April
2002
Volume 66 |
Number
4
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| Got
Funds? NIH Does |
Alison
E. Cole, Ph.D.
The National
Institutes of Health (NIH) is the major biomedical research agency
of the federal government and is composed of 27 institutes and
centers whose mission is to improve human health. NIH conducts
and supports a spectrum of biomedical and behavioral research
from basic to clinical studies to acquisition of new knowledge
to help prevent, diagnose and treat human diseases and disabilities.
Of particular interest to the members of ASA is the fact that
NIH has long supported research and training in the field of anesthesiology.
In fiscal year 2000, the most recent year for which we have complete
data, NIH provided more than $57 million in research support to
46 different departments of anesthesiology across the United States.
In the past nine years, the number of NIH awards to anesthesiology
departments has increased by 58 percent and the total dollars
awarded has increased by 108 percent (data from NIH Trends grants.nih.gov/grants/award/award.htm).
A large portion
of this support for anesthesiology research has been through the
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), the NIH
institute with the fourth largest extramural research grant budget.
Currently, NIGMS provides a total of $22 million in support for
anesthesiology research. In addition, for the past 25 years, NIGMS
has supported institutional training grants that offer postdoctoral
training in anesthesiology research for clinician-scientists.
With the
significant increases in the NIH budget in recent years, investigators
have a wealth of new opportunities, including a number of new
funding mechanisms and programs directed at clinical investigators.
Research
Awards: Grants for health-related research and research training
make up the largest category of funding provided by NIH. Most
of those applications are "unsolicited" and originate
with the individual investigators who develop proposals for research
or research training within an area of interest to NIH. Occasionally,
to stimulate submission of applications in an area of high priority,
an institute will issue a program announcement (PA) or a request
for applications (RFA). PAs describe new, continuing or expanded
program interests, while RFAs invite grant applications in a well-defined
scientific area to accomplish a specific scientific purpose. Unlike
PAs, RFAs usually have a single application receipt date and have
funds set aside to pay for the awards. Both PAs and RFAs may be
issued by a single institute or by several (or all) components
of NIH. There are a number of ongoing scientific initiatives at
NIH that should be particularly interesting to the anesthesiology
community. Some of these include the following program announcements
relating to investigations of anesthesia and pain:
"The
Molecular Pharmacology of Anesthetic Action" (PA-96-026):
Encourages applications to study the mechanisms of anesthetics
at the molecular level grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-96-026.html.
"Biobehavioral
Pain Research" (PA-99-021): Encourages applications to
study individual differences in pain responses that may be due
to biobehavioral factors grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/
PA-99-021.html.
"The
Management of Chronic Pain" (PA-01-115): Encourages research
proposals in the management of chronic pain across the lifespan
grants.nih.gov/ grants/guide/pa-files/PA-01-115.html.
"New
Directions in Pain Research: I" (PA-98-102): Encourages
applications to study mechanisms underlying analgesic response
and pain to advance the development of novel pain interventions,
treatments and management strategies grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-98-102.html.
The NIGMS
also offers a number of new initiatives in more general areas
that could be applied to scientific questions relating to anesthesiology:
"Quantitative
Approaches to Complex Biological Systems": NIGMS has
created a set of initiatives to promote quantitative, interdisciplinary
approaches to problems of biomedical significance, particularly
those that involve the complex, interactive behavior of many components
www.nigms.nih.gov/funding/complex_systems.html.
"Integrative
and Collaborative Approaches to Research": NIGMS has
two initiatives that seek to promote the integrative and collaborative
approaches that are increasingly needed to solve complex problems
in biomedical science www.nigms.nih.gov/funding/gluegrants.html
.
Pharmacogenetics
(PA-99-016): NIGMS has issued a program announcement to stimulate
research into identifying the critical candidate proteins and/or
genes that play essential roles in determining individual variations
in drug responses grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-99-016.html.
Career
Development Awards: NIH offers an array of career development
awards designed for investigators at various stages of their research
careers. Two awards in particular are targeted at clinical research.
The Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award
(K23) supports the development of independent research scientists
in the clinical arena, and the Mid-Career Investigator Award in
Patient-Oriented Research (K24) supports more established clinicians
to allow them protected time to devote to patient-oriented research
and to act as mentors for beginning clinical investigators. Of
particular note, NIGMS offers several "K" awards specifically
for clinician-investigators in the field of anesthesiology research.
More information on these and other K awards can be found at the
"K Kiosk" on the NIH Web site .
Loan repayment:
The NIH has recently announced for the first time an NIH Extramural
Loan Repayment Program for Clinical Researchers. The purpose of
the program is to encourage the recruitment and retention of highly
qualified health professionals as clinical investigators. The
program provides for the repayment of up to $35,000 annually of
the educational loans of qualified health professionals who agree
to conduct clinical research as extramural grantees or awardees
of NIH. The first receipt date for this program was in February,
but the NIH plans to reannounce this program on a yearly basis.
For more information on this program, see grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-02-024.html.
The programs
and initiatives mentioned here are just a small sampling of the
many opportunities that exist at NIH for support of biomedical
research and training. The staff at the NIH institutes and centers
is available to provide information and advice to prospective
applicants, particularly to new investigators who are just starting
their research careers.
What is the
best way to stay on top of all these programs and opportunities?
Spend some time getting familiar with the NIH Web site www.nih.gov;
routinely read the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts www.grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html; and, probably most effective, find the program official
at NIH who administers grants in your field of interest. It may
take a few telephone calls to find the right person, but it is
well worth the effort!
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Alison
E. Cole, Ph.D., is Program Director, Division of Pharmacology,
Physiology and Biological Chemistry, National Institute of
General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda,
Maryland. |
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Reference:
1. Kohn LT, Corrigan JM, Donaldson MS, eds. To Err Is Human: Building
a Safer Health System. Committee on Quality Health Care in America,
Institute of Medicine. 1999. www.nap.edu/books/030968371/html .
Accessed on March 26, 2002.
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