2009 SCA Foundation Research Grants

Grants Awarded

Application Deadline March 2, 2009

There are three types of grant categories that will be awarded in 2009:

SCA Starter Grant - $25,000 a year for two years
Roizen Anesthesia Research Foundation New Investigator Grant - $50,000 a year for two years
SCA/IARS Mid-Career Grant - $40,000 a year for two years.

Eligibility & Application Format

Member, Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists.
M.D. or Ph.D. degree.
Rank of Associate Professor, or less.
Investigators on active NIH grants (or other national peer-reviewed grants) are not eligible.
For the New Investigator awards, the investigator must be within five years of their first academic appointment following residency/fellowship, and be at the rank of Assistant Professor, or less.
Previous SCA Starter Grant recipients are only eligible for Mid-Career Grants.
Previous SCA Mid-Career Grant recipients are not eligible for additional awards.
Eligible research projects should be completed within three years after the award of the grant.
Grants will be judged compared to peers in the grant category submitted.
When eligibility exists for more than one grant category, this will be taken into consideration by the SCA research committee during the review process.

Requirements

Title Page.
1. Type of grant category.
2. Title of research grant.
3. Proposed starting date.
4. Name of applicant, academic degrees, faculty rank.
5. Name of co-investigators, academic degrees, faculty rank.
6. Sponsoring institution in which research will be performed.
7. Name, address, and telephone number of responsible department chief.
8. Name, address, and telephone number of responsible financial officer of the sponsoring institution.
Curriculum Vitae of the applicant, including other grant support.
Letter from the department Chair indicating the following:
1. Assessment of the applicant’s research and other professional accomplishments.
2. The availability of institutional/departmental support. This may be in the form of matching funds or may take the form of salary support of personnel (excluding the principal investigator), supplies, animals, special and permanent equipment, and other necessary expenses.
3. The availability of suitable facilities and/or patients.
4. A guarantee that the principal investigator on the application should have at least 40% non-clinical (research) time, should the “grant” be awarded.
5. The agreement to return all unused funds if the applicant fails to complete the project within three years.
Letters of support should be provided by all co-investigators.
All active and pending (applied for or received) research support for all projects must be detailed on a separate page(s). Detail potential areas of overlap with the current grant. (Questions should be addressed to the SCA Research Committee chair.)
For Starter and New Investigator Grants: Letters of support should be provided by the scientific mentor(s). Obtaining a scientific mentor is encouraged, but not mandatory.

Budget

The budget should not exceed:
- SCA Starter Grant - $50,000 ($25,000 per year for a maximum of two years).
- Roizen-ARF New Investigator Grant - $100,000 ($50,000 per year for a maximum of two years).
- SCA/IARS Mid Career Grant - $80,000 ($40,000 per year for a maximum of two years).
The project can be a one year project, with the budget not exceeding the per year amount of the grant award.
The budget should outline all proposed expenditures for the project and indicate the amount and breakdown for specific items requested from the SCA, and the amount and breakdown for specific items provided by the institution as matching funds.
The budget may include salary support for technicians, research nurses, and other research personnel, equipment, and/or supplies. Other costs must be itemized and justified.
For the SCA Starter grant, no part of the grant may be used for salary support of the principal investigator (or fellows or residents), travel or tuition expenses of the principal investigator.
For the Roizen-ARF and SCA/IARS Mid-Career Grants, up to 50% of the budget can be used for salary support of the principal investigator. Funds cannot be used for travel or tuition expenses.
Institutions should not request overhead costs as part of the budget.
No part of the grant may be used for patient costs (except to pay for pertinent laboratory costs), consultant costs, alterations, and renovations.

Research Plan

(Pages should be double spaced, in 12 pt font. Sections 1-3 should not exceed 7 total pages; Lengths listed below do not include references. )

Introduction (1-2 pages).
1. Objective and specific aims of the research proposal.
2. Background. What are the reasons for undertaking this study and what need will it fill? Any preliminary research of the principal investigator should be explained. Significant publications related to the applicant’s project should be cited and briefly outlined.
3. Rationale of the applicant’s approach to the objective(s) described above, and justification for this approach should be outlined.
Methods/Design (3-5 pages)
1. Indicate the specific techniques, animal species, etc. that will be used.
2. Explain the types of experiments to be done.
3. Sample size calculation (power analysis) - list and justify the number of each type of experiment that will be required.
4. Note the type of data that will be obtained and the methods of statistical analysis.
5. Point out the potential problems and limitations that may develop, as well as how they will be addressed.
Significance (1 page).
1. Summarize the importance of this research and indicate the potential for further studies and future applications of the derived information.
Study Approval (1 page).
1. Include a statement of approval for studies involving human or animal subjects by the appropriate institutional committee. (The application may be submitted before approval is obtained, with a letter of explanation. However, no award will be made until notification of institutional approval is received.)
Related Studies (1 page).
1. Include a listing of all other studies being performed on the study population.
Other Grants (1 page).
1. Include a listing of all grants received, pending, or proposed as an investigator or co-investigator. Include a statement of the relationship to the present grant.

Other Requirements

It is understood that if awarded the grant, a progress report will be due to the SCA Foundation (addressed to the SCA Research Committee chair) by July 1 of the following year in order to obtain the second funding installment.
It is understood that a final report will be due to the SCA Foundation (addressed to the SCA Research Committee chair) by September 30 of the year of completion of the research.

The application must be submitted electronically to sca@societyhq.com no later than March 2, 2009. The awards will be announced at the SCA Annual Meeting. The grant period of 12 or 24 consecutive months can begin on any date from July 1 to Dec 31 of the year in which it is granted.