Independent Scientist Awards

Independent Scientist Awards is sponsored by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). These awards provide career development support for promising new investigators in health services research.

Expired PAR-09-086: Independent Scientist Award (K02) This notice has expired. Check the NIH Guide for active opportunities and notices. Part I Overview Information of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), ( http://www.

ahrq. gov ) of Participating Organizations Office of Extramural Research, Education and Priority Populations (OEREP), ( http://www. ahrq.

gov ) Title: Independent Scientist Award (K02) The policies, guidelines terms and conditions stated in this announcement may differ from those used by the NIH. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is a re-issue of PAR-07-444 . Update: The following updates relating to this announcement have been issued: February 7, 2012 - See Notice NOT-HS-12-006.

Re-Activation of AHRQ Individual Career Development (K) Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) for June 5, 2012 Receipt Date. December 15, 2011 - See Notice NOT-HS-12-003. Suspension of AHRQ Individual Career Development (K) Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) for February 5, 2012 Receipt Date.

October 6, 2011 - See Notice NOT-HS-12-001. This Notice extends the expiration date as indicated below by one year . September 29, 2010 (NOT-OD-11-008) - Updated Electronic Application Forms Required for F, K, T and D Submissions with Due Dates of January 25, 2011 and Beyond.

Adobe B1 forms are required for due dates on or after January 25, 2011. August 16, 2010 - IMPORTANT NOTE! NIH has eliminated the error correction window for due dates of January 25, 2011 and beyond.

As of January 25, all corrections must be complete by the due date for an application to be considered on-time. See NOT-OD-10-123 . November 5, 2010 - See Notice NOT-HS-11-003 Special Emphasis Notice (SEN): AHRQ Announces Interest in Career Development (K01, K02, K08) Grants Focused on Healthcare-Associated Infections.

This FOA has been updated to reflect the new requirements from NIH’s Enhancing Peer Review Initiative. The new requirements are effective for submissions intended for due dates January 25, 2010 and beyond. If submitting an application intended for a due date of January 25, 2010 and beyond, follow the guidance below and be sure to use the Adobe-Forms-B version of the application forms and instructions.

If applying for a due date before January 25, 2010, follow the guidance in the archived version of this FOA and be sure to use the Adobe-Forms-A version of the application forms and instructions. Announcement (PA) Number: PAR-09-086 NOTICE: Applications submitted in response to this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for Federal assistance must be submitted electronically through Grants. gov ( http://www.

grants. gov ) using the SF424 Research and Related (R&R) forms and the SF424 (R&R) MAY NOT BE SUBMITTED IN PAPER FORMAT. must be read in conjunction with the application guidelines included with this announcement in Grants.

gov/Apply for Grants (hereafter called Grants. gov/Apply). registration process is necessary before submission and applicants are highly encouraged to start the process at least four (4) weeks prior to the grant submission date.

See Section of Federal Domestic Assistance Number(s) Release/Posted Date: January 23, 2009 Opening Date: February 9, 2009 (Earliest date an application may be submitted to Grants. gov) NOTE: On-time submission requires that applications be successfully submitted to Grants. gov no later than 5:00 p.

m. local time (of the applicant institution/organization). Application Due Date(s): March 9, 2009 is the first application due date for new K02 applications, then standard dates apply will apply for all applications, please see http://grants1.

nih. gov/grants/funding/submissionschedule.

htm Peer Review Date(s): Generally four months after receipt date Earliest Anticipated Start Date(s): Generally four months after peer review date Expiration Date: (New Date January 08, 2013 per NOT-HS-12-001 ), Originally Additional Overview Content goal of AHRQ-supported career development programs is to help ensure that a diverse pool of highly trained health services researchers are available in adequate numbers and in appropriate research areas to address the mission and primary purpose of the AHRQ Independent Scientist Awards (K02) program is to foster the development of outstanding health service researchers and enable them to expand their potential to make significant contributions to their field of research.

The K02 award provides three, four, or five years of salary support and protected time for newly independent scientists who can demonstrate the need for a period of intensive research focus as a means of enhancing their research careers. Applicants must focus their research careers on areas that would have a significant impact on the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.

This program represents the continuation of an AHRQ program. Mechanism of Support : This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will utilize the Independent Scientist Award (K02) mechanism. Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards: The total amount to be awarded and the number of awards will depend upon the quality and merit of applications received and the availability of funds.

Budget and Project Period: Because the nature and scope of the proposed career award program will vary from application to application, it is anticipated that the size and duration of each award will also vary.

Awards pursuant to this funding opportunity are contingent upon the availability of funds and the receipt of a sufficient number of meritorious PHS 398 Career Development Award Supplemental Form Component Sections: Items 2-5 (Candidate Information) and Item 11 (Research Strategy) are limited to a combined total of 25 pages, including tables, graphs, figures, diagrams and charts.

Eligible Institutions/Organizations : Institutions/organizations listed in Section III are eligible to apply. Eligible Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI).

Also referred to as the Applicant or Candidate , individuals with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research and career development activities are invited to work with their sponsoring institution to develop an application for support.

Individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds are always encouraged to apply for AHRQ support. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, non-citizen nationals, or permanent residents, hold a research or clinical doctoral degree, and have peer-reviewed research support at the time the award is made.

With regard to peer-reviewed research support, applicants may either be PI’s on an ongoing major peer-reviewed research project or pay a key role on such a project. Further, the candidate must not have been out of his/her latest formal research training experience (e.g., Masters degree, Ph. D.

degree, post-doctoral trainee appointment or fellowship, clinical residence, internship, or Mentored Career Development Award) for more than seven years. They must commit a minimum of 9 person months (75% of full-time professional effort) conducting research and relevant career development activities specified in the application. See Section III .

Number of PDs/PIs: Only one PD/PI may be designated on the application. Number of Applications: Applicants may only have one individual Career Development Award application pending peer review at any time. Resubmissions: Up to one resubmission is allowed.

Awards are not renewable and are not transferable from one PD/PI to another. Application Materials: See Section IV for General Information: For general information on SF424 (R&R) Application and Electronic Submission, see these Web sites: SF424 (R&R) Application and Electronic Submission Information: http://grants. nih.

gov/grants/funding/424/index. htm The SF424 (R&R) Application Guide for NIH and Other PHS Agencies, now includes Part 1.

7 Supplemental Instructions to the SF424 (R&R) for Preparing an Individual Research Career Development Award (CDA) Application ( K series) Please note that this new Application Guide is to be used with all Adobe application packages, including those for General information on Electronic Submission of Grant Applications: http://era. nih.

gov/ElectronicReceipt/ Hearing Impaired: Telecommunications for the hearing impaired are available at: TTY Part I Overview Information Part II Full Text of Announcement Section I. Funding Opportunity Description 1. Research Career Objectives Section II.

Award Information Section III. Eligibility Information 2. Cost Sharing or Matching 3.

Other-Special Eligibility Criteria Section IV. Application and Submission Information 1. Request Application Information 2.

Content and Form of Application Submission 3. Submission Dates and Times A. Submission, Review, and B.

Submitting an Application Electronically to the NIH 4. Intergovernmental Review 6. Other Submission Requirements and Section V.

Application Review Information 2. Review and Selection Process 3. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates Section VI.

Award Administration Information 2. Administrative and National Policy Section VII. Agency Contacts 1.

Scientific/Research Contact(s) 2. Peer Review Contact(s) 3. Financial/Grants Management Contact(s) Section VIII.

Other Information - Required Federal Citations Part II - Full Text of Announcement Section I. Funding Opportunity Description 1. Research Career Objectives The objective of the AHRQ Independent Scientist Award (K02) program is to help ensure that a diverse pool of highly trained scientists are available in adequate numbers and in appropriate research areas to address the Nation's health services research needs.

The AHRQ Independent Scientist Award (K02) is intended to foster the development of outstanding scientists and enable them to expand their potential to make significant contributions to their field of research. It provides three, four, or five years of salary support and protected time for newly independent scientists who can demonstrate the need for a period of intensive research focus as a means of enhancing their research careers.

must hold a doctoral degree, peer-reviewed research support at the time the award is made, and commit a minimum of 75% of full-time professional effort conducting research and relevant career development activities during the period of the award. Each independent scientist career award program must be tailored to meet the individual needs of the candidate.

The sponsoring institution must demonstrate a commitment to provide the environment. must be responsive to AHRQ’s mission. The mission of the Agency is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.

Within the mission, specific areas of current AHRQ research interest include the following six priority areas: Value : AHRQ seeks to support research to develop, disseminate, and translate rigorous evidence that can be used by public and private policymakers, by health system and community leaders, and by managers of healthcare organizations who want to reduce unnecessary healthcare costs (waste) while maintaining or improving healthcare quality, i.e., who want to increase value and efficiency in the organization, delivery, and financing of health care for all Americans.

We encourage qualitative and mixed-methods research as well as quantitative methods. interested in supporting applicants interested in conducting research to provide appropriately generalizable findings about the consequences of value-driven experimentation for health care quality and costs, including how such issues relate to AHRQ priority populations.

This also includes encouraging experimentation and the spread of promising strategies for reducing waste and improving value.

Thus, AHRQ seeks both to facilitate and quickly learn from this rich body of natural experiments, focusing on: changes in the organization of health care (e.g., alliances and mergers, regionalization of trauma or other services, use of physician assistants); payment (e.g., tiering, no payment for hospital-acquired conditions); insurance and benefits redesign (e.g., value-based benefits design, coverage expansions); healthcare delivery redesigns (e.g., open scheduling; redesigning emergency room throughputs, Lean redesigns); and cultural competency and Information Technology : Health information technology (IT) is broadly defined as the use of information and communication technology in health care to support the delivery of patient or population care or to support patient self-management.

Health IT can support patient care related activities such as order communications, results reporting, care planning and clinical or health IT-related grants will support research in one of three priority health IT research areas. Applications which are self-identified as health IT related must clearly identify one of these areas as the primary research area to be addressed and the specific element of the area being addressed.

The three health IT research areas are: Health IT to improve the quality and safety of medication management ; this includes the utilization of medication management systems and technologies; ambulatory health care providers and out-patient pharmacists use of electronic prescribing systems and/or medication management technologies; integration of evidence-based decision support for priority conditions within electronic prescribing systems; and, providing patients electronic tools to support medication self-management.

Health IT to support patient-centered care ; this includes, but is not limited to, a focus on the coordination of care across transitions in care settings and the use of electronic exchange of health information to improve quality of care.

Patient-centered care is responsive to the needs and preferences of individual patients, provides patients and/or their caregivers with access to their medical information, facilitates communication between patients, caregivers and providers, and empowers patients to be active participants in care decisions and in the daily management of their health and illnesses.

Health IT to improve health care decision making ; this includes the development, implementation, and integration of health information tools, products or systems through the use of integrated data and knowledge management.

AHRQ encourages research projects that will use health IT applications that apply principles to evidence based medicine including the use of the best available evidence, health care providers ability to execute their best judgment, and consideration of patients expressed treatment preferences.

is interested in supporting grants focusing on comparative effectiveness of different clinical treatments and services, as authorized in the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) Section 1013. The focus is on the generation and translation of new scientific evidence and analytic tools in an accelerated format and the integration of evidence into practice and decision-making in the health care system.

can have either a clinical or methodological emphasis, but must focus tightly on the study and/or the use of comparative effectiveness research. For grants with methodological emphasis, the goals should be to advance study designs and methods to fill specific knowledge gaps and to enhance the consistency, applicability, and generalizability of the comparative effectiveness studies.

For grants with clinical emphasis, the goals should be to develop new scientific evidence that fills important knowledge gaps and to generate critical insights on the clinical effectiveness and comparative clinical effectiveness of health care interventions.

For studies in which randomized controlled trails may not be feasible or timely, or would raise ethical concerns that are difficult to address, novel or alternative study designs may be proposed.

Such clinical research projects also need to be informed by the information needs and inputs from various stakeholders (e.g., policy-makers, providers, and patients) to ensure the most appropriate outcome measures for assessing the effectiveness of the interventions and outcomes of importance to stakeholders are included in the study.

Research projects should also be organized around a set of priority conditions of importance to the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP programs as mandated by the MMA section 1013.

The current list of conditions includes: Arthritis and nontraumatic joint disorders Cardiovascular disease, including stroke and Dementia, including Alzheimer's Disease Depression and other mental health disorders Developmental delays, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism Functional limitations and disability Infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS Peptic ulcer disease and dyspepsia Pregnancy including pre-term birth mission of the Prevention/Care Management Portfolio is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of evidence-based preventive services and chronic care management in ambulatory care settings.

We are interested in career development grants that will support two broad strategic goals. The first goal focuses on preventive services. Grants awarded in this strategic area should complement the work of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in terms of advancing methods for assessing the benefits and harms of preventive services, and improving the implementation of evidence-based recommendations on preventive services.

We are interested in funding areas that have not traditionally been the focus of funding initiatives, such the harms associated with preventive the overuse of preventive services; and the delivery of preventive services for the patient with multiple co-morbidities.

grant applications that would be considered under this strategic area include, but are not limited to, research on: the effectiveness of preventive services in improving health and quality of life in complex patients; the development of new methodologies for assessing the harms of preventive services; and evidence gaps identified by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for specific preventive services.

strategic area of interest is based on the Care Model (Wagner 1998; Barr, et. al. ; 2002).

AHRQ is interested in supporting grants with the aim of improving primary care and clinical outcomes through health care redesign, clinical-community linkages, self management support, and care coordination. We are less interested in funding research on specific conditions, but rather seek to support grants that are focused on system health conditions.

Examples of grant applications that would be considered under this strategic area include, but are not limited to, research on the effectiveness, efficiency, and/or implementation of: new models of delivering primary care, especially for individuals with multiple chronic conditions; methods of linking primary care practices with community resources to improve the delivery of preventive services and the effectiveness and implementation of models of self management support; care coordination methods, especially during transitions among care settings; system and organizational policy change that support the Care Model; and, interventions to stimulate practice change, including practice coaching, training, toolkits, and collaboratives.

we are very interested in research that involves non-traditional ambulatory health care sites that serve the uninsured, Medicaid, and other vulnerable populations. Vulnerable populations, as defined by the IOM in 2002, include the uninsured, low-income, under-insured, Medicaid beneficiaries, minority population, immigrant populations and geographically or economically disadvantaged communities.

safety research initiatives can be considered to occur in three different identification of the risks and hazards; design, implementation, and evaluation of patient safety practices; and maintaining vigilance to ensure that a safe environment continues and patient safety cultures remain in place.

Safety Portfolio will support research projects that seek to create new knowledge by identifying the risks and hazards encountered by patients as a result of health care. Proposals in this area may investigate important topics such as the impact of human performance and working conditions on patient safety.

Examples of other topics of interest include the role consumers can play and how they can contribute to protecting patient safety, organizational characteristics and the structure of care delivery organizations. Additional factors that relate to patient safety such as diagnostic error, communication and teamwork, and the challenges inherent in transitions of care and handoffs between health care providers.

encourages an interdisciplinary approach to research that is related to Patient Safety, so that the perspectives not only from the field of health care services but also from the social and behavioral sciences (such as organizational psychology) education, industrial engineering, human factors, and others are incorporated in such a way so that they contribute meaningfully AHRQ supports the inclusion of approaches that address risks and hazards across various dimensions of patient characteristics and priority populations (e.g., the elderly, children, individuals with low health literacy, patients with multiple chronic conditions) settings of care (hospital, long-term care, ambulatory, home health care), and health-related conditions.

and Emerging Areas Portfolio : The Innovations Portfolio was created to identify and support researchers and institutions with ideas that have the potential for high impact. These ideas will be novel and span a diverse (and perhaps non traditional) array of disciplines.

The portfolio will foster and nurture ideas and projects that have the potential to lead to highly innovative solutions that may lead to significant advances in healthcare practice, organization, delivery, and management. Research and activities supported under the Innovations Portfolio will reflect ideas substantially different from those already being pursued elsewhere.

The portfolio will fund transformative research with a focus on projects that transform existing conditions and that solve pressing healthcare problems. The main focus of the portfolio is problem solving in order to accelerate improvement in healthcare.

areas of interest include, but are not limited to: Methological innovations for evaluation and research in healthcare quality and safety improvement implementation; Modeling of implementation taking into consideration the nature of quality and safety improvement implementation, variations in implementation context, and account for resource availability; Development of valid and feasible measures of organizational context (e.g., resource availability, readiness to change, leadership, teamwork) for use in implementation of quality and safety improvement implementation and Development of research designs and analytical methods for assessing the effectiveness and safety of what works in quality and safety improvement implementation for use by implementers, evaluators and by researchers.

The research designs and analytical methods must address external validity, generalizability, and ability to provide context-specific results.

for financing and organizing healthcare and related systems to improve quality (including safety, timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, equity, patient-centeredness) for individuals with complex healthcare needs (e.g., children with special healthcare needs, people with disabilities, frail elderly people).

Studies of other countries or systems approaches to financing and organization may be studied for possible adaptation to the United States. The innovation proposed must be one that can be implemented either nationally or in a representative region of the U.S. See Section VIII, Other Information - Required Federal Citations , for policies related to this announcement. Section II.

Award Information Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will use the Independent Scientist Award (K02) mechanism. The Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) (also referred to as the Applicant or Candidate ) will be solely responsible for planning, directing, and executing the proposed project. candidate should follow the instructions for budget information described in Section IV (6.

F) as well as in PHS 398 Career Development Award Supplemental form Section 7. 4. 6 of the R&R 424 instructions, and budget justification information.

must be tailored to meet the individual needs of the candidate. Applicants may request three, four, or five years of support. Funding beyond the first year is contingent upon satisfactory progress during the preceding year, as documented in the required progress report (refer to Section VI).

Awards are not renewable and are not transferable from one PD/PI to using the Modular Grant Application and Award Process. Applications submitted in modular format will be returned without review. nature and scope of the proposed award 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 AHRQ provide support for this program, awards pursuant to this funding opportunity are contingent upon the availability of funds and the submission of a sufficient number of meritorious applications. Funding beyond the first year will be contingent upon a review and acceptance by Agency staff of the progress report. An application with a project period that exceeds five years will not be reviewed.

Salary: AHRQ will provide salary and fringe benefits for the award recipient for a requested portion of the candidate’s institutional salary, of up to $90,000 annually plus associated fringe benefits. The total salary requested must be based on a full-time, 12-month staff appointment. The K02 award requires the candidate to devote a minimum of 75% of full-time professional effort to conducting health services research.

The remaining 25% effort may be devoted to clinical, teaching, or other research pursuits and activities consistent with the objectives of the award. For information regarding policy on determining full-time professional effort for career awards, see NOT-OD-04-056 .

must be consistent both with the established salary structure at the institution and with salaries actually provided by the institution from its own funds to other staff members of equivalent qualifications, rank, and responsibilities in the department concerned. If full-time, 12-month salaries are not currently paid to comparable staff members, the salary proposed must be appropriately related to the existing salary structure.

Fringe benefits, based on the sponsoring institution’s rate and the percent of effort, are provided in addition to the salary. sponsoring institution may supplement the AHRQ salary contribution up to a level that is consistent with the institution's salary scale. However, supplementation may not be from Federal funds unless specifically authorized by the Federal program from which such funds are derived.

In no case may PHS funds be used for salary supplementation. Institutional supplementation of salary must not require extra duties or responsibilities that would interfere with the purpose of the K02 award. Under expanded authorities, however, institutions may re-budget funds within the total costs awarded to cover salaries consistent with the institution's salary scale.

The total salary, however, may not exceed the legislatively mandated salary cap. Development Support: It is expected that candidates for a K02 award will have research support at the time of the award. However, limited research development support may be requested.

When approved, these funds may be used for the following expenses: (a) tuition and fees related to career development; (b) research expenses, such as supplies, equipment and technical personnel; c) travel to one research meeting; and (d) statistical and computational services including personnel and computer time. The total direct costs cannot exceed $25,000.

In no case may funds be requested that duplicate funds already being provided by other F. 1, Other Direct Costs/Materials and Supplies, the total amount requested for Research Development Support costs should be entered.

A budget justification is required which should include a detailed list, description and justification for the specific Research Development Support costs requested, such as those pertaining to travel, equipment, supplies, and additional personnel that will be used to help achieve the career development and research objectives of the award. Applicants should review the supplemental K instructions found in Part 1. 7.

4 of the SF424 (R&) Application Guide for Personnel Support: Salary for secretarial and administrative assistance, etc. is not allowed. Costs: These costs, which were formerly called indirect costs, will be reimbursed at eight percent of modified total direct costs, or at the actual indirect cost rate, whichever is less.

Policy: All AHRQ grant awards are subject to the requirements of the applicable requirements in the HHS grants policy statement (see http://www. hhs. gov/grantsnet/docs/HHSGPS_107.

doc ) which will apply to the applications submitted and awards made in response to III. Eligibility Information 1. A.

Eligible Institutions You may submit an application(s) if your institution/organization has any of the following characteristics: Public or non-profit private institution, such as a university, college, hospital, or a faith-based or community-based Units of local or State government; Eligible agencies of the Federal government.

Indian/Native American Tribal Government Indian/Native American Tribal Government (Other than Federally Recognized); Indian/Native American Tribally Designated authorizing legislation does not allow for-profit organizations to be eligible to lead applications under this research mechanism, thus for the purpose of this FOA, AHRQ will make grants only to non-profit organizations.

For-profit organizations may participate in projects as members of consortia or as subcontractors only. Foreign institutions may participate in projects as members of consortia or as subcontractors only. Applications submitted by for-profit organizations and foreign institutions will be returned without review.

Organizations described in section 501(c) 4 of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying are not eligible. requesting foreign training must show in the application that the foreign institution and sponsor offer unique opportunities that are not currently available in the United States. Only if there is a clear scientific advantage will foreign training be considered for support.

individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as the PD/PI is invited to work with his/her organization to develop an application for support. Individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as well as individuals with disabilities are always encouraged to apply for NIH support.

Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI): Also referred to as the Applicant or Candidate, individuals with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research and career activities are invited to work with their institution to develop an application for support.

Individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds are always encouraged to apply for AHRQ support.

and Residency: Only U.S. citizens or non-citizen nationals, or individuals lawfully admitted for permanent residence who have a currently valid Permanent Resident Card (USCIS Form I-551), or some other verification of legal admission as a permanent resident prior to the time of award, are eligible for this award.

Non-citizen nationals, although not U.S. citizens, owe permanent allegiance to the U.S. They are usually born in lands that are not states but are under U.S. sovereignty, jurisdiction, or administration. Individuals on temporary or student visas are not Research: The candidate must have a clinical or research doctoral degree and successfully demonstrate that he/she is engaged in a career in health services research.

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degree, post-doctoral trainee appointment or fellowship, clinical residence, internship, or Mentored Career Development Award) for more than seven years. In addition, at the time of award, the candidate will either be playing a key role on a major on-going peer-reviewed research project or be receiving independent peer-reviewed research support.

Effort: Candidates must be able to commit a minimum of 9 person-months (75% of full-time professional effort) conducting research career development activities associated with this award.

The remaining 3 person-months (25% full-time professional effort) can be divided among other research, clinical, and teaching activities only if these activities are consistent with the goals of the Award, i.e., the candidate’s development into an independent investigator. For information regarding policy on determining full-time professional effort for career awards, see NOT-OD-04-056 .

of award, the candidate must have a full-time appointment at the academic institution that is the applicant institution. Candidates who have VA appointments may not consider part of the VA effort toward satisfying the full time requirement at the applicant institution. Candidates with VA appointments should contact the staff person at AHRQ prior to preparing an application to discuss their eligibility.

does not require cost sharing for applications in response to this FOA. Other-Special Eligibility Criteria Number of Applications: Candidates may only have one individual Career Development Award application pending peer review at any time. Resubmission(s): Applicants may submit a resubmission application, but such application must include an Introduction addressing the previous peer review critique (Summary Statement).

Beginning with applications intended for the January 25, 2009 official submission due date, all original new applications (i.e., never submitted) are permitted only a single amendment (A1). See new NIH policy on resubmission (amended) applications ( NOT-OD-09-003 , NOT-OD-09-016 ). Original new applications that were submitted prior to January 25, 2009 are permitted two amendments (A1 and A2).

For these grandfathered applications, AHRQ expects that any A2 will be submitted no later than January