Notice Number: NOT-HS-09-008

Key Dates
Release Date:  July 10, 2009

Issued by
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), http://www.ahrq.gov/

Effective with the August 8, 2009 submission date, AHRQ is transitioning to electronic submission the Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) Fellowships (F-series).  Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) for F-series programs have been updated and will also be announced in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts.  AHRQ recently published an update and revision of the AHRQ Individual Awards for Postdoctoral Fellows (F32) Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA).  This FOA can accessed at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-229.html
In conjunction with the transition to electronic submission, several business processes are highlighted below: 

1. Reference Letters:  The electronic submission of reference letters is separate from the electronic submission of applications.Reference letters are submitted directly through the eRA Commons and do not use Grants.gov.  Therefore, candidates must follow the Supplemental Instructions in the SF424 R&R Individual Fellowship Application Guide for specific instructions (Part 5.4). Letters of reference are an important component of the application for fellowship support.  Applicants for this fellowship must arrange to have at least three (but no more than five) letters of reference submitted on their behalf to the eRA Commons Web site at: https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons/reference/submitRefereeInformation.jsp. 
2. Resubmissions: AHRQ will continue its policy that applicants may submit a resubmission application.  Such an application must include an Introduction addressing the previous peer review critique (Summary Statement).  Please note that when resubmitting an application electronically via Grants.gov, applicants must also resubmit their letters of reference through the eRA Commons as described above.

3. Review Criteria: Reviewers will provide an overall priority score, and will consider each of the five criteria below in determining scientific and technical merit:

• Fellowship Applicant
• Sponsor(s), Collaborator(s), and Consultant(s)
• Research Training Plan
• Training Potential
• Institutional Environment and Commitment to Training

Applicants to the AHRQ Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32) program should refer to the AHRQ FOA for guidance regarding AHRQ-specific policies and procedures related to review criteria and scoring, as they may differ from those used by NIH.

Inquiries

Questions concerning this notice should be directed to:

Shelley Benjamin
Program Officer, Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority Populations
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Phone: 301-451-4225
Email: shelley.benjamin@ahrq.hhs.gov

Weekly TOC for this Announcement
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices

	Office of Extramural Research (OER)			National Institutes of Health (NIH) 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20892			Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
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