Last Update: September 2009

If your research will be conducted in one of the following states, you are eligible to apply to the Mid-Atlantic Affiliate: District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia

• 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 the 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  It will go to peer review as received unless it is withdrawn.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.
  

Disciplines
Proposals are encouraged from all disciplines, including multidisciplinary efforts, as well as for epidemiological and clinical investigations that bear on CVD and stroke problems.

Target Market and Eligibility

• M.D., Ph.D., D.O. or equivalent doctoral degree at time of award activation. 
• At time of award activation, the fellow may have no more than five years of postdoctoral research experience, not including clinical residency. 
• Individuals may receive a maximum of three years of AHA postdoctoral fellowship support. 
• This award is not intended for individuals of faculty/staff rank (exception:  M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. with clinical responsibilities who need instructor or similar title to see patients, but who devote at least 80 percent of time to research training.) 
• Fellows must devote at least 80 percent effort to research or activities directly related to development into independent researcher, as opposed to administrative, patient care, or teaching responsibilities.
• At time of award activation, candidate cannot be pursuing a doctoral degree. Applicants in this situation should consider applying for an AHA Pre-doctoral Fellowship.

Awards MUST begin on July 1, 2010.  The activation date may not be delayed.

Sponsor
It is particularly important for the new fellow to receive wise counsel and direction from a senior investigator interested in the conduct and progress of the research project during the research-training period.  Each fellow must have a sponsor.

A fellow must have substantial involvement in preparing the application, understanding that the sponsor will play a significant part in providing guidance to the applicant.

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
• E-3 -- specialty occupation worker
• F1 -- Student Visa
• H1-B Visa -- temporary worker in a specialty occupation
• J-1 Visa -- Exchange visitor
• O-1 Visa -- temporary worker with extraordinary abilities in the sciences
• TN Visa -- NAFTA professional

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

Exception: Postdoctoral fellowship applicants who are outside the United States at time of application must provide visa documentation prior to award activation.

Location
The award may be completed at any accredited institution in Maryland, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, South Carolina or Virginia.  American Heart Association research awards are limited to non-profit institutions. Such institutions include: medical, osteopathic and dental schools, veterinary schools, schools of public health, pharmacy schools, nursing schools, universities and colleges, public and voluntary hospitals and other non-profit 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 Administration employees.

Duration of Award
Two years, subject to annual review and satisfactory progress.

May submit an application to compete for a third year of funding*, if eligible.

Total Award Amount
$82,000

Annual Award Amount
$41,000

Budget Items

• $40,000 awardee salary
• Plus an additional $1,000 for health insurance.
• Additional fringe benefit support may be taken from the stipend
• Up to $5,000 from the stipend may be used for project support and travel to scientific meetings or to meet with collaborators (travel is limited to $3,000 per year and may be carried over from the first year to the second).
• A one-time computer purchase is permitted.
• The association will not pay dependent allowances.
• The institution may supplement the awardees' salary.

Indirects
No indirect costs

Peer Review Criteria

Criterion 1 - Evaluation of the Investigator

Assessment of the applicant should account for a third of the overall score.

1. Does the trainee have potential for a research career?
2. Are the trainee's career plans specified in the application? 
3. Is this supported by the trainee's academic record and the assessment provided by the three letters of reference?
4. Does the trainee have prior research experience and/or publications?
5. Is there a clear rationale supporting the need for the proposed training?
6. What is the sponsor's assessment of the applicant?

Criterion 2 - Sponsor/Training Plan and Environment

Assessment of the sponsor/training plan and environment should account for a third of the overall score.

Sponsor/Training Plan

1. Is the mentor an independent investigator? 
2. Does the mentor have the experience to direct the proposed research training, as evidenced by their track record regarding productivity, funding and prior trainees? 
3. Does the mentor have adequate current funding to support the fellow's project?
4. Does the mentor provide a comprehensive training plan that will facilitate the applicant's progress towards his/her research career goals?

Environment

1. Does the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success for the training experience?
2. Is there evidence of institutional commitment?

Criterion 3 - Evaluation of the Proposal

Together, assessment of these three criteria should account for a third of the overall proposal score.

1. Significance: Does this study address an important problem broadly related to cardiovascular disease or stroke?  What will be the effect of these studies on the concepts, methods and technologies that drive this field?
2. Approach: A new fellow may not have had adequate time to generate preliminary data. Applicants can present preliminary data generated by the sponsor.  The assessment of preliminary data, whether generated by the sponsor or the applicant, should be put into perspective so that bold new ideas and risk taking by beginning investigators are encouraged rather than stymied.
   Are the conceptual framework, design, methods and analyses adequately developed, well integrated, well reasoned, feasible (as determined by preliminary data or the expertise available in the mentor's and/or collaborator's laboratories) and appropriate to the aims of the project?  Does the applicant acknowledge potential problem areas and consider alternative tactics?
3. Innovation:  Is the project original?

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

Restrictions

• Not for individuals of faculty/staff rank. (Exception: M.D.s or M.D./Ph.D.s with clinical responsibilities who need an instructor or similar title to see patients, but who devote at least 80 percent full-time effort to research training may apply.)
• Five years or less postdoctoral research experience at the time of award activation (not including clinical residency).
• Maximum of three years of American Heart Association postdoctoral fellowship support per individual.
• The applicant must have a doctoral degree prior to award activation.  A delayed start will not be allowed if the investigator does not have a doctoral degree on July 1.  Candidates may not hold a research fellowship while enrolled in a graduate training program.
• Current postdoctoral awardees may apply for one additional year of support; a full application and peer review evaluation is required (competitive renewal).*
• Awardee may not hold another association award concurrently.
• The fellow may not hold a comparable award as a source of supplementation.
• An applicant may submit only one affiliate application per deadline.
• At time of award activation, the fellow cannot be pursuing a doctoral degree. Applicants in this situation should be referred to the AHA predoctoral fellowship.
• Postdoctoral fellowship awardees must resign an award if promoted to a staff or faculty position.
• The same or similar application submitted for the fourth time will be administratively withdrawn.**

Applying to National and an Affiliate
If eligible, an applicant may simultaneously submit applications for affiliate and national awards.  If both are funded, the applicant must choose one award.  A person cannot hold more than one association award concurrently, unless there is a stated exception.  The proposed research plan may need to be adjusted based upon different length of award and dollars available.  The deadline dates may be different for each submission.

Interim Reporting and Progress Assessment

• Research Committee assessment of annual progress reports to include research findings, abstracts and publications.
• Any publications resulting from this award should acknowledge the American Heart Association's support.

Evaluation
Publications, citations by others, awardee's advancement to a faculty/staff position and/or other evidence of career progression, contribution of association support to career advancement.

Success Rate 2009
# Applications Reviewed: 131
# Applications Awarded: 17
Success Rate: 13 percent

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* Fellows who wish to compete for a third-year of fellowship support and meet the eligibility criteria must submit a new fellowship application according to the program guidelines. New applications are allowed in the final year only.  This is a new, competitive application, not an application for renewal.  To apply for this one year award, be certain you select the one-year electronic application in Grants@Heart.

**An applicant who is unsuccessful in a competition may resubmit the same or similar application three times (the original plus two resubmissions).