Last Update: September 2009

National programs are open to the entire United States.

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  It will go to peer review as received unless it is withdrawn.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

• M.D., Ph.D., D.O., D.V.M. or equivalent doctoral degree at time of application
• Applicants should be faculty/staff member initiating independent research careers, usually at the rank of instructor or assistant professor (or their equivalents).
• Must have faculty/staff appointment at activation.
• At the time of award activation, no more than four years will have elapsed since an applicant's first faculty/staff appointment (after receipt of doctoral degree) at the assistant professor level or its equivalent (including, but not limited to, research assistant professor, research scientist, staff scientist, etc.).
• Applications may be submitted for review in the final year of a postdoctoral research fellowship or in the initial years of the first faculty/staff appointment.
• Must meet institutional requirements for grant submission at time of application.
• Individuals are ineligible for the Scientist Development Grant if they have been or are currently funded (extramurally) for more than one year at a level greater than $95,000 per year in direct costs.
• SDG and an NIH mentored K-series award cannot be held concurrently.

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  
• H1-B Visa -- temporary worker in a specialty occupation
• J-1 Visa.  Note: You must have an H-1B or equivalent by the award activation date. If the H-1B or equivalent is not received by the award activation date, the award must be relinquished.
• O-1 Visa -- temporary worker with extraordinary abilities in the sciences
• TN Visa -- NAFTA professional 

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

Budget/Annual Award Amount

• PI Salary/Fringe: Yes, up to $35,000/yr may be requested for salary/fringe of the PI, collaborating investigator(s), and other participants with faculty appointments.
• Project Support: Yes, at least $35,000 per year (all of award may be budgeted for project support and 10 percent indirect costs if PI, collaborators, and/or other faculty salaries/fringe are not requested).
• Travel costs not to exceed $3,000/yr.
• Indirect Costs: Yes, not to exceed 10 percent ($7,000/yr)
• Maximum Annual Amount: $77,000 ($70,000 direct + 10 percent indirect costs)

Award Duration
Four years

Peer Review Criteria

1. Future Independence of Investigator: Is there demonstrated evidence that the award will promote independent status for the applicant by the end of the three- or four-year award?  The award is not intended to provide enhanced funding for professional personnel working on the research program of an established scientist.
2. 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? 
3. 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?  The assessment of preliminary data should be put into perspective so that bold new ideas and risk-taking by the beginning investigators are encouraged rather than stymied.  Does the applicant acknowledge potential problem areas and consider alternative tactics?
4. 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?
5. 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? Does the investigative team bring complementary and integrated expertise to the project (if applicable)?
6. 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?  Is there evidence of institutional support as demonstrated in the department head letter?

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

• Awardee may not hold another association award concurrently.*
• Awardees may apply for a Beginning Grant-in-Aid, Established Investigator Award or Grant-in-Aid in the final year of this award. 
• An awardee may hold the Scientist Development Grant only once (national or affiliate).
• These awards are non-renewable.
• The project submitted can have no scientific overlap with other funded work.
• No sponsor required or accepted for this award.
• An applicant may submit only one AHA National application per deadline (Exception: investigator may apply for the Innovative Research Grant and another National program).
• Individuals are ineligible for the Scientist Development Grant if they have been or are currently funded (extramurally) for more than one year at a level greater than $95,000 per year in direct costs.
• An SDG and an NIH mentored K-series award cannot be held concurrently. 
• The same or similar application submitted for the fourth time will be withdrawn.**

Successful applicants who hold any postdoctoral fellowship or training award must resign that award when activating the SDG award.  The SDG is an independent award; therefore, training or fellowship awards (such as the NRSA) cannot be held simultaneously.

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.

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.

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

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

Success Rate (January 2009 deadline)
# Applications Reviewed: 462
# Applications Awarded: 71
Success Rate: 15.37 percent

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

Also, an investigator may hold the Innovative Research Grant and one other national or affiliate award.

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