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Guidelines for Responding to the NHGRI Action PlanHow to respond to the NHGRI Action Plan to increase the representation of underrepresented minority groups in genomics and Ethical Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) research. What is the objective of the NHGRI Action Plan?The long-term goal of the Action Plan is to increase the number of individuals from underrepresented minority groups who are engaged in genomics and ELSI research. The Action Plan addresses this long-term goal by encouraging NHGRI grantees to undertake activities in their laboratories and other research settings that are directed towards increasing the number of scientists from underrepresented minority (URM) groups who will become independent investigators. Under this program, underrepresented minority groups include African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans (including Alaska Natives) and natives of the Pacific Islands. Foreign scientists are not eligible to be appointed under the MAP initiative. In order to achieve this long-term goal, it is important to provide expanded opportunities at all stages of the "education pipeline" and at all career levels. NHGRI recognizes that in order to influence the number of individuals, particularly URM, pursuing science as a career, the number of students entering and being retained in the education pipeline must be increased. However, NHGRI is only one of several federal and private organizations dedicated to this important goal. Upon advice from our Advisors and given our limited resources, NHGRI is currently placing emphasis on opportunities at the undergraduate level and higher. NHGRI will provide additional funds to support these activities, as appropriate.
Who should participate?NHGRI encourages all Principal Investigators who are seeking support from or are already funded by the Institute to participate in this initiative. Training grants already have mandatory requirements for recruiting and retaining individuals from underrepresented minority groups. Training Grant Program Directors are encouraged to develop initiatives to enhance their recruiting and retention efforts. Specific types of applications and grants (centers engaged in large-scale sequencing or other large-scale data production efforts, hereafter referred to as production centers, Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science (CEGS), databases and other large grants) are required to develop and implement plans aimed at increasing the representation of researchers from underrepresented minority groups pursuing genomics and ELSI research. Investigators on R01-type grants are encouraged to participate through the Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research [grants1.nih.gov]. This is a well-established program and will not be discussed further in this document.
What should an investigator's action plan response include?Action Plan responses may take the form of explicit research training and academic enhancement activities. Whereas training of underrepresented minorities at all career levels is appropriate, applicants are especially encouraged to establish programs that give priority to those at the undergraduate through the professional career levels. In well justified circumstances, NHGRI will consider activities for students prior to their undergraduate years. The evaluation component and a cost-effective approach for all activities will be central considerations. Action Plans for these activities must be an integral part of the ongoing research activities of the NHGRI-supported projects and the PI must be actively involved in the proposed activities. Outreach activities, such as laboratory tours, presentations to professional societies and high schools and colleges, laboratory visits, etc., are considered to be part of a scientist's normal activities. The following is a list of items an Action Plan Response should address. Some of these will be more or less relevant depending on the type of activity proposed:
All responses should: (1) describe the demographics in the institution for the population(s) targeted in the Action Plan response; (2) describe ongoing programs at the institution to recruit underrepresented minority groups into the sciences; and (3) address how the proposed activity will increase the number of scientists from underrepresented minority groups pursuing careers in genomics and ELSI research. Examples of activities that have been successful in the past for increasing the number of minorities pursuing scientific research as a career include, but are not limited to:
There are many institutions with successful programs already in place and diverse ideas among the community. NHGRI encourages grantees to build on these resources in addition to or in place of the above proposed ideas, as long as the plan is feasible, has the potential for success and is aimed at the long-term goal of the Action Plan. If you propose to participate in ongoing activities at your or other institutions, you should address what "value added" NHGRI-supported participation will bring to these ongoing programs and the role of the Principal Investigator and senior faculty. The budget for new and competing continuation MAP activities will be limited to $300,000 (direct costs). Exceptions may be made for those activities that were previously funded and have an excellent track record, but Principal Investigators are expected to prioritize activities based on the success of previously funded activities in meeting NHGRI's goal for increasing the number of individuals from underrepresented groups pursuing careers in genomics/proteomics by focusing activities at the undergraduate and higher levels. Individual Principal Investigators from the same institution who plan to submit applications that require a response to the Action Plan are encouraged to consult with NHGRI staff to discuss how such a response should be structured. Likewise, prospective applicants from institutions that already have a funded Minority Action Plan should contact staff for guidance. NHGRI will continue to support the cost of administrative program assistants and program coordinators, but support must be relevant to the program. The MAP is essentially an educational component embedded within a research program. The National Research Service Award program limits the facilities and administrative (F & A) costs to 8 percent. Similar F & A costs are used for educational grants, such as the R25 and career development (K) awards. Applicant institutions are encouraged to cost share the facilities and administrative costs of the MAP component at a rate that is comparable to the facilities and administrative costs of educational and training grants.
What should an investigator consider in developing an action plan response?
NHGRI will only: (1) consider activities that are targeted to the higher end of the education pipeline - undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty; (2) cap the direct cost of the MAP to $300,000 with allowances for increase in inflation in future years; (3) support the person month's effort of a training coordinator that is commensurate with the level of MAP activity; and (4) encourage the institution to support the MAP as an educational component with 8 percent overhead.
How should the action plan response be submitted?For PIs requesting support as part of a new or competing grant application, the response should be identified in a separate section in the competing application on the PHS 398 form as a separate activity. The response (a) must be clearly identified within the application, (b) must have a separate budget justification and (c) is not part of the research plan and therefore will not count towards the total page limit of the parent application's research plan. New applications will have a ten page limit, not including the budget page and budget justification. Competing continuations will be allowed an additional five pages to describe the success of the previous training activities. All investigators are encouraged to discuss their ideas for a response with one of the NHGRI program directors or the action plan coordinator listed at the end of this document. This discussion should take place during the development of the response and well in advance of its submission.
How will the action plan response be evaluated?All proposed responses will be assessed for likelihood of success by the study section that evaluates parent grant applications. The purpose of the assessment is to provide guidance on whether and how the response can be improved. The assessment criteria will include the following:
For an Action Plan Response that is submitted as part of a competing grant application, the results of the assessment will not be factored into the priority score, but will be reported separately. All Action Plan Responses will be rated as:
If an Action Plan Response is rated "acceptable if modified," the NHGRI Program Director will negotiate with the applicant to make the necessary adjustments. In the case of a competing application, this will be done prior to Council review. If the Action Plan Response needs to be revised, it must be resubmitted and will be re-evaluated by the study section. Council will review all Action Plan Responses and the evaluators' assessments.
How will funding decisions be made?For grant mechanisms that are required to have an Action Plan Response, parent grant applications will only be funded if the Action Plans have been rated as "acceptable." Applications with responses rated "acceptable if modified" will have to be modified, and the modifications accepted, before the parent grant applications will be funded. Parent grant applications with responses that need to be revised will not be funded until the responses have been reassessed and rated as "acceptable."
What happens after the Action Plan Response is approved?What happens after the Action Plan Response is approved? Because the NHGRI has made a commitment to demonstrate that the implementation of the Action Plan is achieving its goals, grantees will be required to address progress under the approved plan in the annual progress report. In non-competing continuation applications, the progress report and budget for the MAP must be clearly delineated from the progress report and budget for the parent grant. The progress report must include information about the training and educational activities supported by the MAP even if support for future years is not requested. Continuation of support for the MAP in the remaining years of the project period of the grant will depend upon satisfactory review by NHGRI of progress for both the parent grant and the MAP supplement, and the appropriateness of the proposed budget for the proposed effort. Grantees are encouraged to place on their laboratories' Web sites, information about their training activities and the contact information of individual(s) who can respond to questions about these programs. A Research Training Working Group consisting of a subset of National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research (NACHGR) members and experts in research training of underrepresented minority groups has been established to assist the NHGRI on an ongoing basis with managing the overall program and monitoring progress. The NHGRI will hold an annual meeting as a satellite meeting to the annual meeting of awardees of Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science (CEGS). NACHGR will be briefed annually on overall progress.
Who should I contact if I need additional advice?The success of the NHGRI Action Plan will depend on the grantees and the NHGRI staff working in partnership. The first point of contact for discussing your proposed Action Plan Response should be one of the Directors of the NHGRI Programs. You may also contact the Action Plan Coordinator, if you do not know who to contact within the institute or wish to discuss whether your planned activity is consistent with the goals of the Action Plan. A Web portal has been developed to provide resources for PIs and information for underrepresented minority groups interested in opportunities for furthering their careers in genomics and ELSI research. Go to: Minority Action Plan Portal and Research Tool Program StaffBettie Graham, Ph.D.Action Plan Coordinator Program Director, Genome Research Training and Career Development Division of Extramural Research E-mail: bg30t@nih.gov Elizabeth Thomson, D.N.Sc., R.N., C.G.C., F.A.A.N. Program Director, Ethical, Legal and Social Implications Research Division of Extramural Research E-mail: thomsone@mail.nih.gov
Last Reviewed: May 27, 2008 |
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