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 in order 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 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  It will go to peer review as received unless it is withdrawn.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.
  

Objective
To encourage early career investigators who have appropriate and supportive mentoring relationships to engage in high quality introductory and pilot clinical studies that will guide future strategies for reducing cardiovascular disease and stroke while fostering new research in clinical and translational science, and encouraging community- and population-based activities.

This grant is not to fund basic science or to support senior researchers, but encourages mentoring of early career investigators.

Funding is available for research related to cardiovascular disease and stroke prevention or treatment, or to related clinical and public health problems.  Proposals are encouraged on provider behavior, patient behavior, behavioral outcomes, risk factor outcomes, disease outcomes, cost benefit analyses, efforts to evaluate outcomes of patient care delivery and patient/provider and/or system compliance and adherence to recommendations, as well as pilot clinical research studies that may provide preliminary data for larger-scale investigation. Also, encouraged are studies utilizing existing databases.  Ancillary studies or a clearly defined sub-study of an ongoing clinical research study are also encouraged.  However, there must be clear justification that the proposal is a sub-study and not a piece of an already funded project.

Target Market and Eligibility
Healthcare professionals with a masters or doctoral degree, including MPH, R.N., Pharm.D, M.D., D.O. or Ph.D. Individuals are not eligible to be the principal investigator if they hold or have held:

• Certain NIH awards (such as RO1, R21, PO1)
• Certain AHA awards (BGIA, SDG, EIA, GIA)
• Award equivalent to any of the above (an independent investigator award)

All principal investigators must identify a mentor with an earned doctorate and a track record of high quality clinical investigation.

Interdisciplinary research teams are eligible.

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.

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

• U.S. citizen 
• Permanent resident 
• Pending permanent resident (e.g., in possession of an alien registration receipt card). Applicant 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 U.S. (having filed an Application for Employment form I-765) 
• J-1 Visa -- exchange visitor 
• H1B, E-3 Visa -- temporary worker in a specialty occupation 
• TC, TN Visa -- Canadian or Mexican citizen engaging in professional activities 
• O-1 Visa -- temporary worker with extraordinary ability in the sciences 
• F-1 -- student visa

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

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

Peer Review Criteria

Criterion 1 - Evaluation of the Investigator

Is the investigator appropriately trained and well suited to carry out this work?  Is the work proposed appropriate to the experience level of the principal investigator and other researchers?  Do the investigative team and mentor bring complementary and integrated expertise to the project?  Will this grant support the investigator's further development into an independent investigator?

Criterion 2 - Environment
Does the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success?  Do the proposed studies benefit from unique features of the scientific environment, or subject populations, or employ useful collaborative arrangements? If applicable, is the strength and nature of the mentoring relationship appropriate? Is there evidence of institutional support?

Criterion 3 - Evaluation of the Proposal

• Significance: Does this study address an important problem broadly related to cardiovascular disease or stroke?  If the aims of the application are achieved, how will scientific knowledge or clinical practice be advanced?  What will be the effect of these studies on the concepts, methods and technologies that drive this field? 
• Approach:  Are the conceptual framework, design, methods and analyses adequately developed, well integrated, well reasoned and feasible (as determined by preliminary data) and appropriate to the aims of the project?  Does the applicant acknowledge potential problem areas and consider alternative tactics?  Does the investigator have access to an appropriate population group for the study?  Does the investigator address issues of statistical power when appropriate? If the proposal is for a pilot study is there a rationale for development of more definitive studies?
• Innovation: Is the project original and innovative?  For example: Does the project challenge existing paradigms and address an innovative hypothesis or critical barrier to progress in the field?  Does the project develop or employ novel concepts, approaches, methodologies, tools or technologies for this area?

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.

Appropriate Budget Items

• Salaries of technical personnel essential to the conduct of the project, supplies, equipment, travel, volunteer subject costs, and publication costs.  A one-time computer purchase is permitted. International travel is permitted to meetings at which the awardee will be a presenter.
• Up to 50 percent of the funds may be used for salaries and fringe benefits of the principal investigator, collaborating investigator(s), and other participants with faculty appointments, including an allowance of up to $5,000 for the mentor.
• Maximum $3,000 (per year) for travel costs.
• 10 percent institutional indirect costs.

Award
$50,000 per year

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

Restrictions

• Awardee may not hold another association award concurrently.* 
• An applicant may submit only one affiliate application per deadline. 
• 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 funding, abstracts, publications and names of trainees supported, if any (list of trainees supported is optional for Clinical Research Program, Beginning Grant-in-Aid, Scientist Development Grant, and Established Investigator Award.). 
• Audit of annual expenditure reports. Carryover of funds will be allowed as specified in current AHA policies/procedures.
• Any publications resulting from this award should acknowledge the American Heart Association's support.

Evaluation
Publications, citations by others, ability to attract ongoing research funding, faculty advancement, and contribution of association support to career advancement.

Success Rate 2009
# Applications Reviewed:18
# Applications Awarded: 5
Success Rate: 28% percent

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**Exception: An investigator may hold two association grants (affiliate and national) concurrently if (all three apply): 1) there will be no more than six months remaining on the initial award; 2) the projects have no overlap in specific aims; and 3) there is no budgetary overlap between the two projects.

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