis in neurocritical care illnesses will be considered. Research approaches might involve epidemiologic or behavioral studies, clinical trials, technology development, health services and outcomes research.
2. The applicant must be an active member in good standing (regardless of nationality) of the Neurocritical Care Society, be within 5 years of completion of terminal degree or clinical training, and be interested in becoming an independent researcher. The award is open to all investigators (physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, PhD researchers, etc.).

Award

A maximum of $70,000 (direct) plus 10% indirect cost (total $77,000) will be awarded to one applicant for one post-graduate year. Although in-training applicants may apply, the award will not be granted during training years (i.e., NCC fellowship, NP school, PharmD residency, etc.). The award can be allocated to partial salary support, research cost or similar expenses. It is expected that the sponsoring institution offers 75% protected time and additional research/salary support to ensure the completion of the proposed project. Additional awards from other sources are permissible, except NIH K-awards. The award cannot be used to support clinical fellowship, graduate school or residency training. Funding initiation is flexible to begin from October 1, 2022 – April 1, 2023 depending on the applicant’s situation.

Application & Evaluation Procedure

The application should include:

• A description of the applicant’s goals for a research career and their qualifications for conducting the proposed research
• A concise description of the project design, specific aims, hypothesis, and a strategy for completing the proposed project
• Identification of one or several mentor(s) and his/her qualification in the area of the proposed research topic
• A description of how the mentor’s expertise will tie into the project should be included if the mentor’s area of research is not directly in line with the proposed project. Mentors can be located at any institution as along as a clear mentorship/communication plan is outlined
• A strategy for using the opportunity for transitioning to other grant opportunities. One major goal of this award is to provide protected time to gather preliminary data for a career development grant (such as NIH K-award or similar)
• A letter of support (1 page) from the applicant’s mentor(s) expressing details of the planned mentorship (see above)
• A letter of support (1 page) from the applicant’s department chair expressing support for the terms of fellowship (see above)

Deadline

Investing in Clinical Neurocritical Care Research (INCLINE) Grant

The purpose of the INCLINE Grant is allow investigators to develop pilot research strategies that enhance clinical care in the neuroscience intensive care unit. The scope of this RFA is to provide 1 year of funding to support pilot studies that will enable the awardee to successfully compete for federal funding such as from the NIH, Department of Defense, or PCORI.

Research Objectives

The INCLINE Grant is designed to promote creative and collaborative research to improve clinical outcomes in neuroscience critical care. In 2016, leaders in the field identified important gaps in our research portfolio and envisioned an approach to begin to working constructively on these gaps.  The mission-critical topic that has been embraced after much deliberation is “Curing Coma.” The goal is to develop an understanding of the mechanisms that underlie coma in critically ill patients and discover preventive and novel therapeutic measures. Moreover, this is a broad endeavor that should eventually lead to the intersections between scientific discovery, implementation, education and advocacy that are necessary to fundamentally change the care of patients with acute disorders of consciousness. To this end, the INCLINE Grant will focus on facilitating collaborative research to address the mission of the “Curing Coma® Campaign” and proposals enhancing this line of research will be viewed most favorably.

It should be noted that coma-related research is broad and includes conditions such as delirium, and encephalopathy which lie along the spectrum of disorders of consciousness, as well as a diverse group of etiologies of disordered consciousness. There are many areas of research within Neurocritical Care that are within the domain of the “Curing Coma” mission.  For specific questions about the Curing Coma Campaign as it relates to this RFA, please contact Claude Hemphill (claude.hemphill@ucsf.edu), or DaiWai Olson (Daiwai.Olson@UTSouthwestern.edu).

The INCLINE RFA has a distinct clinical focus; however, translational science with direct application to clinical care is also broadly within the scope. NCS wishes to foster longitudinally meaningful scientific projects that will be competitive for future funding from NIH, DOD or similar; and which serve to create a pipeline of research and enhance one of more scientific lines of research. NCS desires to enhance collaborative research and team science, and enhance the rigor and visibility of neuroscience intensive care among existing and future team science collaborations.

Types of Studies 

Include but are not limited to: 

• Informatics/data analytics studies, which describe the fundamental aspects of data acquisition, monitoring, storage, analysis or processing in the neuroscience intensive care unit.

• Point prevalence studies, which describe a fundamental clinical care intervention  and/or practice in the neuroscience intensive care unit

• Pilot clinical trials which foster novel treatment for common diseases seen in the neuroscience intensive care unit using translational approach, with emphasis on proof of concept in a targeted patient population, conducted in a small multicenter study.

• Pilot observational studies, which determine feasibility of conducting a future observational or interventional study in the neuroscience intensive care unit. 

• Multidisciplinary process-oriented research, which directly impact patient-centered care and outcomes.

• Population health studies, which will directly enhance the care of neurocritically ill patients. 

Deadlines

Questions? 

Dr. Wendy Ziai, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, weziai@jhmi.edu
Dr. Jose Provencio, University of Virginia School of Medicine, jp3b@virginia.edu

Future Grants

Below is a list of future Research Grants that are available through the Neurocritical Care Foundation. More information, including details on when applications will open and how to apply, will be made available in the future.