This document is a transcript of a Technical Assistance teleconference call that took place on August 28, 2007, among Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) staff and potential applicants for the National Research Service Award (NRSA) institutional training programs (T32) funded by AHRQ.
Introduction
Coordinator: Welcome and thank you for standing by. At
this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. During the question and
answer session, please press star 1 on your touchtone phone. Today's conference is being recorded. If
you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to
turn the meeting over to Miss Shelley Benjamin. Ma'am, you may begin.
Shelley Benjamin: Thank you. Good afternoon. This is Shelley
Benjamin at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Good afternoon for
those of you on the Eastern seaboard. I know we do have folks on the west, so
good morning to you.
I do want to start quickly by
introducing folks in the room. There are quite a number of people in the room
with me who have different roles as far as this particular grant solicitation
is concerned.
Again, I'm Shelley Benjamin and I'm
one of the program officials in the Agency and work closely with the NRSA
program and in particular, I'm the program officer for this T32 solicitation.
Karen Rudzinski: I work with Shelley in the Division of
Research Education, which I direct, and have experience in administering this
program in the past.
Al Deal: I'm Al Deal from the Grants Management
Office.
Gretta Drott: I work in the Division of Research
Education.
Brenda Harding: I work with the T32 Program with Shelley.
Kishena Wadhwani: Kishena Wadhwani, Director of the Division of
Scientific Review, where the review of the applications will be taking place.
Jerry Calderone: I'm the AHRQ Receipt and Referral Officer.
Shelley Benjamin: Thank you. I've asked all these other folks to
join because as you see with program, referral, review, and grants management,
there are a number of different offices at the Agency that are associated with
the pre-competition as well as the competition itself and what happens after
grants are awarded.
I thought I'd take a few minutes by
just quickly going over the session, providing a quick overview of the program,
its history, what we're looking for, the timeline and next steps.
After that, we will proceed with the
question and answer portion of this session. We will begin with providing
responses to questions received in advance, followed by questions from
participants on the phone call.
Overview and History
AHRQ has sponsored institutional training grants since 1986. At present we support
27 programs, which are a mix of predoctoral, postdoctoral and combined
programs. A listing and description of the 27 current funded programs are
available on our Web site at http://www.ahrq.gov/fund/training/t32.htm.
The NRSA program provides student
stipends and tuition offsets for students. No faculty support is provided.
In terms of eligibility
requirements for the students, they have to be either a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident. Students need to be full time in their research
training.
AHRQ solicits institutional
training grant applications only once every five years; each funded grant is
supported for a five-year period. Current funded programs are in their fifth
and final year of this cycle.
Program Priorities
In terms of program balance, what we hope to achieve in the new cycle is a mix
of programs which include:
- Competing continuation and new
programs.
- Pre-, post-, and combined programs.
- Features which are unique to AHRQ's
mission (as opposed to that of National Institutes of Health [NIH] or Health Resources and Services Administration [HRSA]).
- Attention to Agency research priorities
and priority populations as noted in the Funding Opportunity Announcement
(FOA) (Note: no one program has to
address all of these).
- Production of students who are equipped
to do academic research, as well as research in wide recruitment
strategies that encourage diversity.
- Formation of partnerships within and
across universities and applied settings.
The Requests for Application (RFA) states that:
" Applicant organizations are encouraged to
collaborate across Departments, Divisions, Schools and affiliated organizations
within their larger institution in submitting applications to this announcement.
AHRQ will generally support no more than one meritorious grant per
academic-degree granting institution and its affiliate organizations.
Support for two grants per applicant organization and/or its affiliates will
be considered when this arrangement is fully justified and achieves programmatic
balance across AHRQ priorities."
Institutions
may submit more than one application, however, it is only in rare cases, with
supporting justification, and if complementary to AHRQ programmatic interests,
that the Agency will make more than one award to the same academic-degree
institution and affiliate organizations.
Timeline and Next Steps
- Applications due by Oct. 19th.
- Applications must use Form 398 (not 424) and submitted in hard
copy.
- We are available to assist with questions and answers until
applications are submitted; after that questions on receipt and referral need
to be directed to Dr. Gerald Calderone at (301-427-1548) and on review to Dr.
Kishena Wadhwani at (301-427-1556).
- Applications will be reviewed in January (reviewers will
adhere to review criteria noted in FOA); upon completion you can contact us
to discuss the application.
- Funding decisions will occur in Spring; effective start date will
be July 1.
Questions and
Answers
Questions and Answers have been
synthesized into two sections. The first deal with issues specific to grant
application preparation and differences between competing continuation and new
application requirements. The second includes additional issues raised either
during the teleconference call or in advance of the meeting.
Application Preparation
Question: What forms do I use and where do I find them?
Answer: This information is provided in Section IV. of
the announcement. Applications must be prepared using the research
grant applications instructions found in the PHS 398 and the specific NRSA
institutional grant application instructions that begin on page 61 of the PHS
398. The PHS 398 application instructions are available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html.
Question: Does AHRQ allow for Co-PI's?
Answer: AHRQ
is not following the NIH policy regarding multiple principal investigators (PIs). Officially,
AHRQ will only recognize one Principal Investigator/Program Director who has
overall responsibility and authority for the grant. However, programs may
exercise internal flexibility in how they manage their grants, including the
use of an informal, unofficial co-director.
Question: Are there any
formatting preferences within the text, headers, sections and numbering?
Answer: There are no additional formatting requirements
beyond those required specifically within the PHS 398.
Question: For faculty,
should CV's or biosketches be submitted?
Answer: Biosketches.
Question: Our program will involve a large
number of faculty across the institution. How many is too many? Should
we provide information about all of them? Should faculty who serve as
mentors to our trainees and have other involvements in the program, but
may not be "key" be listed as "other significant contributors?" What
information, if any, do we need to submit about these faculty in addition
to their NIH 4-page biosketch? The section on 'other significant
contributors' suggests that 'other support information' will not be
required if an award is made, but is it necessary to submit it in the
initial application?
Answer: On
page 63 of the instructions to be used when applying for a competing
Institutional NRSA grant, Section 2 Specific Instructions includes the
following:
"Key Personnel and Other
Significant Contributors
"The
Program Director, training faculty and any other individuals whose
contributions are critical to the development, management and execution of the
Training Program in a substantive, measurable way (whether or not salaries are
reimbursed) should be identified as Key Personnel. Since these efforts
are not project related research endeavors, they should not be identified in
Other Support information. The Other Significant Contributors section is
not relevant for NRSA applications."
The number and type of faculty
proposed for the training program is up to the applicant. Provide the
detailed information requested in the PHS 398 for faculty that would be key
personnel. If you have faculty that you do not consider to be key personnel, by
the definition in the PHS instructions, but choose to include because of the
nature of their participation, indicate in your application that the program
may draw upon other faculty and note the relationship to the program, the
nature of their participation the types of research expertise that would be
available to the fellows by their involvement with the training program.
Question: What is included in the page limitations?
Answer: Page limitations should include
all relevant information necessary that describes background, program plan
(administration, faculty, proposed training, evaluation, and candidates),
minority recruitment and retention plan and plans for instruction in
responsible conduct of research. This includes descriptions of faculty
research interests. Tables, faculty biosketches, letters of support and
supporting materials (such as course syllabi (if one chooses to include it) as
opposed to description of curriculum requirements and core competencies are not
included in the limitation. Programs applying for both predoctoral and
postdoctoral components must fit their descriptions of both components within
the 25-page limit. References to Web sites at applicant institutions can be included
but not in lieu of content contained within the 25 pages. Some information
provided within this section can be presented in tabular format for ease of
presentation.
Tables
Question: The NIGMS Web site offers samples of table templates that
have different numbering from those in the NRSA section of the PHS 398. Can
they be used in lieu of required tables specified in the PHS 398 instructions?
Answer: No.
Question: We plan to draw trainees from a wide variety of disciplines from
across the university as well as outside. Should we fill out the required
tables for all of the potential applicant pools?
Answer: Provide the detail information
requested for the main participating components, but indicate there may be
participating entities and describe the nature and depth of their participation.
Question: Table 1 calls for the total number of current predoctoral
students and postdoctoral trainees. For the predocs, it seems to be asking for
the total number of students, trainees as well as non-trainees.
Answer: Table 1 should include the total
number of all predoctoral and postdoctoral students at the major participating
entities in the grant application—not only those who are NRSA supported.
Question: Table 4 requests calls for information
on all past and current students for whom faculty members are/were the thesis
advisor or sponsor for the past 10 years. Should we list all mentees or just
ones related to training in our field, as proposed in the training grant
application?
Answer: Table 4 should include all the
mentees, not just those in the field proposed in the training grant
application.
Question: Should the students listed in Table 4
include Masters-level students or only doctoral and postdoctoral students?
Answer: Only doctoral and postdoctoral
students should be included.
Question: Is Table 5 asking for detail regarding the
application/acceptance/enrollment history for the 5-6 fellowship slots enrolled
every year, or more generally, beyond just this particular T32 grant mechanism,
about all of the applicants to the half dozen or so academic divisions that
participate in the AHRQ fellowship here? The latter is a very broad set
of applicants of all types, whereas the former would be focused specifically on
the interest in, and use of, the funds from this grant mechanism.
Answer: Table 5 should include all
individuals who apply to the major participating departments/units.
Question: Is Table 8 asking about minority
recruitment/application/enrollment for this T32 fellowship, or instead more
broadly, about recruitment to the participating departments within the
university as a whole?
Answer: Table 8 should include all
individuals who apply to the major participating departments/unit; indicate
those who were AHRQ supported by an asterisk(*)
Question: In Table 10, subpart 4: "source of support during each year
of training". Does this mean other salary support? Would it include
funding in their PI's name for a project that the fellow participating in? Does
"each year of training" mean each year of participation in the AHRQ
T32 training grant, or every year of their training, including time before and
after participation in this particular fellowship?
Answer: This would include the total of
duration of research training—for some this may be limited to the participation
on the AHRQ grant, for others it may include time before and after this
particular fellowship.
Question: What additional tables are allowed
outside of the 25 page limitation noted above?
Answer: None.
Appendices
Question: Should letters of support from
internal and external partners, as well as required tables, be included in the
appendix?
Answer: Applicants are encouraged to
include these materials in the main body of the application, following Section
J. (Consortium/Contractual Arrangements) and prior to the Checklist, as opposed
to placing them in appendices.
Competing Continuations vs. New Grant Applications
Question: Do all competing continuation grant applications need to
complete Section E (Progress Report)?
Answer: Yes. All currently-funded
projects are considered to be competing continuations, even if they propose
expansions in their currently-funded programs (in terms of topical areas,
partnerships and level of student supported). They must complete the progress
report. There is no page limitation, but the information should be complete and
as concise as possible.
Question: Can programs which were previously
funded by AHRQ, but are not being funded at present, submit competing
continuations or do they have to submit new applications?
Answer: In the past, such programs had
to submit new applications. At present, they can choose to submit new or
competing continuation applications.
Question: Are continuing versus new applications evaluated or
considered differently in any respect during the review or funding
process?
Answer: No prioritization will be given
to either. However, competing continuations will be evaluated based on their
progress reports and proposed plans, whereas new applications will not be
evaluated on the merits of their progress reports (since they will not have any
included in the application).
Question: If a currently-funded AHRQ T32 program
has a subcontract with another institution are both eligible to submit
competing continuations vs. new applications?
Answer: All applications coming from the
current grantee must be in the format of a competing continuation, even if the
subcontractor is no longer a partner. If the subcontracting institution wishes
to submit independently, it can do so in the format of a new or competing
continuation application. If the two institutions wish to continue their
partnership, but have the subcontractor be the prime grantee institution on the
application to be submitted in October 2007, the application submitted must be
in the format of a competing continuation.
Additional Questions and
Answers
Question: How many fellowships slots can we request?
Answer: The number of fellowship
positions requested varies by program. Applicants should include a rationale
for their request and demonstrate that the program can satisfactorily
accommodate the number of positions requested. However, the number of
positions awarded for a successful applicant will be determined by the review
process and the availability of funds. The proposed scope of the program
(both in initial and outlying years) is up to the applicant based on the nature
of the program (e.g., pre, post, or pre and post) and its capacity. There is
no set standard. However, to provide a framework, our current range of program
slots is between 4 and 11. The median is 5-6 and new programs are often
started at a lower level than approved. All programs can request out-year
growth, but the final support determination depends on availability of and
future growth in program funds.
Also, note that slots do not
mean people. They include new and returning students for out years.
Question: Should applicants
interested in supporting both predoctoral and postdoctoral students submit
separate applications for each?
Answer: Applicants are encouraged to combine both
components in one application. Reviewers will discuss and implement an
approach, with guidance provided by the review staff, to evaluating these
programs, particularly in situations where one component is substantially
stronger than the other.
Question: What is the percent effort required for the program
director?
Answer: NRSA funds do not provide
salary support for the Program Director or faculty. There is no pre-set
level of effort required of faculty and the Program Director. The amount
varies and the expectation is that the faculty and Program Director are
available for the amount which is specified and justified.
Reviewers will determine if the request is in line with the scope of the
program proposed.
Question: Do clinical fellows
need to devote 100% time to research or are they allowed to see
patients?
Answer: Fellows
are required to pursue their research training program full time, normally
defined as 40 hours per week or as specified by the sponsoring institution in
accordance with its own policies.
Within
the full time training period, fellows in clinical areas must confine clinical
duties to those that are an integral part of the research training experience.
Compensated
services may occur on a limited, part-time basis apart from the normal
full-time research training activities. Training Program Directors must approve
all instances of employment to verify that the circumstances will not interfere
with, detract from, or prolong the approved NRSA research training program.
A
full description of the policy for stipend supplementation and compensation
is located in the NIH Grants Policy Statement at: http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2003/NIHGPS_Part11.htm.
Question: Do reviewers/AHRQ
weight each objective equally?
AHRQ
does not weight all objectives equally. Note that an application does not need
to be strong in all categories to be judged likely to have major scientific
impact and thus deserve a high priority score.
Question: Does AHRQ have a set
of "core competencies" it endorses for programs?
AHRQ does not have an officially-sanctioned set of core competencies. Each program is expected to elucidate its own based on what its curriculum emphasizes. AHRQ did provide financial support to a small conference grant application which focused on the development of core competencies for predoctoral education.
These set of competencies has not been officially endorsed by AHRQ, but the
product can be accessed at Health Services Research Core Competencies.
Question: In the
description of core competencies in the FOA, what is meant by "past
partnerships?"
The
word "past" is an editorial error and should be deleted.
Question: Previously, the tuition formula was used for award
calculation purposes only, and grantees have not been required to use the same
formula for actual expenditures. Funds were awarded in a lump sum and grantees
had latitude to rebudget the tuition across students. Will this continue under
the new policy for reimbursement? Can tuition and related expense funds be
rebudgeted across trainees?
With the new NIH policy, tuition can still be
rebudgeted as in the past, including across trainees. Note that tuition
requests in the budget for predocs as well as postdocs should be based on
historical trend data, actual expectations, and the nature of the program
proposed in the application (e.g., if graduate degrees are not mandatory or are
not provided in the postdoc program, then the tuition requests noted in the
budget section should align with the nature of the program). The rebudgeting
is not intended to exceed the maximum allowed per student under the NRSA policy
guidelines. Also, note that funding is contingent on budget availability and
not solely requested amounts. NIH will be actively monitoring rebudgeting in
tuition and fees given the new pilot policy in place. AHRQ may opt to request
more detailed information from grantees on rebudgeting.
Question: Can support be requested for administrative staff?
Applicants cannot directly request support for
administrative staff. The grant primarily supports stipends for students and
offsets for tuition and fees. However, training-related expenses (TREs) are
also provided, based on the number of slots supported in a program and NRSA guideline
levels. Some programs opt to use some of these funds to partially-offset
administrative expenses.
Current as of August 2007
Internet Citation:
Transcript: T32 Technical Assistance Call. August 28, 2007. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/fund/training/transtac828.htm
540 Gaither Road Rockville, MD 20850