Grants

The grant program provides financial support for small pilot initiatives; examples of ways in which funds can be used include stipends for:

• Statistical data analyst(s)
• Focus group support
• Designated person(s) for chart review/data collection (provided they have completed CITI training/obtained electronic health record training & approval by the healthcare institution) 
• Public Health, School of Nursing, or undergraduate student stipends for assistance in interdisciplinary primary care educational curricular design

 Examples of initiatives include, but are not limited to:

• Developing a pipeline curriculum that assesses the impact of telehealth coaching conducted by nursing and medical students
• Funding pilot focus groups for quality improvement projects
• Usability testing of shared decision-making tools
• Development of patient education tools
• IT interventions that promote primary care delivery
• Interdisciplinary interventions or curricular design

Submission Deadlines

Requests for research/education/support will be accepted according to the following submission deadlines: April 15, August 15, and December 15 of every year (if the 15th falls on a holiday or weekend, then the submission is due the following Monday or non-holiday weekday). Award announcements will be sent via e-mail and will be posted on the Primary Care Consortium’s website. 

• Applications submitted by April 15 will be reviewed and announced by May 15
• Applications submitted by August 15 will be reviewed and announced by September 15
• Applications submitted by December 15 will be reviewed and announced by January 31

Primary Care Relevance

The degree to which the application convincingly describes the primary care focus.

Significance

Does the project address an important problem or barrier to progress in the field? If the aims of the project are achieved, how will scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice be improved? How will successful completion of the aims change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive this field? If funded, will the award have a substantial effect in terms of strengthening the research environment?

Innovation

Does the application challenge and seek to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions? Are the concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions novel to one field of research or novel in a broad sense? Is a refinement, improvement, or new application of theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions proposed?

Impact

Does the project exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research field(s) involved?

The Primary Care Consortium will not fund requests for travel expenses. Funds can be used to support trainees or nursing staff working directly on the project; such funds can only be used for current Emory employees or students. The money also can be used to provide supplementary funding for other grants if additional data are being collected with new study questions being addressed. The funds can be used to empirically test innovative educational programs.

Grants will only be funded after the Emory Institutional Review Board (IRB), Animal Research, the Grady Research Oversight Committee, and any other necessary committee approval is obtained. Grants are for one year from the start date of the award. The time period for completion of the grant may be extended for one additional year, at the discretion of the Primary Care Consortium Committee, upon written request and justification from the investigator. This request must be submitted one month prior to the end date of the grant.

If the Principal Investigator leaves Emory, another faculty member, resident, or student may assume the role of Principal Investigator on the grant, with the written approval of the committee. A final one-page written report of the project, along with an accounting of how the funds were used, must be submitted within three months of completion of the grant period.

The Primary Care Consortium should be acknowledged in all publications, presentations, and grant applications as a result of its funded work.

No Principal Investigator may have two active grants. For an investigator to receive a second grant, she/he must submit a final report for the first grant and demonstrate on that report success in terms of presentations, publications, and possibly additional grant funding secured. Interdisciplinary and interdepartmental proposals are encouraged.

If a resubmission is suggested by the committee, only one resubmission per application may be considered. Thus, no application can be submitted more than two times.

1. The Principal Investigator submits the grant application in pdf form.
2. The Primary Care Consortium Committee meets four times per year, typically toward the end of the month in which the grant submission was due.
3. At least two members of the committee will review each application.
4. The committee submits to the PCC Leadership a letter describing their funding recommendation.
5. The PCC Leadership approves final grants.
6. The Principal Investigator is sent an award notification letter via email.

Submissions should be uploaded to Box via an e-mail attachment to email attachment.

The following documents should be compiled in one PDF for submission:

• A project outline including Project Title, Project Lead Name and Email, Project Mentor, Submission Date, Abstract (limited to ½ page), Background, Specific Aims, Significance and Innovation, Methodology (sample, procedures, methods, data analysis), Feasibility, Timeline, Future Plans, IRB status, and Budget and Justification. The project outline should not exceed five pages; excluding the references. The Budget Justification should include a list of all personnel involved in the project indicating their role in the project and their percent efforts.
• A letter of support from a Division Director (faculty) or an Emory Mentor (students), detailing his or her commitment to serving as a mentor, the frequency and nature of his or her involvement (e.g., frequency of meetings, help in preparing applications and manuscripts for submission), and his or her assessment of the feasibility of the proposed project.
• Letters of agreement for use of patients, laboratories/equipment, or other facilities under the purview of others and a statement of Institutional Review Board (IRB) status/applicability.
• Applicant’s NIH biosketch, limited to five pages.

A final one-page written report of the project must be submitted within three months of completion of the grant period. This report should include:

• Project Information: title, lead name and email, mentor, report submission date
• Aims of the project and how they were achieved over the year
• Evaluation results / outcomes
• Future sustainability/impact of the project
• Any scholarly posters, workshops, publications, or additional grants that resulted from the project
• How funds were used