The SRA Symposium - College of Medicine
The SRA Symposium - College of Medicine
The SRA Symposium - College of Medicine
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• Second, research administrators can help junior investigators identify appropriate funding<br />
mechanisms. For example, a junior faculty member who has no history <strong>of</strong> NIH funding and<br />
is looking for $25,000 in a fairly short timeframe should be looking for foundation funding, as<br />
opposed to submitting an R01 grant.<br />
• Third, by virtue <strong>of</strong> having seen many research proposals, research administrators may be able<br />
to assist junior investigators in actual grant writing. Typically, they would not be able to assist<br />
with the science, but good grantsmanship requires more than good science. Administrators<br />
can work with junior faculty to help them articulate their research ideas and develop specific<br />
goals for their research. <strong>The</strong>y can assist with the structure and organization <strong>of</strong> grants and may<br />
be able to contribute to standardized sections (e.g., descriptions <strong>of</strong> resources or other boilerplate<br />
information). Good grantsmanship requires that the proposal should be understandable<br />
by a layperson, therefore, even if a research administrator does not have a scientific background,<br />
he/she should be able to understand what the research project is, why it is important,<br />
and how the investigator is going to carry it out.<br />
Experience at Duke and UNC<br />
Experience at our two institutions (Duke University and the University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina at Chapel<br />
Hill) has taught us that research administrators have a great deal <strong>of</strong> knowledge and experience<br />
to <strong>of</strong>fer junior faculty, making the inclusion <strong>of</strong> a research administrator on a mentoring team a<br />
worthy endeavor.<br />
Both UNC and Duke have considerable experience in the training <strong>of</strong> new investigators in the art<br />
and science <strong>of</strong> research. Our combined totals for the following categories <strong>of</strong> training awards include:<br />
forty-five F32s, twenty-six K01s, thirty-six K08s, fifty-three K23s, and seven K12 awards.<br />
K30 Program: Both Duke and UNC are recipients <strong>of</strong> the NIH-funded K30 Clinical Research<br />
Training Programs. <strong>The</strong>se grants <strong>of</strong>fer formalized academic programs in the quantitative and<br />
methodological techniques <strong>of</strong> clinical research. At both UNC and Duke, the K30 trainees include<br />
fellows and junior faculty from a variety <strong>of</strong> health pr<strong>of</strong>essions.<br />
Mentored Clinical Research Scholar Program (MCRSP): <strong>The</strong> MCRSP is funded by the National<br />
Center for Research Resources at both Duke and UNC and is a prototype for the K12 awards.<br />
It involves a structured didactic and applied research curriculum designed to foster training in<br />
patient-oriented clinical research. Faculty members selected for their expertise, experience, and<br />
commitment to training provide oversight <strong>of</strong> the program and/or serve as research mentors. Each<br />
trainee participates in a formal multidisciplinary didactic program that can lead to a master’s<br />
degree. <strong>The</strong> various components <strong>of</strong> the program include mentored research, pr<strong>of</strong>essional skills development,<br />
and formal training in responsible conduct <strong>of</strong> research. At Duke, MCRSP participants<br />
include both post-doctoral physicians pursuing subspecialty or primary care training and junior<br />
faculty members. At UNC, all MCRSP participants are junior faculty physicians from the School<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Medicine</strong> and junior faculty dentists from the School <strong>of</strong> Dentistry.<br />
Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Program: <strong>The</strong> BIRC-<br />
WH is funded by the National Institute <strong>of</strong> Child Health and Human Development at both UNC<br />
and Duke. <strong>The</strong> primary goal <strong>of</strong> this program is to expand an institution’s activities in women’s<br />
health research. Most <strong>of</strong> the elements <strong>of</strong> the program are quite similar to the MCRSP described<br />
above. UNC was funded in 2000 with the initial cohort <strong>of</strong> BIRCWH Programs and has to date<br />
enrolled seventeen (17) junior faculty members across three <strong>of</strong> the Schools on our Health Affairs<br />
campus. To date, UNC’s BIRCWH Scholars have included: 1 PharmD; 6 PhDs; 1 MD-PhD; and<br />
9 physicians. Disciplines and departments are quite diverse as is the spectrum <strong>of</strong> research activity<br />
that ranges from basic to translational and patient-oriented to population sciences. <strong>The</strong> Duke<br />
BIRCWH was funded in 2002 and collaborates in training with North Carolina Central University,<br />
2005 <strong>Symposium</strong> Proceedings Book 189