American Heart Association

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American Heart Association Funding Opportunities
Annie Oliveto Director of Research
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Who We Are

• AHA is the largest funding source for CVD/Stroke
  research other than the NIH.
• Founded in 1924close to 3 billion spent on
  research, 1 billion in the last 10 years alone.
• Last year AHA spent 152 million in research,
  11.8 was through the Western States Affiliate.
• AHA spends more on research (by percentage) than
  any other non-profit health organization.

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Research Funding
75
25
Donor Dollar
National Center
Western States
21
Research Allocation
15
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Breakthroughs Funded by AHA

• The first artificial heart valve.
• Techniques and standards for CPR
• Implantable pacemakers to
• regulate irregular
• heartbeats.
• Heart-lung machine
• Cholesterol inhibitors
• On top of research innovations, the AHA has
  created programs to implement science Get
  With the Guidelines,
• medical journals, conferences, professional and
  public education

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Breakthroughs Still Needed in CVD Research

• Obesity and cholesterol reduction
• Modify behaviors leading to CVD and Stroke
• Diabetes and heart disease
• Congenital heart defects
• CVD/ Stroke in African Americans and other
  ethnic groups
• Strategies to understand and treat
• heart failure
• Gene studies
• Abnormal heart rhythms

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Breakthroughs Still Needed in Stroke Research

• Stroke Treatments
• Brain Imaging Techniques
• Stroke Risk Factors, Education Awareness
• Stroke and Dementia
• Recovery from Stroke
• Gene and Protein Research

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AHAs Research Focus

• Training and career development of
• beginning scientists
• Support of cutting
• edge basic and
• clinical science

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What Kinds of Research Do We Support?
The AHA supports research that is broadly
related to the cardiovascular area and stroke.
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Life Cycle of a Research Application
Assigned to Reviewers
Idea Begins
Rank Ordered List Developed
Peer Review
Reports Published
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Western Review ConsortiumPeer Review Committees
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Western States AffiliatePromotes Careers in
Research STUDENT RESEARCH PROGRAMS
Undergraduate Student Research Program Encourages
research careers related to the cardiovascular
or cerebrovascular areas. 4K 10 weeks Medical
Student Research Award Provides an opportunity
to explore a research career related to the
cardiovascular area or stroke. 600/wk 8-12
weeks
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Western States AffiliatePromotes Careers in
Research
FELLOWSHIP AWARDS Predoctoral Fellowships -
Undergraduate Students Initiates careers in
cardiovascular and stroke research and supports
doctoral dissertation projects. 18,500/yr 2-3
years Postdoctoral Fellowship - PhD and MD
trainees Initiates careers in cardiovascular and
stroke research, and furthers research training
while obtaining significant research
results. 30K-46K/yr 2-3 years
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GRANTS Beginning-Grant-In-Aid Beginning
Scientists Promotes independent status and
supports high quality research projects. 70K/yr
2-4 years Grant-In-Aid -- Independent
Investigators Supports the most innovative and
meritorious research. 70K/yr 2-4 years AHA
National offers Scientist Development Grants,
Fellow to Faculty, Established Investigator
Awards and Clinical Research Awards
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Did you know that the AHA Funds

• Behavior Studies
• Biomedical Ethics
• Cardiac Rehabilitation
• Clinical Trials
• Compliance
• Coping Strategies / Stress Mgt
• Depression
• Epidemiology
• Exercise / Physical Activity
• Familial Aggregation / Genetic Epidemiology
• Health Care Utilization/Cost Effectiveness

• Health Promotion/Prevention
• Human Nutrition (Behavioral and Preventive
  Aspects)
• Obesity
• Nutrition
• Outcomes Research
• Preventive Cardiology
• Quality of Life
• Social Support Systems
• Stroke
• Weight Control

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HUMAN EMBRYONIC orFETAL STEM CELLSAND HUMAN
FETAL TISSUE or HUMAN CLONING
Areas Ineligiblefor AHA Funding

• Ineligible for funding
• Cloning of humans as asexual reproduction or
  cloning of humans intended as sources of tissue
  or organs to harvest are not acceptable.
• Ineligible for funding
• Derivation or use of human stem cells from in
  vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment embryos or
  fetal sources.
• Use of human fetal tissue.

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FATAL FLAWSCommon MistakesMade When
Applyingfor Funding
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FATAL FLAWSby Investigators

• No demonstration of expertise or publications in
  approaches, low productivity
• No collaborators recruited or no letters from
  collaborators
• Unnecessary experimental detail
• Not enough detail on approaches, especially
  untested ones
• Not enough preliminary data to establish
  feasibility, nor any correlative or descriptive
  data
• Feasibility of each aim not shown
• Little or no expertise with approach
• Lack of appropriate controls
• Not directly testing hypothesis

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FATAL FLAWSSignificance

• Not significant nor exciting nor new research
• Lack of compelling rationale
• Incremental and low impact research
• Innovation is not always necessary, but the
  results should have compelling significance
• Little demonstration of institutional support
• Little or no start up package or necessary
  equipment

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FATAL FLAWSResubmissions

• Insulting the reviewers
• Only responding to specific reviewer concerns and
  not other aspects that may be newly criticized
• Just changing the name or submitting a previous
  project as new
• Do not send the same or similar application for
  review without indicating that it is a
  resubmission
• AHA allows 2 resubmssions Original allowed

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DEADLINESTake them seriously!

• 5 are administratively withdrawn each year (NIH
  and AHA)
• Technical problems? Call before the 500 pm
  deadline.
• Applications received after 500pm are
  administratively withdrawn.
• Acknowledgement of receipt should be received
  within 24 hours after electronic submission.
• READ the acknowledgement for possible errors in
  electronic upload of your application.

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Late Applications

• Contact AHA staff before deadline if experiencing
  problems with the electronic website.
• Late paper copies may be accepted for genuine
  reasons and if electronic submission was on time.

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Administrative Withdrawal

• Late electronic or paper copies
• Modifications after deadline
• Format issues
• type size
• characters per inch (CPI)
• lines per page
• exceeding page limits

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Streamlined ReviewTriage

• Removes noncompetitive applications from the
  review process
• Applicants receive critiques, but not scores
• Applies to fellowships and grants
• 40 of consortia applications can be triaged

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PREDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP APPLICANTS

• Describe undergraduate/ graduate research
  activities
• research participation programs
• student-originated study programs
• research gained through summer or part-time
  employment
• research within course work and/or outside of the
  classroom
• Summarize, stating problems studied and
  conclusions reached

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Technical Support

• Request technical assistance from AHA
• Seek advice on administrative issues from your
  grants management specialist

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Questions and Answers

• Annie Oliveto
• 650-259-6715
• Annie.Oliveto_at_heart.org