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NIH Notice: 2010 Salary Limitation on Grants The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Public Law 111-117, restricts the amount of direct salary of an individual under an NIH grant to Executive Level I of the Federal Executive Pay scale. The Executive Level I annual salary rate was $196,700 for the period January 1 through December 31, 2009. EFFECTIVE January 1, 2010, the Executive Level I salary level increased to $199,700. Posted 1/20/2010
New NIH Recovery Act Funding Opportunities
Posted 1/20/2010
NIH Program Announcements for NCI and NHLBI – Opening in January
Posted 1/4/2010
NCI Funding Opportunity: Prediction Models for Cancer Risk and Prognosis (R01/R21) At present, few funded studies focus on the development, application, and validation of risk prediction models for individuals at average or high risk of cancer or on models for estimating prognosis and/or response to treatment of patients with cancer. This opportunity encourages applications from those working in the field of cancer control and prevention to improve existing models for cancer risk and prognosis. The program is designed to support research to develop new and refine existing cancer risk prediction, prognostic, and response to therapy models and to validate them in appropriate populations. In xparticular, it will provide a mechanism under which investigators can address two major challenges in model development, namely integrating diverse types of data and ensuring adequate validation. These models may:
Application Due Date(s): Standard dates apply Expiration Date: January 8, 2013 R01: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-10-025.html Posted 11/30/2009
NHLBI New Funding Opportunity (R34) to Support Clinical Trial Pilot Studies National Heart Lung and Blood Institute invites applications proposing pilot studies to obtain data that is critical for the design of robust clinical trials. This funding opportunity should be used to fill gaps in scientific knowledge necessary to develop a competitive full-scale clinical trial. Appropriate pilot studies might demonstrate feasibility of an intervention or an experimental design, estimate intervention parameters, or gather other data important for the design of a trial. Grants that propose solely to write a protocol or manual of operations or to develop infrastructure for a clinical trial will not be considered appropriate for this announcement. Applications must demonstrate that the proposed pilot studies are both necessary and sufficient to permit the design of the clinical trial. NHLBI anticipates that the R34 award period will yield more competitive investigator-initiated clinical trial grant applications and more robust and successful clinical trials that evaluate interventions for the treatment or prevention of heart, lung, blood, or sleep disorders. The total project period for an application submitted in response to this funding opportunity may not exceed three years. Direct costs are limited to $450,000 over a three-year period, with no more than $225,000 in direct costs allowed in any single year. Opening Date: January 16, 2010 (Earliest date applications may be submitted) Posted 10/14/2009
NIH: Shorter applications better aligned to the review criteria Starting with applications due January 25, 2010, and beyond, applicants will have new forms and instructions to apply for all NIH grants. The R01 grant application and most others will be shorter and better aligned to the review criteria. Detailed information has been posted in the NIH Guide: http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-149.html. Posted 9/25/2009
FDA Pediatric Clinical Trials Workshop, October 29-30, 2009 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing a public workshop entitled "Pediatric Clinical Trials Workshop: Unmet Needs, Trial Designs and Clinically Meaningful Safety and Effectiveness Outcomes." The purpose of the public workshop is to solicit information from primary and secondary health care providers, academia, industry, and professional societies on various aspects of device clinical trials involving pediatric diseases and patients.
Dates and Times: October 29, 2009, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and October 30, 2009, from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. Location: Holiday Inn College Park located off I-95 at 10000 Baltimore Ave., College Park, MD 20740. The hotel front desk number is 1-301-345-6700. Please see instructions for registration and for providing comments at http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/NewsEvents/WorkshopsConferences/ucm170938.htm. Posted 9/18/2009
NHLBI Announces Structural Change The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) announces that the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases (DVD) and the Division of Prevention and Population Sciences (DPPS) will merge to form the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences (DCVS) in order to align the Institute's administrative structure with its cardiovascular programs which now effectively span basic, clinical, and population research. The merger follows the resignation of Dr. Marvin Konstam as chief of the DVD at the NHLBI. Dr. Michael Lauer, currently the Director of the DPPS, will be serving as Director of the new Division, and Dr. Sonia Skarlatos, currently Acting Director of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, will be serving as Deputy Director. There was considerable overlap in the interests of both divisions in their long term strategic plans and this structural change positions the DCVS for central leadership and cross-branch interactions. Dr. Lauer is highly regarded by members of both prior divisions and by their respective branches and this is seen as a thoughtful move that strategically aligns the interests of both of the prior divisions. From the viewpoint of the cardiac surgical community, this reorganization has no important consequence as the branch chiefs within that component previously designated the DVD, all remain the same and the responsibilities for each remain the same. Readers who have a more detailed interest are referred to a recent article in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, “News from the NHLBI,” which was published in volume 54 of the 2009 edition on pages 265-268. Posted 9/2/2009
NHLBI Funding Opportunity (R01)
Posted 6/25/2009
Dr. David H. Harpole named co-chair of the NCI Lung Cancer Steering Committee.
Posted 5/20/2009
Dr. Marc Moon appointed to serve on the FDA's Circulatory System Devices Panel. The evaluation process consists of detailed pre-meeting review of clinical study reports, safety and effectiveness data, and product labeling generated by the applicant in preparation for the panel. Panel members then participate in open and closed discussions with industry representatives, culminating in a recommendation regarding whether or not sufficient information has been provided to support the approval or disapproval of the product. The Agency recruited Dr. Moon for his expertise in the application of novel medical devices to bring external knowledge and opinions to the evaluation process of products that may ultimately be available to cardiothoracic surgeons across the country. Posted 4/08/2009
NHLBI / NCI Stimulus-Funded Grant Proposals Due April 27 The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have posted information regarding its participation in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (AARA) www.nhlbi.nih.gov/funding/index.htm and http://challenge.nci.nih.gov/ Funds are available in these categories: More details on the overall NIH’s role in the ARRA are available at www.nih.gov/about/director/02252009statement_arra.htm. Posted 3/08/2009
NCI -- Allowable Salary Levels on Career Awards The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has changed the allowable levels of salary support for early career and midcareer investigators. Effective January 1, 2009, the salary cap is set at $100,000 per year with a 75% percent effort for K08 and $30,000 in research development support. The remaining effort may be devoted to clinical, teaching, and/or other research pursuits and activities consistent with the objectives of the awarded grant. For more information, see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-CA-09-013.html. Posted 3/08/2009
NIH Notice: Salary Limitation on Grants The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, Public Law 110-161, restricts the amount of direct salary of an individual under an NIH grant to Executive Level I of the Federal Executive Pay scale. The Executive Level I annual salary rate was $191,300 for the period January 1 through December 31, 2008. EFFECTIVE January 1, 2009, the Executive Level I salary level increased to $196,700. For more details on the implementation of the new salary limitation, please visit: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-037.html Posted 3/05/2009
AHRQ Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (K08) This Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) program prepares qualified individuals for careers that have a significant impact on the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. This program provides support and “protected time” to individuals with a clinical doctoral degree for an intensive, supervised research career development experience in health services research. The award can be used both by individuals who propose to newly embark in heath services research training and those who had a hiatus in their research careers because of illness or family circumstances. The award is also available to promote research workforce diversity by providing enhanced research career development opportunities. Candidates interested in pursuing careers in patient-oriented research are eligible to apply for this award at AHRQ. Application Due: March 9, 2009. For more details on the AHRQ Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award, please visit: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-09-085.html Posted 2/09/2009
K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award This K23 award is to support the career development of investigators who have made a commitment to focus their research endeavors on patient-oriented research. Prospective candidates are encouraged to contact the relevant Institute or Center (IC) staff for IC-specific programmatic and budgetary information: Table of Institute and Center Contacts. For more information on this award visit: Posted 1/15/2009
K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award This K08 program is to prepare qualified individuals for careers that have a significant impact on the health-related research needs of the Nation. This program represents the continuation of a long-standing NIH program that provides support and “protected time” to individuals with a clinical doctoral degree for an intensive, supervised research career development experience in the fields of biomedical and behavioral research, including translational research. Prospective candidates are encouraged to contact the relevant Institute or Center (IC) staff for IC-specific programmatic and budgetary information: Table of Institute and Center Contacts. For more information on this award visit: Posted 1/15/2009
New NIH Registration Process to Reimburse Reviewers A new simplified registration process is in place to facilitate disbursement of honoraria and expenses to reviewers for their valued participation in peer review meetings. The new system replaces the U.S. Central Contractor Registration (CCR) system that NIH used previously for this purpose. Reviewers are urged to start registering in the new system beginning January 17, 2009. The new system will require reviewers to log-in to the RA Commons https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons/ with their user name and password and update their Personal Profile, and then link to a secure payment system. Registration: The new system has many advantages over the CCR system:
For more details go to: Posted 1/15/2009
CSR Announces Updated Study Sections The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) has updated and enhanced its study section descriptions. The three most relevant to Cardiothoracic Surgeons are as follows: Bioengineering, Technology, and Surgical Sciences [BTSS] For a full listing and description of study section updates, please visit the CSR Website at: http://cms.csr.nih.gov/PeerReviewMeetings/CSRIRGDescriptionNew/ Posted 1/12/2009
NIH Peer Review System Updates for FY 2010 Funding In June 2007, the NIH initiated a formal, agency-wide effort to review the NIH peer review system. After careful deliberation and consideration of the recommendations resulting from this year-long effort, a number of key actions will be implemented including:
Posted 1/12/2009
Dr. Andrew S. Wechsler appointed as Senior Advisor to the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Posted 11/18/2008
NHLBI Seeks Leader for the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases (DCVD) Posted 11/07/2008
A2 applications to be eliminated Posted 10/16/2008
Encouraging Early Transition to Research Independence: Modifying the NIH New Investigator Policy to Identify Early Stage Investigators (NOT-OD-08-121) National Institutes of Health This notice describes a change in NIH New Investigator policies designed to encourage early transition to independence. Under this policy, New Investigators within ten years of completing their terminal research degree or within ten years of completing their medical residency will be designated Early Stage Investigators (ESIs). Traditional NIH research grant (R01s) applications from ESIs will be identified and the career stage of the applicant will be considered at the time of review and award. Posted 10/16/2008
Elias A. Zerhouni to End Tenure as Director of the National Institutes of Health National Institutes of Health (NIH) Bethesda, Md, September 24, 2008 — Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., the director of the National Institutes of Health, today announced his plans to step down at the end of October 2008 to pursue writing projects and explore other professional opportunities. Read complete text... Posted 9/26/2008
Stats reveal bias in NIH grant review The system used by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to evaluate grant proposals does not adequately compensate for reviewer bias, a new study concludes. The assessment of grant reviews generated by more than 14,000 reviewers suggests that the NIH needs to overhaul the peer-review system it uses to rank proposals, according to biostatistician Valen Johnson of the University of Texas M. Posted 9/26/2008
Enhancing NIH Peer Review Activity Implementation Timeline September 17, 2008 MEMO TO: NIH Grantee Community FROM: Director, NIH SUBJECT: Enhancing NIH Peer Review Activity Implementation Timeline The NIH Peer Review Oversight Committee and three subgroups consisting of NIH program, review, grants management and evaluation staff have developed an initial implementation timeline for the Enhancing Peer Review activity. The recommendations that are being implemented are based on the result of the diagnostic phase and significant dialogue with both the internal and external communities regarding enhancements to the review system (please see http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov for an overview of the Enhancing Peer Review effort). I view these enhancements as progress towards ensuring the continuation of NIH’s world renowned peer review system. Although the subgroups are continuing to work out specific details of the implementation plans, I want to share with you the first of the preliminary implementation plans for the 2009 through 2010 calendar years as follows: Priority Area 1 – Engage the Best Reviewers
The enhancing peer review activity has been an intensive year-long effort. Many of you have contributed valuable feedback and input and I’d like to take this opportunity to convey my appreciation and specially thank you for your input. Updates and details will be posted at http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov and published in the monthly Extramural Nexus (subscribe at https://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=extramuralnexus&A=1) as they are known. Also, several notices will be posted in the NIH Guide detailing specific elements of this implementation. Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. Posted 9/17/2008
NIH Extramural Loan Repayment Programs Posted 8/14/2008
Stem Cells and Cancer (R21) Funding Opportunity Posted 6/23/2008
NIH-Supported Midcareer Development Award Program. Posted 6/23/2008
NHLBI (R01) Request for Applications: Developmental Origins of Altered Lung Physiology and Immune Function Posted 6/04/2008
Revision of NIH Policy Concerning Concurrent Support from Mentored Career Development (K) Award and a Research Grant Posted 4/23/2008
NHLBI Does Not Accept R21 Applications Primarily Related to Cancer Research Posted 3/12/2008
NIH Gives Reviewers New Flexibility Submitting Applications Posted 2/7/2008
NIH Notice: Salary Limitation on Grants Posted 2/5/2008
AATS Progress in Achieving Goals for Peer Review of Cardiothoracic Surgical Grant Proposals to NIH For some years there has been growing concern for the peer review process put into place by the NIH about five years ago. The current method disperses grants by a system designation, irrespective of origin. Many grants previously reviewed by specially constituted study sections with strong surgical representation are now being reviewed by study sections, oftentimes unpopulated by any surgeons. Moreover, grants submitted by surgeons are no longer clustered in study sections particularly knowledgeable in the nuances of surgical investigation, appreciative of the translational nature of many grant applications and frequently are composed of members with a strong bias towards more fundamental investigation. This trend was documented recently by Drs. Mann, Tendulkar, Birger, Howard and Ratcliffe in an article available in e-print and scheduled to appear in the December or January issue of the “Annals of Surgery”. During the interval from 1982 to 2004 the number of applications from surgical scientists failed to keep up proportionately with applications from other scientists by about 50%. Moreover, the success rate of grants from surgical scientists was importantly lower than the success rate for total NIH awards. Ratcliffe and his coauthors indicated that only about 2% of all NIH awards are to surgeon scientists. The AATS Scientific Affairs and Government Relations committee has worked diligently to reverse the current method of grant assignment, initially by appealing to the CSR but more recently through direct contact with the director of NIH and the director of the NHLBI. On August 29,2007 the AATS represented by Drs. Pedro DelNido, Irving Kron and Andrew Wechsler had the opportunity to meet with NIH Director Zerhouni, Dr. Scarpa the Director of the CSR, and the Directors of the Surgical Sciences, Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Integrated Review Group and Cardiovascular Sciences Integrated Review Group. The meeting was facilitated by Mr. John Porter and Ms. Beth Halpern of Hogan and Hartson who have been working with the AATS to help the organization gain greater access to the key decision makers. The meeting was cordial and frank. The position of the AATS was received quite sympathetically and there appeared to be accord that more surgical representation in study groups assessing surgical grants was needed as well as an effort to promote clustering of those grants. Several key issues emerged that will be addressed by AATS leadership which include:
Posted 1/7/2008
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Systems Biology Collaborations -- This Funding Opportunity encourages R01 applications from institutions/organizations that propose collaborative systems biology research projects by multi-disciplinary teams to advance the understanding of normal physiology and perturbations associated with heart, lung, blood, and sleep diseases and disorders. Multi-disciplinary expertise across experimental and computational domains is required and the multi-PI mechanism is allowed, as integration across these domains is a critical element of the proposed research plan. For a full description of this FOA please visit: 
Dr. David H. Harpole, co-chair of the AATS Scientific Affairs and Government Relations (SAGR) Committee has been named co-chair of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Lung Cancer Steering Committee. The recently developed NCI Committee oversees all Phase II and Phase III lung cancer trials in the US, develops State of the Science Development Meetings to prioritize strategies for NCI-supported clinical trials and sets up future NCI grant funding opportunities. Dr. Harpole is the first surgeon to hold this position. 
In March 2009, AATS member Marc R. Moon, M.D., who is the Joseph C. Bancroft Professor of Surgery at Washington University in Saint Louis, was appointed to serve on the Circulatory System Devices Panel in the Center for Devices and Radiological Health of the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Moon will serve a 4-year term on the panel, which is responsible for the evaluation and approval of novel medical/surgical devices related to the circulatory system, including ventricular assist and intracardiac prostheses, percutaneous coronary and valvular repair or replacement instrumentation, and endovascular grafts. We Model Excellence |
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