Hitchcock Foundation Program Project Grant

Policies and Guidelines

I. Program Project Grant Purpose

The Hitchcock Foundation Program Project Grant (HF-PPG) is designed for faculty researchers seeking support to initiate pilot or feasibility studies with the goal of generating data that will support a program project application to be submitted for extramural funds. Proposed program projects may address any of the broad areas of biomedical research, including basic, translational, clinical, and/or population-based studies. Preference will be given to program projects that show clear clinical relevance.

Program Project Grants are more complex in scope and budget than individual Foundation grants. While Foundation grants are awarded to support the work of (usually) one principal investigator who, with supporting staff, is addressing a scientific problem, program project grants are available to a group of several investigators with differing areas of expertise who wish to collaborate in research by pooling their talents and resources

Each Program Project application must include at least three (and up to five) interdependent Component Projects from different investigators. Component projects should reflect a self-standing scientifically meritorious research effort. However, individual projects should be clearly interrelated and synergistic so that the research ideas, efforts, and outcomes of the program as a whole will offer a distinct advantage over pursuing the individual projects separately. It is expected that successful program projects will establish effective collaborations, particularly in emerging areas of research, that extend beyond the life of The Hitchcock Foundation Program Project Grant itself. By accepting this funding the investigators commit to submission of a Program Project Grant application to the NIH, DOD, AHRQ or similar peer-review extramural source of funding.

The Program Director of the must also be project leader of one of the components. Each of the collaborating scientists responsible for the individual projects will be independent investigators. Investigators from more than one department, administrative unit, or institution (through a subcontract) are commonly included.

II. GENERAL OVERVIEW

Program project grants support investigator-initiated research programs in which a team of investigators works in a clearly defined area of mutual scientific interest. In a program project, achievement of the objective of the research effort is facilitated by the sharing of ideas, data, and specialized Core resources such as equipment, laboratories, clinical facilities, and administrative services. An essential requirement is a central theme toward which the total scientific effort is directed and to which each research project relates. In keeping with the tradition of investigator-initiated research, The Hitchcock Foundation expects the Program Director to define the integrating theme and to develop the approaches that would be used to accomplish the objective of the proposed research program.

The projects to be included in a HF-PPG should be carefully considered. All projects that are included will affect the overall outcome of the review and should be of the highest technical merit.

The Program Director must be an established leader in scientific research with demonstrated capabilities in program direction. Regular meetings of participating investigators, (preferably on a monthly basis) to share and evaluate results and new ideas, are essential to the consolidation of the research projects into a cohesive program. In addition, the Foundation strongly encourages the establishment of an advisory committee comprising internal and, if needed, external experts to assist the Program Director in making scientific and administrative decisions. At least two yearly meetings of this committee are suggested with formal written recommendations made to the Program Director and to the participants about how to enhance this Program and how best to position the team for external support. The advisory committee can also help guide the submission of a Program Project to the NIH, DOD, AHRQ or similar peer-review extramural source of funding.

In summary, the following distinguishing features must be well documented in the program project application.

There must be a unifying well-defined goal or targeted area of research to which each project contributes, thereby producing a synergistic research environment that allows each research effort to share the creative strengths of the others. There is the expectation that support of interrelated projects and collaborating investigators would yield results beyond those achievable were each project pursued separately;

The Program Director must possess recognized scientific and administrative competence and must show a substantial commitment of time and effort to the program and exercise leadership in the maintenance of its quality. The anticipated duties and responsibilities of the Program Director should be clearly defined;

A program project must contain a minimum of three component research projects that are judged to have significant scientific merit on their own while being complementary or contributory to the central theme of the HF-PPG;

Program projects require the participation of established investigators in several disciplines or investigators with special expertise in several areas of one discipline. All investigators must contribute to, and share in, the responsibilities of fulfilling the program objective.

Applicants may (it’s optional) propose one or more Shared Resource Cores (Core) if needed for the proposed research. Each Core must provide support and enhance the productivity, cost-effectiveness, and/or research outcome of at least two of the proposed research projects. New Cores may be proposed and/or existing Cores may be augmented to support the proposed research.

III. SPECIFIC INFORMATION

A. Eligibility

Hitchcock Foundation Program Project Grants are available to groups at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth College. The Program Director and individual Principal Investigators must be independent faculty-level investigators of at least the rank of assistant professor. Collaborations may contain investigators at other academic centers though the primary activity must be done at DHMC and/or Dartmouth College. The program project grant is not intended to be a vehicle for departmental support, nor is it for the research support of a single senior investigator and several postdoctoral, research associate, or research track scientists.

B. Amount and Period of the Award

The Hitchcock Foundation will provide up to a total of $200,000 over a two-year period toward the salary of technical and support personnel and operational expenses. Approval of the second year of funding is contingent upon submission of a report to the Foundation’s peer-review committee demonstrating adequate progress. No indirect costs will be paid. Competitive renewal of any funded Program Project is not envisioned.

C. Additional Funding

HF-PPG funding may be supplemented by department resources. No matching funding is required though additional department support may be indicative of the level of institutional commitment to the line of investigation.

D. Submission Date and Number of Copies

To be eligible for a HF-PPG, a letter of intention to submit a HF-PPG application listing the names of Program Director, Component Projects and Cores and participating investigators must be submitted to the Foundation by November 3, 2011. The signed original and one CD or flash memory drive with a single PDF file of the final HF-PPG application is due in The Hitchcock Foundation office by 5:00 PM on December 1, 2011. Late or incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Applications that do not follow the required format will not be reviewed.

IV. CONDITIONS

A. In accepting a research grant, the Program Director and principal investigators accept responsibility for using funds for the purpose set forth in the application. Prior approval is required before the Program Director or principal investigators make changes that alter substantially the methods or objectives of the original grant. Proposed revisions should be sent to the Foundation’s Executive Director who will, depending on the nature of the proposed changes, submit them for an expedited review by the Review Committee Chair or for full committee review.

B. If the Program Director and principal investigators relinquish or expect to relinquish direction of one or more research projects, The Hitchcock Foundation must be notified immediately. The grant may, at the discretion of The Hitchcock Foundation, be terminated, in which case a terminal progress report and expenditure report must be submitted within 30 days. Further expenditures may not be made without prior approval from the Foundation. The grantee may request that the project be continued under the direction of another investigator, in which case biographical data and other pertinent information should accompany the request.

C. Research grants shall not be transferred from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center or Dartmouth College.

D. The title to equipment purchased under Hitchcock Foundation grants shall be vested in the department of which the principal investigator is a member.

E. If copyrightable material or a patentable invention developed with the support of a Hitchcock Foundation grant produces income, the Hitchcock Foundation shall receive revenue in proportion to the contribution of the Hitchcock Foundation to the development of the material or invention. The level of the Hitchcock Foundation participation shall be consistent with D-H and Dartmouth policies and will be negotiated in good faith among the parties.

F. Warm Blooded Animals: No funds from this award may be used for activities involving warm blooded animals unless experiments are in compliance with Federal Guidelines for Animal Research. Written approval by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is required before funds may be expended. If approval is suspended or revoked during the course of the study, the Hitchcock Foundation should be notified immediately. Failure to do so will result in the termination of the study and may require the repayment of expended funds and prohibition from receiving further funding from The Hitchcock Foundation.

G. Human Subjects: If the project involves human subjects, written endorsement by the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS) is mandatory. If approval is suspended or revoked during the course of the study, the Hitchcock Foundation should be notified immediately. Failure to do so will result in the termination of the study and may require the repayment of expended funds and prohibition from receiving further funding from The Hitchcock Foundation. No funds will be distributed until full, written CPHS approval is received.

H. In the event that the grantee breaches any of the stated conditions, the Hitchcock Foundation reserves the right to discontinue further payments of the grant and to require the grantee to REpay to the Hitchcock Foundation any funds expended in the contravention of conditions outlined in this policy.

V. REVIEW CRITERIA AND AWARD DECISION

Applications will be evaluated for scientific and technical merit by the Hitchcock Foundation Program Project Grant Review Committee.

Overall Impact: Reviewers will provide an overall impact/priority sCore to reflect their assessment of the likelihood for the program project to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research field(s) involved, considering the following five review criteria and additional review criteria (as applicable for the project proposed). The NIH scoring system will be used.

Reviewers will give weight both to the merits of the individual Components and Cores and to the overall impact of the program project as a whole. The following criteria will guide their assessment of the overall impact of the program project as a whole. An application does not need to be strong in all categories to be judged likely to have major scientific impact. For example, a project that by its nature is not innovative may be essential to advance a field.

Significance: Does the project address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field? If the aims of the project are achieved, how will scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice be improved? How will successful completion of the aims change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive this field? What is the added value to scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice of the program project considered as a whole compared to the separate impact of the individual components? How essential is the program project structure to the prospects for success of the individual components?

Investigators: Are the Project Leaders and Core Leaders, collaborators, and other researchers well suited to the program project? If Early Stage Investigators (less than five years since faculty appointment) are participating, do they have appropriate experience and training? Is a formal program of mentorship built into the program project? (We strongly encourage this.) If established, have investigators demonstrated an ongoing record of accomplishments that have advanced their field(s)? Do the investigators have complementary and integrated expertise; are their leadership approach, governance and organizational structure appropriate for the program project? How compelling are the program project’s Program Director’s skills, research record and prior leadership experience? Has the Program Director devoted sufficient effort to accomplish the goals of the program project? Do the investigators on the separate Components and Cores already show evidence of collaborating to advance the goals of the overall program project?

Innovation: Does the application challenge and seek to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions? Are the concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions novel to one field of research or novel in a broad sense? Is a refinement, improvement, or new application of theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions proposed? How much does combining the different Components and Cores into a single overall program project enhance innovation or increase the originality of the proposed work?

Approach: Are the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses well reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the program project? Are potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success presented? If the program project is in the early stages of development, will the strategy establish feasibility and will particularly risky aspects be managed? Do the different approaches taken in the Components and Cores create a synergy that itself enables new knowledge and/or clinically relevant findings? Are the approaches of the different components consistent? Do they provide additive value beyond their individual strengths? Is the work designed to lead to joint publications that undersCore the synergy of the collaborative interactions?

Environment: Will the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success? Are the institutional support, equipment and other physical resources available to the investigators adequate for the project proposed? Will the project benefit from unique features of the scientific environment, subject populations, or collaborative arrangements? Does the environment encourage collaborative work among the project investigators?