Purpose of the SARC Career Development Award
The purpose of the SARC Career Development Program is to help prepare and support clinician-scientists with an M.D. or D.O. working in sarcoma as they begin their careers as independent clinical researchers.
The early stage of career development, when a researcher is transitioning from working in a mentored environment to setting up an independent research program and obtaining grant funding, is a critical period. It is often more difficult for clinician-scientists who are conducting clinical research to make this transition than it is for other researchers because these individuals typically have to balance the demands of seeing patients with those of conducting research. Those demands, together with the complexity of today’s research environment and the pace of progress, make it particularly challenging to maintain the knowledge base needed to be both a clinician and a researcher. Nevertheless, the role of the clinician-scientist in providing the bridge between the clinic and the laboratory is critical for the timely translation of basic research findings into therapeutic approaches.
In 2010, Career Development Awards are being offered at a level of $100,000 per year for three years. It is SARC’s vision that by providing stable support at a critical career juncture for clinician-scientists, the Career Development Award will encourage physicians to pursue careers in clinical research. Also, SARC hopes to support successful candidates to have important careers in academic medicine and become future leaders of SARC.
About SARC (Sarcoma Alliance through Research and Collaboration)
SARC is a 501(c) 3 Michigan non-profit corporation that was established in 2003 by a group of sarcoma clinicians and researchers interested in collaborating to find better treatment options for patients with sarcoma. Approximately 12,000 new cases of sarcoma, bone and soft tissue are diagnosed annually. Because of the uncommon nature of this cancer, a multidisciplinary approach to care is considered the gold standard of patients diagnosed with sarcoma. SARC provides the infrastructure for collaboration between physicians, scientists and medical institutions who are engaged in research for development of new standards of patient treatment. SARC develops clinical trials and facilitates their timely completion of accrual and rapid publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Definition of Clinical Research
For the purposes of this award program, clinical research is defined as research conducted with human subjects or human materials with direct application to the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of sarcoma.
The definition of clinical research specifically includes:
- Translational laboratory studies on the etiology and pathogenesis of sarcoma and related diseases
- Therapeutic interventions
- Clinical trials
- Disease control research that investigates how scientifically obtained information on prevention, early detection and early diagnosis can be efficiently applied
- Health outcomes research that either attempts to determine systematically the risk/benefits and costs of various medical practices or attempts to utilize these results in defining more effective medical practice guidelines
- Epidemiological studies
Eligibility
This program is specifically intended to help clinician-scientists make the critical transition from training towards independence as clinical investigators.
Applicant Criteria
- Clinician-scientist conducting research in sarcoma or related diseases
- M.D., D.O. or a foreign equivalent from an accredited institution
- 0-5 years post final subspecialty training
- Full-time faculty level or equivalent position at an academic medical institution or intent to join academic medical institution
- Ability to spend 50-75% of time during award period dedicated to research
- Citizen of United States, Canada or Europe
- Not supported by another career development award (ex. NIH K08 or K23, ASCO, ACRA)
Institutional Requirement
The institution must agree to provide the grantee with protected time equal to at least 50% but preferably 75% of his/her professional time to spend conducting research. The intent of this award is to help establish the grantee as an independent clinical investigator, with protected time, dedicated laboratory space (as needed), and appropriate resources.
Research Requirement
Grantees are required to spend 50-75% of their professional time on research. For example, if an investigator’s total effort is equivalent to an average of 60 hours per week, an average of 30-45 hours a week must be devoted to research. Of these hours, an average of 20-30 hours a week must be devoted to the project in this proposal.
Institutional Review Board Approval
The grantee may not conduct activities supported by the SARC Career Development Award that involve human subjects until a copy of the Institutional Review Board approval is received at SARC. Institutional Review Board approval is not required at the time of proposal submission. However, if a grant is awarded, Institutional Review Board approval should be in place by the grant start date, October 1, 2010. We recommend that you coordinate with your Institutional Review Board to ensure timely approval.
Funding Level
SARC intends to award at least two grants in this funding cycle. Awardees will receive a total of $100,000 per year for three years. Award is for direct costs only, no funds for indirect costs will be provided nor can they be attached to this award.
Application Process – Two Phases
First Phase
- Two page letter outlining proposed research plan and career development plan. In addition, a current curriculum vitae (maximum 4 pages) and face page are due on January 1, 2010. Face page can be found by clicking here.
- Submit all documents electronically in a PDF file to dreinke@sarctrials.org.
- Notification for invitation of applicants to submit a full grant proposal will be made March 1, 2010.
Second Phase
- Full grant proposal due by May 3, 2010 (see pages 4-5).
- Submit all documents electronically in a PDF file to dreinke@sarctrials.org.
- Notice of awards will be made August 2, 2010. Award start date is October 1, 2010.
Review Process
There will be a two-stage review process.
SARC Career Development Award Review Committee is a group composed of respected sarcoma clinician-scientists. They will first review the two page letter outlining the research proposals based on the criteria listed below. If accepted, the candidate will be asked to submit a full grant proposal including a detailed budget, letter of institutional commitment, and letter of support from mentor. The full grant proposals will be reviewed by the Committee and notification of awards will be made by August 2, 2009.
Criteria for Review and Selection
- Evidence of the candidate’s commitment to a clinical research career in sarcoma.
- Candidate’s formal research training, laboratory experience, and productivity.
- Evidence of the candidate’s original research in the relevant area.
- Importance of the research to the field.
- Originality of the research proposal.
- Appropriateness of the methodology and scope of the project.
- Commitment of the candidate’s department and institution to the area of research and to the candidate.
- Resources available to the candidate. (Clinician-scientist will not be penalized for obtaining other sources of funding; however there should be no scientific overlap between proposed aims of the research and the aims of research supported by other awards.)
Full Grant Proposals must contain the following items:
Note: All pages must be typed with font size 11 points or larger, in Arial or New Times Roman. The candidate’s name should be on the upper right corner of each page. Proposals that do not meet the page limits (including letters) and formatting will not be accepted.
- Abstract (maximum 1 page)
- Research Plan (6-10 typed pages)
i. Hypotheses and Specific Aims
ii. Background and Significance
iii. Preliminary Results
iv. Research Design and Methods – discuss any potential difficulties and alternate approaches
- Training in Clinical and Laboratory Research (maximum 1 page)
- List courses taken and a brief description of content.
- If additional course work is needed, indicate what areas are involved and how you plan to obtain the expertise
- Time Frame
- Provide estimated milestones for accomplishing key goals
- Literature cited in Research Plan (no page limit)
- Budget and Budget Justification (see form by clicking here)
- Description of Resources
- Other Sources of Research Support
- Current or pending funding
- Project name, PI, Institution
- Your role with other projects and percent effort
- Total Award (Direct and Indirect Costs)
- Project period (start and end dates) and description
- Indicate if the project is related to work proposed in this application
- Clinical Protocol and proof of IRB status (if applicable)
- Consultant/Collaborative/Contractual Arrangements (each letter maximum 1 page). If applicable, include letters verifying any arrangements necessary to conduct the proposed research.
- Letter of Instructional Commitment – must be signed by division chairperson.
- Letter of Support from Mentor (maximum 2 pages)