Last Update: Oct. 29, 2009

• Begin your application early to allow all parties time to complete the process. 
• The applicant must submit the completed application to the grants officer selected in the application.  It is the applicant's responsibility to contact the grants officer and/or monitor the status of his/her own application.
• The grants officer is the only person who can submit an application to the AHA.  Check with your grants officer for his/her internal institutional deadline.  Allow plenty of time for your grants officer to review and reject or submit the application to AHA. 
• Once the application is submitted to the AHA by the grants officer, it cannot be changed or modified in any way.  It will go to peer review as received unless it is withdrawn.
• Refer to Related Items at right of this screen for useful information.
  

Applications related to obesity, women and heart disease, and resuscitation are particularly encouraged.

Objective
To support highly innovative, high-risk, high-reward research that could ultimately lead to critical discoveries or major advancements that will accelerate the field of cardiovascular and stroke research.

Research deemed innovative may introduce a new paradigm, challenge current paradigms, look at existing problems from new perspectives, or exhibit other uniquely creative qualities.  The Innovative Research Grant (IRG) promotes new ideas; therefore, proposals need not include preliminary data.  However, a solid rationale for the work must be provided.  Proposed work should not be the next logical step of previous work, but should have a high probability of revealing new avenues of investigation, if successful.  This program aims to provide pilot or seed funding that should lead to successful competition for additional funding beyond the pilot period.

The principal investigator (PI) is responsible for clearly and explicitly articulating the project's innovation and the potential impact on cardiovascular and stroke research.

Disciplines
Funding is available for research directly related to cardiovascular function and disease, stroke, or to related clinical, basic science, and public health problems.  Proposals are encouraged from all basic, epidemiological and clinical disciplines that bear on cardiovascular and stroke problems.

Target Audience

• All levels of faculty/staff members conducting research at time of application.
• At application, principal investigator must hold an M.D., Ph.D., D.O. or equivalent doctoral degree and must meet institutional requirements for grant submission.
• Awards are not intended to supplement or duplicate currently funded work.
• Eligibility for the Innovative Research Grant is not restricted based upon experience level or seniority.  Seniority will not be used as a criterion in evaluating an application's merit.

Award may be held concurrently with an Association Fellow-to-Faculty Transition Award, Clinical Research Program Award, Beginning Grant-in-Aid, Scientist Development Grant, Established Investigator Award or Grant-in-Aid.  The Innovative Research Grant is non-renewable, but may be held more than once by a single investigator provided the projects are separate in nature and concept.

An applicant may submit one National IRG application and one other National application per deadline.

The extent to which the focus of the project is related to CVD and/or stroke is an important factor that will be considered. However, the applicant is not required to be a part of cardiovascular/stroke-oriented laboratory, clinic or department.

Applicants are not required to reside in the United States for any period before applying for American Heart Association funding.

Citizenship
At time of application, must have one of the following designations:

• U.S. citizen
• Permanent resident
• Pending permanent resident. Applicants must have applied for permanent residency and have filed form I-485 with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and have received authorization to legally remain in the United States (having filed an Application for Employment Form I-765).
• H-1B Visa - temporary worker in a specialty occupation
• J-1 Visa
• O-1 Visa - temporary worker with extraordinary abilities in the sciences
• TN Visa - NAFTA professional
• E3 - specialty occupation worker

Awardee must meet American Heart Association citizenship criteria throughout the duration of the award.

Abbreviated Proposal
The Innovative Research Grant's abbreviated proposal format is not the same as those used for traditional grants-in-aid.  The text for the proposal is limited to five pages (does not include literature/references cited).

Budget Items/Annual Award Amount

• PI Salary/Fringe: Yes, up to 50 percent of the total annual amount of the award, and in accordance with institutional and AHA policies  may be requested for salary/fringe of the PI, collaborating investigator(s), and other participants with faculty appointments.
• Project Support: Yes, in accordance with institutional and AHA policies.  Project-related expenses such as salaries of essential technical personnel, supplies, equipment, volunteer subject costs, publication costs.
• Indirect Costs: Yes, not to exceed 10 percent (up to $6,818 included in total annual amount)
• Travel: Yes, not to exceed $3,000 per year 
• Maximum Annual Amount: $75,000 (including up to 10 percent indirect costs) 
• Total award: $150,000 over two years

Award Duration
Two years

Peer Review Criteria

1. Innovation: Assessment of project's innovative nature should account for 40 percent of the overall score.
   
   Is the project original and innovative? For example: Does the project challenge existing paradigms and present an innovative hypothesis or address a critical barrier to progress in the field? Does the project develop or employ novel concepts, approaches, methodologies, tools, or technologies for this area?
   

2. Significance: Assessment of project's significance to the field of cardiovascular or stroke research should account for 20 percent of the overall score.
   
   Does this study address an important problem directly related to cardiovascular disease or stroke?  If the aims of the application are achieved, will scientific knowledge or clinical practice be significantly impacted?  Will there be an effect on the concepts, methods, and technologies that drive this field?
   

3. Approach: Assessment of project's approach should account for 20 percent of the overall score.
   
   Are the conceptual framework, design, methods and analyses adequately developed, well integrated, well reasoned and appropriate to the aims of the project? Does the applicant acknowledge potential problem areas and consider alternative tactics?
   

4. Investigator: Assessment of principal investigator should account for 10 percent of the overall score.
   
   Is the investigator appropriately trained and well suited to carry out this work? Does the investigative team bring complementary and integrated expertise to the project (if applicable)?
   

5. Environment: Assessment of scientific environment should account for 10 percent of the overall score.
   
   Does the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success?  Does the proposal demonstrate that resources will be available to complete the project?  Do the proposed studies benefit from unique features of the scientific environment, or subject populations, or employ useful collaborative arrangements?

Applicants should never contact reviewers regarding their applications since discussion of the scientific content of an application or an attempt to influence review outcome will constitute a conflict of interest in the review.  Reviewers should notify the AHA if an applicant contacts them.

Restrictions

• The project submitted can have no scientific or budgetary overlap with other funded work.
• No sponsor required or accepted for this award.

Location of Work
Awards are limited to nonprofit institutions such as medical, osteopathic and dental schools, veterinary schools, schools of public health, pharmacy schools, nursing schools, universities and colleges, public and voluntary hospitals and other nonprofit institutions that can demonstrate the ability to conduct the proposed research. Applications will not be accepted for work with funding to be administered through any federal institution or work to be performed by a federal employee with the exception of Veterans Administrations employees.  Funding is prohibited for awards at non-U.S. institutions.  Exception: An investigator may be allowed to request approval to conduct work outside the United States temporarily.

Interim Reporting
Assessment of annual progress reports to include research findings, abstracts, and publications, and names of trainees supported.

Evaluation
Ability to attract ongoing research funding, high impact publications, and citations by others.  Recruitment of investigators to cardiovascular or stroke research from other disciplines will also be measured.

Success Rate (July 2008 deadline)
# Applications Reviewed: 482
# Applications Awarded: 14
Success Rate: 2.9 percent