Dr. Tannaz Moin_Tactical Approach_TMoin_2024.pptx

Dr. Tannaz Moin: A Tactical Approach to Writing Your Grant Application.

1. A Tactical Approach to Writing Your Grant Proposal Tannaz Moin , MD, MBA, MSHS UCLA CTSI R Workshop November 6, 2024 Special thanks to Drs. Catherine Sarkisian and O. Kenrik Duru

2. 6 Month Time-line: 1 st month Pick a high-impact topic you love and get excited to be creative Should be natural extension of your K work Draft Specific Aims Start to put together scientific team Meet with admin team – map out calendar and divide up tasks Find out who can help you and identify key dates (i.e., resources, budget, DSMP, figures, references etc. . . ) Set target dates to get drafts to Co-Is Consider vacations, hospital attending etc. Schedule CTSI grant studio if possible

3. 3-4 Months Out: Meet with your Program Official Remember that most PO ’ s love seeing K awardees get R01s Relationship evolves during your K Will he/she/they will read your specific aims? Suggestions re study section? (Cover letter can mention your PO) (Send thank you email and copy of grant)

4. Putting Together Your Team: Think Both as a Reviewer and as PI Interdisciplinary teams are increasingly important Each team member needs to be making unique/ complimentary contribution (avoid overlap) Consider linking with strengths of your institution Will be attractive to reviewers Good opportunity to expand your network

5. Putting Your Team Together (Continued) Think carefully about subcontracts (allow extra time) Balance of seniority levels Think about division needs Choose people you want (and enjoy) to work with

6. Developing your Team Leadership Style Embrace the role of PI (gradual process evolving over K period) Emulate PI’s you admire Consider formal leadership training Be very clear to Co-I ’ s what is expected Exact role? How many meetings? Format? Travel? What % time covered? Authorship?

7. Start Budget Early Tension between being economical and practical (talk to your PO) Agencies like low-budget projects BUT Make sure you can do the work! And, likely to get across the board cuts Budget justification is CRITICAL Investigator time: As new investigator consider 35% time 5% time for Co-Is can be red flag to reviewers

8. Don ’ t Under-budget: Project Director salary Participant incentives Translations Data storage Travel for presentations at scientific meetings Equipment: ipads , cell phones and service, etc Publication fees for open access journals

9. Writing Your Grant Approach (Methods) is MOST important Write first. Do not wait. Need to circulate this to team early Remember your audience Few MDs May know nothing about your area of research Make it easy on the reviewer White space, figures, tables, colors

10. Telling Your Story: Preliminary Studies Purpose: (Findings that support your hypotheses) Most important: to show the reviewer your team has experience to do the project

11. Discuss trade-offs of your design decisions Example: randomizing at individual vs. cluster? Can do this throughout or in summary section towards end of approach section How will you deal with potential problems? Show that you have considered potential obstacles/ tradeoffs and how you will address them

12. Make it Easy for the Reviewer Use exact language from program announcement “ the stated aim of this program announcement is XXX and our project addresses this by . . . . “ Remind reviewer of specific review criteria and state specifically how your project addresses Consider bulleted sections Significance Investigators Innovation Approach Environment

13. Avoid Common Pitfalls Write face page (abstract) early and circulate Don ’ t be unjustifiably overambitious Convince reviewer of feasibility Preliminary studies Benchmarks Alternative plans Institutional support HAVE FUN!