VCU hosts ‘On the Road to NIH Funding’

Virginia Commonwealth University recently hosted “On the Road to NIH Funding,” a workshop designed for faculty investigators to network with officials from the National Institutes of Health and to learn about available research resources and funding priorities in health disparities research.

VCU’s Center for Clinical and Translational Research, the Center for Health Disparities and the Institute for Women’s Health hosted the event, which was attended by approximately 40 graduate students and faculty from across the university. This included investigators in the fields of neurology, nursing, pediatric dentistry, psychiatry, social work, psychology, emergency medicine, occupational therapy, microbiology and immunology, pharmacology and toxicology, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, physiology and biophysics, pharmacy, and epidemiology and community health.

Representatives from six National Institutes of Health (NIH) institutes presented information about NIH infrastructure, funding priorities in the area of health disparities and research ranging from basic to applied research, with an emphasis on translational and interdisciplinary research. They offered suggestions about alternative funding mechanisms for junior faculty and stressed the importance of making contact with NIH program staff early in the grant writing process.

The workshop also included presentations from VCU faculty researchers who highlighted currently funded research initiatives. Lauren Jansson, M.D., assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, discussed practical issues in moving from clinical work to a research career. 

Staff from the VCU Center for Clinical and Translational Research provided an overview of the VCU research incubator and the services it now provides to faculty and students needing assistance with clinical and translational research efforts. Some services include identification of mentor(s), biostatistics support and mock grant reviews.

In addition, staff from the VCU Center for Health Disparities and the VCU Institute for Women’s Health discussed how they could further assist students and faculty in the development of grants relevant to their areas of focus, offering additional support in budget development as well as fostering of interdisciplinary components essential in the current funding climate for such research.

The institutes were selected based on VCU’s areas of expertise and included the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Nursing Research, the National Institute on Allergies and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institute on Child Health and Development.

In the next several months, follow-up meetings are planned to encourage faculty and students to submit grants applications to the NIH by September 2008. The goal is to assist at least three to four faculty members in their submission of an application to the NIH. Future events may focus on NIH funding of international research collaborations with VCU’s international partnership universities.