and Human Services (HHS)
EXPIRED
INFORMATICS TRAINING FOR GLOBAL HEALTH (ITGH)
RELEASE DATE: June 26, 2003
RFA: TW-03-008
Update: The following update relating to this announcement has been issued:
December 24, 2008 - This RFA has been reissued as (RFA-TW-09-001).
Fogarty International Center (FIC)
(http://www.fic.nih.gov)
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov)
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
(http://www.nibib.nih.gov)
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
(http://www.genome.gov)
CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE NUMBER: 93.989
LETTER OF INTENT RECEIPT DATE: September 26, 2003
APPLICATION RECEIPT DATE: October 23, 2003
THIS RFA CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION
o Purpose of this RFA
o Research Training Objectives
o Mechanism of Support
o Funds Available
o Eligible Institutions
o Individuals Eligible to Become Principal Investigators
o Special Requirements
o Where to Send Inquiries
o Letter of Intent
o Submitting an Application
o Peer Review Process
o Review Criteria
o Receipt and Review Schedule
o Award Criteria
o Required Federal Citations
PURPOSE OF THIS RFA
The Fogarty International Center (FIC), in collaboration with the
National Library of Medicine (NLM), the National Institute of
Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), and the National Human
Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), invites applications for the
establishment or continuation of training programs in informatics for
global health to address the needs of developing country institutions
for information technologies and associated sciences to support
biomedical research. U.S. institutions, in partnership with developing
country institutions that have strong, independent or collaborative,
funded medical research programs are eligible to apply with the goal of
enhancing and further strengthening those research activities.
Applicants are expected to develop innovative training programs for
developing country biomedical and behavioral scientists and engineers,
clinicians, librarians, and other health professionals that increase
their capacity to access, manage, analyze, interpret, manipulate,
model, display, and share biomedical information electronically.
Programs that include training in data management, biostatistics,
biological imaging, disease surveillance, epidemiology, computer
modeling, and bioinformatics are particularly encouraged. It is
envisioned that developing country institutions participating in the
program may eventually serve as regional centers for medical, genome,
and global health informatics training. Training programs should be
directed toward building informatics capacity in the partner foreign
country that can contribute directly to research in disease
pathogenesis, prevention, diagnostics, or treatment. Inclusion of
countries in the program with particularly severe endemic or epidemic
malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, or a growing burden of chronic, non-
communicable diseases is encouraged.
Institutions carrying out biomedical and behavioral research are usually
composed of multiple individual laboratories and departments working on
many separate research problems. However, many of these projects have
common needs for research expertise and infrastructure. For example,
within a single institution, training in information sciences, molecular
genetic technologies, and bioethics would each benefit a large number of
groups and strengthen the research capacity at the institution overall.
Creating a core of expertise in these fields within institutions could
serve to "glue" the disparate laboratories into a more efficient and
interactive entity. Moreover, experts in any of these fields might
choose to collaborate widely with a variety of institutional programs,
further strengthening those ties.
This RFA is a first step toward realizing the goal of "gluing"
outstanding research institutions in developing countries into more
cohesive and efficient operational units. Information technology is
required in almost all research programs, both to access the vast
information resources available internationally and to apply to research
design and analysis. This need is even more pressing in the
increasingly multidisciplinary and multilaboratory projects in global
health, such as the recent human, Anopheles, and Plasmodium genome
consortia, or in multi-site clinical trials or international disease
surveillance and prevention programs. In these projects, large datasets
must be shared between unrelated laboratories, posing significant data
management and analysis challenges. In addition, advances in global
health may be increasingly driven by new technologies that emerge at the
interface of computational and biomedical science. The genomics and
proteomics revolutions are stunning examples of such creative
collaborations. Finally, there is a need to learn how to archive and
retrieve new types of data, such as the enormous amount of information
contained within images. For all of these reasons, information
technology can be seen as a cornerstone of institutional research
capacity.
To achieve these goals, applicants should focus on developing a training
program in partnership with a single developing country institution that
serves as a "center of research excellence" in their region, in the
sense that they have active research programs of high quality in a
number of areas. The objectives are: (1) To train individuals who will
apply state-of-the-art information and communication technologies to
research, health surveillance, and other biomedical applications and who
will function in their home institutions as trainers or leaders in these
technologies; (2) To raise awareness of and access to informatics
resources within the larger scientific community at the institution; and
(3) To develop a plan to create a sustainable medical and global health
informatics training program at the institution. Training plans should
be directly integrated with the research activities at the institution.
Technologies and skills that are emphasized during training must be
directly related to research applications, and capacity-building
activities should be substantially focused on skills beyond basic
computer operations. Within that context, it is envisioned that
trainees will represent a range of skill levels and responsibilities, as
relevant to the specific research training and capacity building
objectives of the program and the environment of the home institution.
This RFA follows an earlier RFA (TW-99-003), International Training in
Medical Informatics (ITMI), which focused broadly on building medical
informatics capacity in developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa,
Latin America, and the Caribbean. The present RFA represents a further
evolution of this program. The geographical focus has been expanded to
include any country that meets the World Bank criteria of a low- to
middle-income economy (see below). The current focus on foreign
institutions with substantial research programs is intended to encourage
the integration of medical, genome, and disease informatics training
with ongoing research activities to more directly create and more
efficiently deploy biomedical and behavioral research informatics
capacity for the region. As a critical mass of trainees return to their
home institutions, it is envisioned that some of these individuals may
in turn become mentors for future trainees, such that a sustainable
training program can eventually be developed to serve the larger region.
RESEARCH TRAINING OBJECTIVES
Improving our ability to prevent and treat diseases depends
fundamentally on discovery, compilation, analysis and subsequent access
to scientific information by researchers, clinicians and public health
professionals. Our ability to manage and communicate scientific
information has increased exponentially in recent years, as computer-
based tools have been developed to aid the process of inquiry and
analysis. The sheer volume of data generated in biomedical and
behavioral research and in clinical trials can no longer be effectively
managed without electronic help. Access to computers and the Internet
is becoming more commonplace in research institutions throughout the
developing world. To take full advantage of these tools, however,
individuals with the advanced skills to use them are critically needed.
This program is intended to increase the capacity of developing country
scientists and medical professionals to design, access and use modern
information technology in support of health sciences research. For the
purposes of this RFA, "informatics for global health" is broadly defined
as all computer-aided manipulation of medically-relevant scientific
information. It encompasses data management, exploratory data analysis
and biostatistics, algorithm-driven analysis of large data sets
(bioinformatics, including genomics and proteomics analysis), access
portals to public databases, computational biology and computer
modeling, disease surveillance and epidemiology, and image analysis,
among many other subdisciplines.
Specifically, this program is designed to:
o Improve the health informatics capacity of developing country
institutions to advance biomedical research activities by training key
researchers and institutional support staff in those institutions in the
use and development of modern information technologies in the health
sciences;
o Provide targeted short-term training in informatics to address
specific needs of the biomedical and research community of the
collaborating institution;
o Provide workshops, seminars, and conferences at the foreign
institution to raise awareness of informatics approaches and resources
of relevance to the research community in the foreign country;
o Provide medium- to long-term training for individuals from the
partner developing country who will become leaders and teachers of
health-related informatics in the home institution;
o Initiate or enhance research activities in the partner institution
through the use of informatics expertise, particularly in the context of
multidisciplinary approaches to public health priorities in the home
country;
o Expand and improve collaborative research possibilities between U.S.
and developing country scientists in the prevention, control and
treatment of diseases of public health relevance in the home country;
and
o Take initial steps or strengthen ongoing efforts towards building a
sustainable training program in Global Health Informatics for health
professionals within the developing country and surrounding geographical
region.
Required Elements of the Application
The application must include the following sections:
o A discussion of the need for increased informatics expertise at the
foreign institution. This should include a description of the current
informatics capacity, including skilled professionals and
infrastructure at the institution, any barriers to use of this
infrastructure, and any modest enhancements of this infrastructure that
would be necessary to carry out the research-training program. These
descriptions can establish a baseline against which progress may be
measured and the impact and success of the program eventually
evaluated.
o A description of the ongoing NIH- and other funded biomedical and
behavioral research and training projects at the foreign institution
that the proposed training and capacity-building efforts will draw upon
and support.
o Identification of appropriate collaborators at both the developing
country and U.S. training sites, including a primary foreign
collaborator at the foreign institution (see below for eligibility
requirements).
o Design of a training plan that addresses the needs identified and
that provides for integration of informatics training with ongoing
biomedical and behavioral research and training programs at the foreign
site. The training plan should include sufficient detail to judge the
opportunities available to trainees, specific adaptations to curricula
or programs already available at the U.S. or foreign site, design of
new curricula to meet specific needs of the trainees, as necessary, and
any other details that will create a clear picture of the training
options. Training may focus on strengthening a single area of Global
Health Informatics or providing a broader set of options, as consistent
with the needs of the institution. Provisions for mentoring of
students at both the U.S. and foreign sites should be emphasized. The
training plan may include suggestions for short courses targeting end-
users in the foreign institution/region, which address the needs
identified.
o An explicit description of how the training program will be linked
to ongoing biomedical and behavioral research and training projects at
the foreign site, with appropriate letters, where necessary, expressing
willingness to integrate informatics trainees into these projects.
o A detailed plan for recruitment of trainees to ensure that the most
qualified individuals can be identified, and a description of the
criteria and process for trainee selection. One criterion of selection
should be the likelihood that the chosen individuals will return to or
remain in their home countries and contribute their new skills to the
biomedical research and training enterprise there. Thought should also
be given to preparation of medium- to long-term trainees in English
language and/or computer skills in the summer preceding studies in the
U.S. or at the foreign site, where appropriate, to allow them to make
optimal use of their formal training period. Fees for such courses are
allowable costs. Degree candidates must meet all entrance requirements
of the grantee degree-granting institution.
o A discussion of how activities undertaken during the award period
might begin to build a sustainable global health informatics training
program in the partner foreign institution. For example, by the end of
the award period this might include a plan to offer short-courses or
workshops on a fee basis in the collaborating country, engaging former
trainees as faculty for these courses [Note that other NIH/FIC training
and research grants or other private-public sources of research funding
may be able to pay some fees for this training.]; the introduction of
informatics courses into existing curricula; development of distance
learning courses; negotiations with host-country institutions to
establish certificate or degree programs in some area of global health
informatics; and other relevant activities. While a sustainable
training program may not be achieved within the time period of the
award, a plan and progress towards this end should be developed during
the grant period. For those programs based on ongoing collaborations or
previous International Training in Medical Informatics awards, some of
these efforts may have already been initiated, in which case the
applicant should describe how the current program will strengthen,
secure, and/or expand those efforts.
o Evidence should be provided of substantive institutional commitment
in the foreign country (this may include space, positions, matching
funds, infrastructure support, access to data and systems, trainee
support during their re-entry period, a commitment to establish a
degree or certificate program, etc).
o A plan for self-evaluation of the program, including a plan to track
trainees for at least five years after completion of their training.
Awardees will be required to track and document the long-term impact of
this training program on the success of the trainees as measured by the
number and quality of publications, electronic products, presentations,
courses developed, awards, subsequent employment, involvement in
research or public health, career advancement, etc.; their sustained
commitment to research careers involving medical informatics in their
home countries; their ability to attract funding for their work; their
contributions to future international collaborations, conferences, and
training; their influence on the development and use of informatics in
their countries; and their ability to act as consultants, teachers,
collaborators and role models to other local investigators and further
disseminate the lessons learned. Metrics should eventually encompass
both the success of the individual trainees and the success in capacity-
building at the institution, including the impact of the program on
biomedical and behavioral research capacity at the institution and the
establishment or strengthening of informatics training capability. An
evaluation of the impact of training resulting from each program will be
considered an important criterion during any re-competition of this RFA.
Applicants should establish some mechanism to periodically review the
progress of the trainees and the effectiveness of the program. This may
consist of regular meetings among faculty participating in the program
or periodic review by an outside group of consultants.
Types of Training
Many types of training plans could be considered responsive to this RFA.
In considering types of training, program directors should develop a
plan in consultation with the foreign collaborator that addresses the
needs of the foreign institution. Training should include outreach to
the larger biomedical community at the foreign institution, for example,
through short courses, workshops, or conferences. Training may occur in
either the U.S. or developing country institution. However, applicants
are strongly encouraged to provide support and mentoring by U.S. and
developing country faculty for trainees to conduct the research related
to their training in the host developing country. The training program
might include but would not be limited to combinations of the following:
o Short-term targeted training of biomedical research and allied health
personnel in the host country (e.g. medical librarians, technicians,
database managers, researchers and students requiring specific
informatics expertise to carry out their work, physicians, nurses,
midwives, health administrators, and other health professionals). Short
courses and workshops may present overviews of global health informatics
or address specific topics of interest to the local scientific
community. Excellent examples of such short courses in the U.S. are the
NLM-funded Medical Informatics Course at Woods Hole and the NHGRI-funded
Computational Genomics Course at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories. Short
courses are also a useful way to identify candidates for longer-term
training. While short courses may be appropriate during each year of
the program, it may be particularly effective to plan for short courses
in the first year, during the period when longer-term candidates are
being identified and recruited. It is expected that some of these short
courses will also be open to NIH trainees in other programs in the
region, whenever feasible, as a means of enhancing research capability
and of fostering research collaborations among trainees from different
programs within the country. For a list of FIC-sponsored training
programs and PIs, see http://www.fic.nih.gov/programs/grants.html and
linked sites therein. For programs from other NIH Institutes, see the
corresponding websites.
o Medium-term advanced training (three to six months), such as
intensive courses carried out in the U.S. or in the foreign country in
targeted subject areas. In some cases, this might accommodate
researchers in the host country that require specific training to
advance their research (for example genomics projects that require
bioinformatics support or clinical trials that require biostatistics
support).
o Longer-term advanced training to develop a core of specialists who
will become professional global health informatics research
investigators and future leaders for global health informatics at the
host institution and in the region. Training might include any area of
computer-assisted data analysis and management for biomedical and
behavioral research applications (e.g. biostatistics, Geographic
Information Systems [GIS], epidemiological modeling, bioinformatics,
database construction, and access and use of public biomedical databases
such as GenBank, Ensembl, UniProt, or PubMed) and should be at a level
that might lead to an M.S. or equivalent degree for individuals with
degrees in biomedical or other health-related sciences. A smaller
number of individuals may then continue on to Ph.D.s in Medical
Informatics or other medically relevant informatics fields. Training
and follow-up research projects should emphasize skills that will
contribute to biomedical and behavioral research per se, as opposed to
purely medical or public health uses such as telemedicine and the design
of medical records systems, unless these are linked directly to a
research program. Such training would normally require that trainees
already have basic computer skills and a demonstrated aptitude for
computer use.
o Advanced informatics postdoctoral training and research experiences
in the U.S. (generally, one to two years duration) for developing
country health scientists. Long-term trainees and post-doctoral fellows
may also benefit from learning grant-writing skills through workshops or
courses offered during their training, and should be encouraged to
compete for grant support from other NIH or international programs, such
as the Fogarty International Research Collaboration Award (FIRCA) or the
Global Health Research Initiative Program for New Foreign Investigators
(GRIP).
o Advanced research training support ("re-entry" funding), generally for
one to two years duration, to enable trainees with advanced degrees or
health care professionals to continue mentored informatics research in
their home country as a continuation of their training program.
Research projects should be related to ongoing research at the
developing country institution. Such funds for a mentored research
experience should not exceed $15,000 direct costs per year. Projects
exceeding this limit require pre-approval from the FIC. In the
interests of developing teaching programs within the home institution,
some trainees may choose to develop short courses or more comprehensive
curricula for use in the home country. Such activities should also be
mentored and support can be provided through this grant as re-entry
funds.
Applicants should describe how requests for re-entry funds will be
reviewed and evaluated, and how such projects will be mentored and
monitored. Such research is subject to all the restrictions,
assurances, and permissions required of any research program funded by
the NIH. Research involving human subjects, including use of data from
previous studies that contains identifiable, private information from
living individuals, must be conducted under an already funded, approved,
and current grant protocol from the NIH (see Regulation 45CFR46.102F).
o Conferences that highlight the interconnections between informatics
and research addressed to pressing health issues in the country. At
later stages of the program, this might also provide a forum for
trainees to present their research and as a reunion for former trainees
and a means to assess the impact of the program on their careers.
Integration of training with on-going biomedical or behavioral research,
training, and/or hypothesis-driven health surveillance projects in the
home institution is a fundamental and required aspect of this program
and innovative approaches to this objective are encouraged. Medium- and
long-term trainees are expected to develop independent or collaborative
research projects to deepen, apply and disseminate their new skills in
their home countries. These projects should be integrated with or
topically related to ongoing research projects at the home institution,
and examples of potential projects that would achieve this objective
should be presented in the application. In addition, ways in which the
trainees might interact with existing research programs at the foreign
institution (either directly through collaborative research or
indirectly through common research meetings or opportunities to present
research results) should be described.
Examples of trainee projects include: the development of a regional
database to track the incidence of an important disease and ask explicit
research questions using it; bioinformatics research based on genomics
projects related to human disease agents (such as Plasmodium falciparum
or M. tuberculosis) or human haplotypes that affect disease
susceptibility or resistance; collaboration with a chronic disease
research group (for example, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, or cancer)
to design a system to manage and mine data; collaboration with an
occupational and environmental health or epidemiological research
project to test innovative approaches to data collection or contribute
to biostatistical design and analysis; data analysis to support clinical
trials or to assess the effectiveness of HIV-prevention projects; work
with a team of collaborating laboratories to design a system to record
and share data from dispersed sites, especially to develop a database
system to share data from multiple resource-poor sites that might serve
as a model for other groups with similar needs to share information; or
computational modeling projects involving disease agents or basic
metabolic processes. Collaborations to develop new technologies, such
as might apply to disease diagnostics in resource-poor settings, are
also appropriate. Applicants and trainees should work together to plan
and develop projects that complement the objectives of the linked
research or surveillance programs and are appropriate to local needs and
resources. Where appropriate, the design of projects should take into
account potential sex and gender differences that may affect the
questions asked and the analyses performed. These might include
different responses to and impacts of health interventions, differences
in physiology, and different behavioral bases for disease prevention
strategies.
Trainees
Trainees should be individuals who are currently involved or will be
involved in biomedical or behavioral research or health surveillance
activities in their home country. A research institutional base for
trainees to return to is an integral part of the eligibility of the
trainees. Initially, trainees should be drawn from individuals who work
or intend to work at the partner institution. However, as the needs of
the institution are met, trainees may be recruited more widely from
surrounding institutions in the region. The "region" may be defined as
deemed appropriate by the applicants. Program directors are strongly
encouraged to include women and individuals from underrepresented
racial, ethnic, and socially disadvantaged groups in the country as
trainees.
The following categories of individuals are eligible for training:
o Foreign researchers and other health professionals (M.D.,
D.D.S./D.M.D., Ph.D., or equivalent);
o Foreign professionals with a bachelors or masters degree in a basic
or health science;
o Medical technicians, computer technicians, nurses, midwives, and
other health care workers;
o Allied health professionals, such as medical librarians; and
o Highly qualified current or former trainees from other FIC or NIH
programs involved in advanced research or research training in their
home countries.
Project Organization
To achieve the objectives of this RFA, it is likely that creative
coalitions of investigators and institutions will be required. The
team should be multidisciplinary and include experts in medical
informatics as well as in research areas related to the linked research
projects targeted towards the health concerns of the collaborating
foreign country. While the intention of this RFA is to build research
capacity within a single foreign institution in the partner developing
country, there may be compelling reasons to include more than one
institution from that country within the training program. For
example, it may be the case that active research projects are carried
out in a research institute or medical center that does not have the
capability to develop didactic degree or certificate programs in
medical informatics. In this case, a plan to develop a sustainable
training center for medical informatics might require a coalition with
a more appropriate partner institution, such as a nearby university.
Alternatively, the research programs of two institutions may be tightly
linked. If more than a single institution in the developing country is
proposed, these institutions should have an explicitly expressed desire
to work together. Letters to this effect must be provided. At least
one of these institutions must fulfill the full eligibility
requirements of this RFA and will be considered the primary foreign
partner. If more than one institution is proposed, a strong
justification must be provided why both institutions are necessary to
realize the objectives of the training program.
MECHANISM OF SUPPORT
This RFA will use the NIH D43 (International Training Grant) award
mechanism. As an applicant you will be solely responsible for
planning, directing, and executing the proposed project. This RFA is a
one-time solicitation. The anticipated award date is May 31, 2004.
FUNDS AVAILABLE
The participating NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) intend to commit
approximately $1.5 million in fiscal year 2004 (FY04) to fund up to six
new and/or competing continuation grants in response to this RFA. An
applicant may request a project period of up to five years and a budget
of up to $250,000 total costs [direct plus facilities and
administrative costs] per year. Consortium costs are included in the
$250,000 total cost cap. Because the nature and scope of the proposed
research will vary from application to application, it is anticipated
that the size and duration of each award will also vary. Although the
financial plans of the ICs provide support for this program, awards
pursuant to this RFA are contingent upon the availability of funds and
the receipt of a sufficient number of meritorious applications.
ELIGIBLE INSTITUTIONS
You may submit (an) application(s) if your institution has all of the
following characteristics:
o Non-profit
o Public or private organizations, such as universities, health
professional schools, and research institutions capable of meeting the
objectives of the RFA
o Domestic
Applicants, from U.S. institutions, must collaborate with a single
institution in an eligible developing country and must name an
individual at that institution as a primary foreign collaborator. If
more than one institution is named (see "Project Organization", above),
collaborators at each institution should be identified. Eligible
countries are defined as low- to middle-income countries. See the World
Bank website for a list of these countries
(http://www.worldbank.org/data/databytopic/CLASS.XLS).
The collaborating foreign institution on this application must be a non-
profit public or private institution. At the time of anticipated award
for this training program, this institution must be an NIH grant
recipient or a substantial foreign partner in a minimum of three active
FIC- or NIH-funded major research or training grants (R01, U01, P01,
D43, U19). "Substantial" participation requires that scientists from
the foreign institution must be listed as "key personnel" on the NIH
grant. At least one of the three qualifying grants must be for
research. R03 grants and current ITMI awards do not contribute to
eligibility, although they may increase the attractiveness of the
foreign site as a research partner. In addition, the developing country
institution must have sufficient computer infrastructure and Internet
connectivity in place (subject to only modest enhancement) to build upon
for a training program, as the focus of these awards is training and not
infrastructure development, per se.
Multiple U.S. institutions may collaborate to jointly submit a single
application to work with an eligible developing country institution.
While not disallowed, in the interests of using this training program as
a "glue" for the foreign research institution, it is desirable to have
only a single training program at any individual foreign site.
INDIVIDUALS ELIGIBLE TO BECOME PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
Any individual from an eligible institution with the skills, knowledge,
and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research is invited to
work with their institution to develop an application for support.
Women, individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, as
well as individuals with disabilities, are always encouraged to apply
for NIH programs.
At the time of application, applicant Principal Investigators (PIs) must
be the PI or Project Director on at least one active research grant,
training grant, or cooperative agreement from the NIH or another U.S.
government agency or organization in the medical informatics or linked
research area proposed for training. NIH-sponsored research project
grants (R01) or center grants, program project grants or cooperative
agreements ("P" and "U" series), and D43 grants qualify for this
requirement. Equivalent research grants from other sources, including
all non-NIH grants, may qualify if approved by the FIC program officer
before submission of the application.
The applicant training institution must demonstrate either an ongoing
collaborative research relationship or high potential for development of
collaborative research with the developing country institution named in
the application. The foreign collaborator must have a position that
will allow him or her adequate time and provide appropriate facilities
and resources to participate in the proposed medical informatics
research-training program. Finally, the proposed training program must
be explicitly linked, through the PI, a co-investigator, or the foreign
collaborator of the proposed project, to at least one of the qualifying
funded research or training efforts at the collaborating foreign
institution. The application must demonstrate that the award is
relevant to and will enhance the activities of the related research
grant(s), as well as the research needs and public health interests of
the collaborating country.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
The grantee institution must show evidence of approval for collaborative
research and training between the U.S. and foreign institutions included
in the program. This can be documented by providing a letter of
endorsement from the appropriate officials at the collaborating
institutions at the time of application.
Re-competing ITMI applicants must include a description of the
activities and achievements of their current ITMI award. This should
include a list of the trainees and their accomplishments to date and,
where appropriate, the percent of trainees that were trained in the U.S.
and subsequently returned to their home countries. A list of
publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals in which trainee
research was supported by the previous ITMI award, i.e. publications in
which trainees are authors or co-authors and the FIC award is cited in
the acknowledgements, should be included. Since it is expected that
other research products, particularly electronic resources, will be
generated in these programs, non-publication type products should also
be cited. Any other parameters that measure the impact of these
programs on the collaborating foreign country's biomedical research,
medical, or public health capacities should be described.
Training in Responsible Conduct of Research: Applicants must include
plans for training in responsible conduct of research for long-term
trainees. For more information on this provision, see the NIH Guide for
Grant and Contracts (volume 21, number 43
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not92-236.html). NIH
does not require a specific curriculum or format for instruction but the
following areas should be included: conflict of interest, responsible
authorship and institutional policies for handling scientific
misconduct, human subjects, animal studies, data management and data
sharing. The inclusion of international perspectives on these topics is
strongly encouraged. An award will not be made unless a description of
such training is included. The description should include the topics,
format, faculty participation, instructional materials and the frequency
and duration of the training provided.
Communication and Network meetings: ITGH programs should endeavor,
whenever possible, to ensure that research results and training
innovations are accessible to other ITGH programs and to relevant
programs in the home countries or internationally by means such as:
making presentations at local and international conferences and
publishing results in local and international journals; exchanging
newsletters, CD-ROMs or other products among grantees; inviting trainees
from other FIC programs within the home institution, country, or region
to apply for short-term workshops conducted within the foreign country;
or posting materials on websites accessible to the public. In addition,
FIC will periodically convene network meetings of grantees and funds
should be budgeted in the application to allow PIs and foreign
collaborators to attend these meetings in each year of the award. As
the programs mature, it will be desirable to have trainees also attend
these meetings.
WHERE TO SEND INQUIRIES
We encourage inquiries concerning this RFA and welcome the opportunity
to answer questions from potential applicants or discuss prospective
proposals and eligibility issues. Inquiries may fall into three areas:
scientific/research, peer review, and financial or grants management
issues.
o Direct your questions about scientific/research issues to:
Dr. Flora Katz
Division of International Training and Research
Fogarty International Center
National Institutes of Health
Building 31C, Room B2C39
Bethesda, MD 20892-2220
Telephone: (301) 402-9591
Fax: (301) 402-0779
Email: [email protected]
o Direct your questions about peer review issues to:
Dr. Merlyn Rodrigues
Scientific Review Administrator
Division of Extramural Programs
National Library of Medicine
6705 Rockledge Drive, Suite 301
Bethesda, MD 20892-7968 (for US mail)
Bethesda, MD 20817 (for express/courier service)
Telephone: (301) 496-4253
Fax: (301) 402-2952
Email: [email protected]
O Direct your questions about financial or grants management matters
to:
Mr. Bruce Butrum
Grants Management Officer
Fogarty International Center
National Institutes of Health
Building 31, Room B2C39
Bethesda, MD 20892-2220
Telephone: (301) 496-1670
Fax: (301) 402-0779
Email: [email protected]
LETTER OF INTENT
Prospective applicants are asked to submit a letter of intent that
includes the following information:
o Descriptive title of the proposed research
o Name, address, and telephone number of the Principal Investigator
o Names of other key personnel, including the major foreign
collaborator
o Participating institutions
o Number and title of this RFA
Although a letter of intent is not required, is not binding, and does
not enter into the review of a subsequent application, the information
that it contains allows NIH staff to estimate the potential review
workload and plan the review.
The letter of intent is to be sent by the date listed at the beginning
of this document, either by mail or electronically. The letter of
intent should be sent to:
Dr. Flora Katz
Division of International Training and Research
Fogarty International Center
National Institutes of Health
Building 31, Room B2C39
31 Center Drive, MSC 2220
Bethesda, MD 20892-2220
Telephone: (301) 402-9591
Fax: (301) 402-0779
Email: [email protected]
SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION
Applications must be prepared using the PHS 398 research grant
application instructions and forms (rev. 5/2001). The PHS 398 is
available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html in
an interactive format. Applicants should follow the instructions for
the institutional NRSA found at the end of the PHS 398 instructions to
construct their application. For further assistance contact
GrantsInfo, Telephone (301) 710-0267, Email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTIONS:
All expenses related to trainee participation in the program should be
itemized on the PHS Form 398 (NRSA substitute budget pages 4 & 5) in
the appropriate categories. All expenses related to faculty
participation in the program should be itemized on the PHS Form 398
(budget form pages 4 & 5) in the appropriate categories. The total
direct costs of the faculty participation budget should be identified
on PHS Form 398 (NRSA substitute budget pages 4 & 5) in the "Other"
category. The combining of the budgets will allow reviewers and FIC
staff to review a composite budget of all costs.
The grantee institution may request a Facilities and Administrative (F &
A) cost allowance based on eight percent of the total allowable direct
costs, exclusive of tuition and related fees and expenditures for
equipment. Note that using PHS 398 budget calculations, F & A costs on
a subcontract become a part of the direct costs of the grant.
Although the U.S. institution will serve as the grantee institution for
the purposes of this award, it is envisioned that the focus of training
will gradually shift toward the host country over the course of the
award period. By the fifth year of the award, it is expected that the
majority of the funds will be expended in support of activities at the
foreign institution.
Budgets may include costs to support the various types of training
proposed (tuition, academic fees, stipends, salary, travel, per diem,
trainee self-only or family medical insurance) for trainees and faculty,
and costs to support the administration of the program and grant. The
salary for the PI, other training faculty and administrative staff must
be commensurate with the salary structure and benefits at the
corresponding institution. The percent effort for administrative
support at either the U.S. and/or the foreign site must be justified in
relationship to the number of trainees expected to be in residence at
either institution. Programs are encouraged to seek cost-sharing
arrangements with the grantee institutions in order to provide reduced
tuition for long-term trainees and tuition-free short courses.
Trainees may be paid a stipend, comparable to the scientist's
professional level and compatible with established NIH guidelines, while
undergoing training or conducting research in the U.S., or at a level
comparable to that received by similar professionals in-country while
undergoing training or conducting research in their home countries, but
in neither case to exceed $50,808 per annum. Applicants may wish to
refer to the NRSA stipend levels described at
http://grants.nih.gov/training/nrsa.htm.
Costs for computer hardware and software for establishment of
workstations in the home country institution for use by trainees are
allowable. In addition, costs to establish and maintain Internet
connection at the foreign site, including telephone and Internet service
provider fees, at a cost consistent with current rates available in the
foreign country, are allowable. Together, these costs should not exceed
$25,000 per year without prior permission from FIC.
Additional trainee support of up to $15,000 direct costs per person per
year for research in the home country is allowable. This may include
funds to support training-related research projects, advanced research
training, or preparation of teaching courses and materials in the home
country. The program director is expected to ensure that activities to
be supported receive appropriate review and guidance, as described under
"Types of Training: Advanced research training support", above.
USING THE RFA LABEL: The RFA label available in the PHS 398 (rev.
5/2001) application form must be affixed to the bottom of the face page
of the application. Type the RFA number on the label. Failure to use
this label could result in delayed processing of the application such
that it may not reach the review committee in time for review. In
addition, the RFA title and number must be typed on line 2 of the face
page of the application form and the YES box must be marked. The RFA
label is also available at:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/label-bk.pdf.
SENDING AN APPLICATION TO THE NIH: Submit a signed, typewritten
original of the application, including the Checklist, and three signed
photocopies, in one package to:
Center For Scientific Review
National Institutes Of Health
6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 1040, MSC 7710
Bethesda, MD 20892-7710
Bethesda, MD 20817 (for express/courier service)
At the time of submission, two additional copies of the application
must be sent to:
Dr. Merlyn Rodrigues
Scientific Review Administrator
Division of Extramural Programs
National Library of Medicine
6705 Rockledge Drive, Suite 301
Bethesda, MD 20892-7968 (for US mail)
Bethesda, MD 20817 (for express/courier service)
Telephone: (301) 496-4253
Fax: (301) 402-2952
Email: [email protected]
APPLICATION PROCESSING: Applications must be received on or before the
application receipt date listed in the heading of this RFA. If an
application is received after that date, it will be returned to the
applicant without review.
Although there is no immediate acknowledgement of the receipt of an
application, applicants are generally notified of the review and
funding assignment within eight weeks.
The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) will not accept any application
in response to this RFA that is essentially the same as one currently
pending initial review, unless the applicant withdraws the pending
application. However, when a previously unfunded application,
originally submitted as an investigator-initiated application, is to be
submitted in response to an RFA, it is to be prepared as a new
application. That is, the application for the RFA must not include an
Introduction describing the changes and improvements made, and the text
must not be marked to indicate the changes. While the investigator may
still benefit from the previous review, the RFA application is not to
state explicitly how.
PEER REVIEW PROCESS
Upon receipt, applications will be reviewed for completeness by the CSR
and responsiveness by the FIC. Incomplete and/or non-responsive
applications will be returned to the applicant without further
consideration.
Applications that are complete and responsive to the RFA will be
evaluated for scientific and technical merit by an appropriate peer
review group convened by the ICs in accordance with the review criteria
stated below. As part of the initial merit review, all applications
will:
o Receive a written critique
o Undergo a process in which only those applications deemed to have
the highest scientific merit, generally the top half of the
applications under review, will be discussed and assigned a priority
score
o Receive a second level review by the FIC Advisory Board and possibly
by the Advisory Councils of other co-funding ICs.
REVIEW CRITERIA
The goals of NIH-supported research and training are to advance our
understanding of biological systems, improve the control of disease,
and enhance health. In the written comments, reviewers will be asked
to discuss the following aspects of the application in order to judge
the likelihood that the proposed research training will have a
substantial impact on the pursuit of these goals:
o Significance
o Approach
o Innovation
o Investigator
o Environment
The scientific review group will address and consider each of these
criteria in assigning your application's overall score, weighting them
as appropriate for each application. Your application does not need to
be strong in all categories to be judged likely to have major
scientific and capacity-building impact and thus deserve a meritorious
priority score. For example, you may propose to carry out important
work that, by its nature, is not innovative but is essential to move a
field forward.
SIGNIFICANCE:
o The expected scientific and public health contributions of the
proposed activity;
o The strength of the training program and its potential contribution
to creating a "center of excellence" for research and training at the
foreign host institution, including raising the general level of
awareness in the scientific community of the potential impact of
information sciences on research and clinical practice;
o The potential to increase the critical mass of informatics expertise
at the foreign institution over the course of the award period and the
likelihood that this will build toward a sustainable global health
informatics research and training capability at the foreign institution.
APPROACH:
o Appropriateness of the training plan to address the needs identified
by the foreign institution;
o The appropriate mix of long- and short-term, initial and follow-up
training to achieve the goals of this RFA;
o The appropriate integration of didactic training with opportunities
for trainees to become involved in biomedical and behavioral research or
disease control and prevention projects conducted in their home country;
o Adequacy of proposed procedures and criteria for 1) recruitment,
review, and selection of trainees, and 2) peer review of trainee-related
and re-entry research in informatics applications to biomedical and
behavioral research, disease control and prevention projects;
o Adequacy of plan for documenting the long-term impact of the program
on research and public health capacity in the home countries of
trainees, including the impact of the program on the careers of ITMI
trainees;
o Effectiveness of plans to disseminate newly acquired informatics
skills within the foreign institution;
o Overall cost-effectiveness of the training and research plan.
INNOVATION:
o Adequacy and creativity of plans to build modern information
technology capacity in an institution that may currently have limited
resources, limited access to the Internet, or limited integration of
modern information sciences with research programs;
o Overall creativity in integrating the training program with ongoing
research activities so that the newly generated informatics expertise
enhances the research capacity at the foreign institution; and
o Creativity in putting together a team of computer scientists and
biomedical or behavioral scientists that, through their synergy, can
create an exciting and innovative research-training program.
INVESTIGATOR(S):
o Qualifications of the program director to lead and the named faculty
to participate in the proposed research training program, including
their collective depth of experience in the fields of biomedical and
behavioral research and informatics, research support from the NIH and
other sources, and sensitivity to the special requirements for
developing country trainees;
o Previous success in training scientists and others in biomedical
research and informatics. Training accomplishments should be included
in addition to Biographical Sketches and Other Support forms for each
faculty participant;
o Potential for or strength of the collaborative relationship between
the applicant and foreign institutions' research and teaching faculty;
o For re-competing applications, the success of the applicant in
strengthening medical informatics capacity in the partner developing
country during the previous award period, as requested under SPECIAL
CONSIDERATIONS.
ENVIRONMENT:
o Demonstrated funding for relevant research and training activities
from the NIH for the developing country institution and from the NIH or
other approved sources for the U.S. investigator;
o Quality of training environment in the foreign institution as
evidenced by 1) the quality of local teaching and research facilities
and other resources; 2) the availability of high-quality candidates for
training; and 3) past history of institutional commitment to former
trainees in other internationally-funded programs upon returning to
their home institution;
o Quality of training environment in the U.S., including the
institutional commitment, the caliber of preceptors, the quality of
teaching, and research facilities and resources.
The initial review group will also examine the adequacy of the process
for the protection of human and animal subjects and the safety of the
research environment where relevant.
ADDITIONAL REVIEW CRITERIA: In addition to the above criteria, your
application will also be reviewed with respect to the following:
PROTECTION OF HUMAN SUBJECTS FROM RESEARCH RISK: The involvement of
human subjects and protections from research risk relating to their
participation in the proposed research will be assessed. (See criteria
included in the section on Federal Citations, below).
INCLUSION OF WOMEN, MINORITIES AND CHILDREN IN RESEARCH: The adequacy
of plans to include subjects from both genders, all racial and ethnic
groups (and subgroups), and children as appropriate for the scientific
goals of the research. Plans for the recruitment and retention of
subjects will also be evaluated. (See Inclusion Criteria included in
the section on Federal Citations, below).
CARE AND USE OF VERTEBRATE ANIMALS IN RESEARCH: If vertebrate animals
are to be used in the project, the five items discussed under Section f
of the PHS 398 research grant application instructions (rev. 5/2001)
will be assessed.
ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
DATA SHARING: The adequacy of the proposed plan to share data.
BUDGET: The reasonableness of the proposed budget and the requested
period of support in relation to the proposed training program.
RECEIPT AND REVIEW SCHEDULE
Letter of Intent Receipt Date: September 26, 2003
Application Receipt Date: October 23, 2003
Peer Review Date: January 31, 2004
Council Review: May 18, 2004
Earliest Anticipated Start Date: May 31, 2004
AWARD CRITERIA
Award criteria that will be used to make award decisions include:
o Scientific merit and responsiveness to the research, training, and
capacity-building objectives (as determined by peer review)
o Availability of funds
o Programmatic priorities, including the interests of co-funding ICs
and geographic distribution considerations. We strongly encourage
independent U.S. applicant institutions that wish to work with the same
foreign institution to consider forming a collaborative joint program
and submitting a single application together.
REQUIRED FEDERAL CITATIONS
It is not expected that human and animal subjects will be a routine
component of these training programs except as related to associated
funded research projects. It is the responsibility of the PI to ensure
that all required assurances are in place for any research carried out
by a trainee funded through this program. Applicable provisions are
listed below.
INCLUSION OF CHILDREN AS PARTICIPANTS IN RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN
SUBJECTS: The NIH maintains a policy that children (i.e., individuals
under the age of 21) must be included in all human subjects research,
conducted or supported by the NIH, unless there are scientific and
ethical reasons not to include them. This policy applies to all
initial (Type 1) applications submitted for receipt dates after October
1, 1998.
All investigators proposing research involving human subjects should
read the "NIH Policy and Guidelines" on the inclusion of children as
participants in research involving human subjects that is available at
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/children/children.htm.
REQUIRED EDUCATION ON THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN SUBJECT PARTICIPANTS: NIH
policy requires education on the protection of human subject
participants for all investigators submitting NIH proposals for research
involving human subjects. You will find this policy announcement in the
NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts Announcement, dated June 5, 2000, at
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-00-039.html.
HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS (hESC): Criteria for federal funding of
research on hESCs can be found at http://stemcells.nih.gov/index.asp and
at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-02-005.html.
Only research using hESC lines that are registered in the NIH Human
Embryonic Stem Cell Registry will be eligible for Federal funding (see
http://escr.nih.gov). It is the responsibility of the applicant to
provide the official NIH identifier(s)for the hESC line(s)to be used in
the proposed research. Applications that do not provide this
information will be returned without review.
PUBLIC ACCESS TO RESEARCH DATA THROUGH THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT:
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-110 has been
revised to provide public access to research data through the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) under some circumstances. Data that are (1)
first produced in a project that is supported in whole or in part with
Federal funds and (2) cited publicly and officially by a Federal agency
in support of an action that has the force and effect of law (i.e., a
regulation) may be accessed through FOIA. It is important for
applicants to understand the basic scope of this amendment. NIH has
provided guidance at
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/a110/a110_guidance_dec1999.htm.
Applicants may wish to place data collected under this RFA in a public
archive, which can provide protections for the data and manage the
distribution for an indefinite period of time. If so, the application
should include a description of the archiving plan in the study design
and include information about this in the budget justification section
of the application. In addition, applicants should think about how to
structure informed consent statements and other human subjects
procedures given the potential for wider use of data collected under
this award.
STANDARDS FOR PRIVACY OF INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIABLE HEALTH INFORMATION:
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) issued final
modification to the "Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable
Health Information", the "Privacy Rule," on August 14, 2002. The
Privacy Rule is a federal regulation under the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 that governs the
protection of individually identifiable health information, and is
administered and enforced by the DHHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
Those who must comply with the Privacy Rule (classified under the Rule
as "covered entities") must do so by April 14, 2003 (with the
exception of small health plans which have an extra year to comply).
Decisions about applicability and implementation of the Privacy Rule
reside with the researcher and his/her institution. The OCR website
(http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/) provides information on the Privacy Rule,
including a complete Regulation Text and a set of decision tools on "Am
I a covered entity?" Information on the impact of the HIPAA Privacy
Rule on NIH processes involving the review, funding, and progress
monitoring of grants, cooperative agreements, and research contracts
can be found at
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-03-025.html.
URLs IN NIH GRANT APPLICATIONS OR APPENDICES: All applications and
proposals for NIH funding must be self-contained within specified page
limitations. Unless otherwise specified in an NIH solicitation,
Internet addresses (URLs) should not be used to provide information
necessary to the review because reviewers are under no obligation to
view the Internet sites. Furthermore, we caution reviewers that their
anonymity may be compromised when they directly access an Internet site.
HEALTHY PEOPLE 2010: The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to
achieving the health promotion and disease prevention objectives of
"Healthy People 2010," a PHS-led national activity for setting priority
areas. This RFA is related to one or more of the priority areas.
Potential applicants may obtain a copy of "Healthy People 2010" at
http://www.health.gov/healthypeople.
AUTHORITY AND REGULATIONS: This program is described in the Catalog of
Federal Domestic Assistance at http://www.cfda.gov/ and is not subject
to the intergovernmental review requirements of Executive Order 12372
or Health Systems Agency review. Awards are made under authorization
of Sections 301 and 405 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended
(42 USC 241 and 287b) and under Federal Regulations 42 CFR 52 and 45
CFR Parts 74 and 92. All awards are subject to the terms and
conditions, cost principles, and other considerations described in the
NIH Grants Policy Statement. The NIH Grants Policy Statement can be
found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/policy.htm and under
Federal Regulations 42 CFR 52 and 45 CRF Parts 74 and 92.
The PHS strongly encourages all grant recipients to provide a smoke-
free workplace and discourage the use of all tobacco products. In
addition, Public Law 103-227, the Pro-Children Act of 1994, prohibits
smoking in certain facilities (or in some cases, any portion of a
facility) in which regular or routine education, library, day care,
health care, or early childhood development services are provided to
children. This is consistent with the PHS mission to protect and
advance the physical and mental health of the American people.
Weekly TOC for this Announcement
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices
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