Kellogg Family Early-Career Patient-Oriented Diabetes Research Awards

Important: Applications in the area of LONG-TERM COMPLICATIONS will not be accepted. Applications in Psychosocial and Behavioral Health will be accepted.

Summary

Description
Designed to provide crucial support to investigators who plan to pursue a career in diabetes-related clinical investigation. Awards are made in the later stages of training and include the ability for recipients to transition to independent faculty or research appointments

Institutional Eligibility
Domestic & foreign non-profit organizations; public & private universities, colleges, hospitals, laboratories; units of state & local governments; eligible agencies of the federal government

Applicant Eligibility
In most cases, applicant will have an MD, MD-PhD or PsyD, hold an appointment or joint appointment in a subspecialty of clinical medicine, and conduct human clinical research

Proposal
Access and submit full applications (including research plans) via RMS360.

Terms
200,000 USD maximum/year for up to 5 years, including up to 10% for indirect costs and generally not renewable after 5 years.

Human Subjects Research
For a project proposing Human Subject Research, please review the Scientific Guidelines.

Upcoming Deadlines
See Grant Opportunities and Deadlines

Eligibility

Applicant
The Early Career Patient-Oriented Diabetes Research Award is intended for clinical researchers at a relatively early stage of their independent career. Clinical researchers who have received their first faculty-level appointment less than 5 years before the submission date are eligible to apply for this award. Applicants must have an MD or MD-PhD or PsyD, hold an appointment or joint appointment in a subspecialty of clinical medicine in a clinical department, and conduct human clinical research. In exceptional circumstances, non-MD candidates will be considered if their work is likely to contribute significantly to a clinical outcome.

For the purposes of this award, clinical research is defined as research conducted with human subjects for which the investigator directly interacts with the subjects.

JDRF is sensitive to personal and COVID-related matters that impact career trajectories.  Applicants who have taken leave from their career (e.g. parenting of a child, childbirth, long-term care of a parent/spouse/child/dependent, personal health issues) or experienced a delay due to COVID shutdowns and the cancellation of the JDRF FY21 ECPOR call that puts them outside of the eligibility time frame for the award mechanism should feel free to reach out to JDRF staff ahead of their application submission. JDRF aims to be flexible and adjust these time frames if necessary and as appropriate.

There are no citizenship requirements for this program. To assure continued excellence and diversity among applicants and awardees, JDRF welcomes proposals from all qualified individuals and encourages proposals from persons with disabilities, women, and members of minority groups underrepresented in the sciences.

Sponsor
The applicant must be sponsored by an investigator who is affiliated full-time with an accredited institution, who pursues clinical research, and who agrees to supervise the applicant’s training. The sponsor does not necessarily need to have a background in diabetes, but the research project must be type 1 diabetes-related and patient-oriented.

Location
Research may be conducted at foreign and domestic, for-profit and nonprofit, and public and private organizations-such as universities, colleges, hospitals, laboratories, units of state and local governments, and eligible agencies of the federal government.

Proposal

Access and submit full applications (including research plans) via RMS360.

Research Plan

The early career patient-oriented research plan may not exceed 12 pages, including figures and tables. Please note that the 12-page limit includes narrative items a through d as described below. The research plan must be organized as follows: a) Specific Aims; b) Background and Significance of this work to Type 1 Diabetes; c) Preliminary Studies (if applicable); d) Research Design and Methods; e) Literature Cited (no page limit). Proposals with research plans exceeding the page limit will not be considered.

Note: For a project proposing Human Subject Research, please review the Scientific Guidelines.

At the end of the Research Plan section, the applicant must include a Future Career Plans statement and a Training Plan statement (see below).

Future Career Plans Statement

The Future Career Plan Statement is limited to 2 pages. The applicant must include a statement of career goals and indicate the relevance of these goals to type 1 diabetes-related research. The future career plans statement should detail the applicant’s plan for career development as an independent investigator. Topics to be discussed by the applicant may include: how much of the applicant’s time will be protected for research; how the proposed research will contribute to the applicant’s independent career; an expected timeline for obtaining an independent position, if the applicant is not already at that stage; how the JDRF award will contribute to the applicant’s future career plans; and any other planned formal or informal activities that will aid the applicant in establishing an independent research career. If the research proposed in the proposal is part of a larger research program or trial, the applicant should clearly define his/her role in the project and explain how their efforts on the project will lead to independence.

Training Plan Statement

The Training Plan Statement is limited to 4 pages. The sponsor must provide a biographical sketch, list of previous trainees, and a statement of the plan for training the applicant. This statement must outline a detailed training program for the applicant as well as confirm the availability of facilities to conduct the research project. The sponsor’s statement should address plans for supervision, guidance, counseling, or other formal or informal training of the applicant.

The sponsor must also include accurate and complete information regarding all other sources of grant support (current and pending), including title, abstract, annual and total amount of grant, inclusive funding period, and percentage effort of the applicant.

Recommendation References

Three (3) recommendation references assessing the scientific abilities and potential of the applicant must be submitted. Please note that the recommendation references are confidential and will not be released to the applicant. The recommendation references must be submitted directly through RMS360 by the referee. Please note proposals cannot be successfully validated until all references are submitted. Sponsors cannot be references, but should complete the Training Plan Statement listed above.

Institutional Assurance

Institutions should provide detailed evidence that their facilities are adequate for the proposed research, and that they have made a tangible commitment to fostering the career-development of clinical investigators conducting patient-oriented research. This Department Head Statement must be included as a Supporting Document and uploaded as a proposal attachment.

Evaluation

Awards will be made to applicants who have demonstrated superior scholarship and show the promise for future achievement in clinical research, particularly in those areas that require the unique training of a clinical investigator. Applicants are encouraged to submit projects aligned with JDRF Research Strategy. While not a requirement, a proposal that is aligned with JDRF Priority areas will be given priority consideration in the review process.

The initial step in the evaluation procedure for this award will be screening of the applicant by a panel of distinguished scientists. The panel, convened by JDRF, will evaluate each candidate’s qualifications and potential to conduct innovative patient-oriented research, as well as the quality and originality of the proposed research and its potential to advance clinical care. The panel will also consider the institutional environment, including laboratory and patient facilities that will be available to the awardee. The final selection of the awardees will be made by JDRF, based on the evaluations of the review panel.

Terms of the Award

Awardees will be required to provide an annual progress report. Awards are renewable for a maximum of four years. Awardees must devote at least 75% of professional effort to the conduct of type 1 diabetes-related clinical research during the period of the award.

Awards are in the amount of up to USD 200,000 total costs per year, including indirect costs. Up to USD 100,000 of this may be requested for research allowance, which can include a technician, supplies, equipment, and travel up to USD 2,000 per year. Salary request must be consistent with the established salary structure of the applicant’s institution, and equipment in years other that the first must be strongly justified. Indirect costs (excluding equipment) cannot exceed 10%.

Please see JDRF’s Administrative Resources for more details about budget guidelines.