Institute for Precision Health Pilot Study Awards

Criteria & Application

Appliation Deadlines

Letter of Intent: Monday, November 6
Full Proposal (invited applicants): Tuesday, December 19

Applicant Eligibility

Principal Investigators (PIs) must be full time UCI faculty from any school or discipline. Early- and mid-career faculty, women, and members of underrepresented groups in biomedical sciences are especially encouraged to apply. UCI affiliated faculty from the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) and the Long Beach VA are also encouraged to apply. All awards to CHOC and VA will occur via a collaborative research agreement; no overhead costs will be provided. If CHOC and VA applicants do not have a joint UCI faculty appointment, their proposals must have a UCI co-PI.

Investigators may only submit one application in which they are listed as PI or Co-PI. However, a PI can be on more than one application if he/she is listed as a co-investigator.

Exclusions

Owing to the one-year funding period of the awards, no projects requiring an IND or an IDE will be considered for funding.

Projects engaged in animal research will not be considered for funding.

Application Workshop

To be eligible to apply for the IPH Pilot Awards, the Principal Investigator or co-Investigator MUST attend the workshop on October 19 at 5 p.m.. The workshop will cover general application preparation, goals of the program, and address any questions. Registration is required to attend.

IPH Pilot Planning Virtual Workshop
5 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023
Zoom meeting details will follow registration.

Register for the Workshop

Regulatory Approval

Please note that while having IRB approval is not necessary at the time of submission, awarded funds will not be released until such approval has been received. We will not allow carry-forward on these one-year awards.  Also, if all IRB approvals have not been received 6 months after the award date, the award may be withdrawn.

Application Phase One: Letter of Intent

Deadline: Monday, November 6, 2023

A LOI is REQUIRED. Not all submitted LOIs will advance to Phase Two for review.  

The letter of intent will be submitted via REDCap and must include:

  • Project Title
  • Amount Requested
  • Names of Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator(s)
  • Biosketch for Principal Investigator (New NIH format)
  • Abstract (max 250 words). Must include the following sections:
    • Significance (What health issue does this research address?
    • Study Hypothesis/Research Question (Briefly explain the project’s aims)
    • Research Methods [Include a brief description of the study protocol; what is being done to whom, including where and by whom as well as the source of study data (humans, data sets, etc.)].
    • Potential impact of the research
  • Project Plan/Aims:
    • Study Hypothesis/Research Question: Briefly explain the project’s significance, aims and objectives (max 200 words)
    • Evidence of feasibility: Present evidence for the expectation that the project will be completed within a one-year timeframe (max 200 words)
    • Translational/clinical significance of the project: Explain how the results of the research could translate to meaningful health impact and precision health (max 200 words)
    • Research Methods: Please address the source of the study data and whether it will involve data generation. Provide a brief description of the study protocol.
  • IPH resources to be used if applicable:
  • Additional Information:
    • Keywords: Please provide 3-5 keywords to best describe your study and type of expertise needed for providing a quality review. Keywords can describe content and/or methodology.

Application Phase Two: Full Proposal

Application Opens: Based on scoring of LOIs, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal. Invitations will be issued on or before November 21.
Deadline: Tuesday, December 19

Documents and information submitted in the LOI phase will be transferred to the full application. Updates to the LOI information can be made in the full proposal.  All material must include the investigator’s name at the top right corner, and use a font no smaller than 11 pts, with margins no narrower than 0.5 inches.

In addition to the materials from the LOI (updated if necessary) the application must include:

  • Biosketches for co-Is (New NIH format)
  • General Summary of the project written to be accessible to a general (i.e., non-academic) audience (500 words max)
  • Health Equity (How, if at all, does your project address health equity? Please include the specific health disparities and population(s) your project will be addressing.) [not required] 
  • Research Plan (5 pages max, plus references) must include:
    • Specific Aims (usually about 1 page)
    • Significance and impact (explain how the project outcomes may add immediate or long-term value for clinical outcomes)
    • Innovation (What does this research add to the body of knowledge?)
    • Approach (What are the research activities that will completed in the year?)
    • Plans for applying for extramural funding (or, if this is a quality improvement project, plans for revenue generation or cost reduction for sustainability)
    • IPH resources to be used
  • Timeline and Milestones
  • Department Letter of Support
  • Budget (itemized, 1 page maximum)
  • Budget Justification
    • Unallowable costs: large equipment (e.g., >$5K), animal studies, and travel.
    • No overhead will be provided for outside collaborators or institutions
  • For junior faculty only (assistant professor or lower): Please name senior faculty mentor
  • Suggested Reviewers: Please provide 3-5 reviewers not in conflict with the proposed project to invite to review the proposal (can be internal or external).

For junior faculty (assistant professor or equivalent): before funds are released, a senior faculty mentor from the awardee’s home department must agree to act as a mentor (including general project supervision, participation in an initial milestone-setting meeting, and periodic progress report meetings). Note that naming a junior faculty PI will not disadvantage the proposal. The named PI should be the individual who will be doing most of the work.

Post-Award Project Support

Before funds are released, an activation meeting will be held with the awardee, a department financial analyst, and IPH staff at which the team will review the project implementation plan and explain the Research Acceleration and Facilitation Team support that will be provided to the research team by the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS).

Application Review Process

The review process will be managed by the UCI’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS). Applications will be reviewed by the IPH Funding Steering Committee and internal and external reviewers. Review criteria will include:

  • Significance of the proposed research
  • Qualifications of the PI and research team
  • Innovation
  • Approach; Scientific strength of the research design
  • Scientific environment
  • Translational/clinical impact
  • Project feasibility within the proposed time frame
  • Likelihood of generating extramural funding
  • Overall Impact

In submitting an application, you agree to allow reviewers external to UC Irvine access to your application materials.

Please contact Andria Meyer for additional questions and information at apontell@hs.uci.edu.