Victor Ambros has won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine!

Search Close Search
Search Close Search
Page Menu

Pilot Project Award 2024

Call for Applications 

Letters of Intent (LOI) are due on September 16, 2024

 

Awards will be made on a competitive basis. All applicants should include a practicing clinician and a health services investigator team. Awardees will have access to support from PBRN core staff, the DOM Research Core, and CCTS cores, as appropriate for the project. Projects that address one or more of the following areas are encouraged:

  • Development or piloting of interventions focused on improving health outcomes, patient engagement, or patient/caregiver experience in primary care
  • Development or piloting of interventions that address clinician satisfaction or engagement in primary care
  • Research topics that are relevant to primary care
  • New approaches to linking practices to community-based organizations to improve health outcomes or health equity
  • Digital health solutions to improve patient experience, outcomes, equity, or practice efficiency

Eligibility

The Co-Principal Investigators must be faculty members at UMass Chan. One Co-PI should have a primary faculty appointment in a clinical department and spend most of their time as a practicing clinician or clinician educator. The second Co-PI should have expertise in health services research. At least one investigator should have primary care experience.

Use of Funds

Funds can be used for student/postdoc support, supplies, research coordinator support, informatics, investigator support, and project costs such as incentives. Indirect costs are not allowed. Research coordinators with appropriate training are available through the Department of Medicine Research Core and can be supported with grant funds for part time effort on the project. Informatics support from the CCTS Research Informatics Core is available. Projects that plan to utilize this core (e.g., working with electronic medical records, such as data extraction for patient recruitment) should dedicate a minimum of $3,000 in their budgets for this resource. Projects with more complex informatics needs may require additional funding for the RIC, to be determined on a project-by-project basis. Reaching out for consultation with the RIC is encouraged during project development.

Request a consultation

Oversight

Pilot awards will be overseen by the PBRN, which is directed by Drs. Diane McKee and Ben Gerber, and led by a Steering Committee with representation from multiple departments (see the Steering Committee section on the website). Awardees will be expected to provide quarterly project updates to the Steering Committee, in addition to a final report.

Criteria for Awards

The evaluation criteria for proposals will include:

  • Intellectual Merit – including potential for the project to enhance the knowledge base of primary and ambulatory care, rigor of design, and feasibility
  • Growth Opportunity – projects that demonstrate the opportunity to be leveraged to attract and secure outside funding from federal, state, industry, foundation and other sources
  • Health equity- potential of knowledge gained to advance health equity
  • Stakeholder engagement- the degree to which relevant stakeholders, including patients, are included in project planning, implementation, and/or interpretation of findings
  • Use of Resources - applicants will receive added consideration from the reviewers if they plan to and clearly describe use of one or more of the research resources available:
    • Department of Medicine Research Core
    • REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture)
    • CCTS Informatics Core
    • CCTS Quantitative Methods Core
  • One of the co-principal investigators should be a clinician with a primary faculty appointment in a clinical department.
  • Preference will be given to teams that include an early career or first award PI.
  • Preference will be given to projects that demonstrate new directions or fields of inquiry for the investigators. 

Application and Review Process

Describe your proposed project in two (2) pages or less.  Do not include a cover page. Include the following:

  • Title of project Name, rank, affiliation, and email of contact PI and any other key personnel
  • Background and significance of the project
  • Specific Aims
  • Preliminary data (if any)
  • Project description/approach
  • Future directions and specific funding plans

References do not count as part of the two-page limit. Budgetary information is not required at the LOI stage.

Letters of Intent (LOI) will be reviewed by the UMass ARC Review Committee to determine which projects are significantly linked to the criteria listed above. Based on this review, the most promising projects will be selected to submit full proposals.

Please submit your LOI via the UMass ARC website by 5pm Sept 16, 2024.

Questions can be directed to ARC Coordinator, Diana Rinker  (diana.rinker@umassmed.edu)

 Request a consult button, 200.png

ARC Pilot Review Committee can provide consultation and assistance planning your project. We can help finding a research partner, answer questions about the application. Please fill out a request, and we will contact you shortly. 

Application Timeline

Letters of Intent Due September, 16, 2024
Selected project teams notified October, 7, 2024
Full proposals due November, 6, 2024
Earliest project start date January 2, 2025
 Submit LOI button.png

Please submit your LOI by 5pm Sept 16, 2024.