Competition for Faculty Fellowships in Health Disparities Research at San Francisco State University

CLOSED

Applications for faculty fellowships are designed to encourage grant proposals for research on health disparities. This program, which is funded by a grant to SF State from the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities under its Research Infrastructure to Minority Institutions initiative, supports fellowships awarded competitively to tenure-track SF State faculty who are a) doing or planning to do research on the causes of disparities in health and access to health care and/or b) studying ways to design and test interventions that aim to eliminate these inequities. A major goal of the project is to help SF State faculty develop successful proposals for external funding of health disparities research and evaluation. We awarded 15 fellowships within four years.

Program Benefits:

* One semester [usually the Spring] of half-time reimbursed release from teaching and limited summer salary support.

* Private offices with phones and computing equipment at the RIMI2 grant-writing facility at Pacific Plaza for one full year.

* By special arrangement with post-doctoral program directors at UCSF and UCB, participation in grant-writing seminars and workshops that are part of training programs at their institutions.

* Consultation with RIMI2  technical support staff on grant proposal development.

* Support for a research mentor [$10,000 stipend per year], normally a non-SF State faculty member at a Research I institution, who has received grant awards in fields related to health disparities research and who has served as a grant reviewer/study section member for NIH and/or other sources of funding for health disparities research.

Eligibility

Any tenure-track and tenured SF State faculty member whose proposed project description fits within the general framework of health disparities research.

Time Frame

Awards cover a full year. Half-time reimbursed release is limited to one semester and that summer salary support may be limited to one month. Office space, RIMI2 staff support, and supported mentor contact will continue for a full year.

Award Criteria

Applications are peer-reviewed by a panel that includes senior SF State faculty with research grant experience. Preference will be given to applications that a) match most closely the goal of the RIMI2 program to encourage work that contributes to the elimination of inequities in health and b) hold the most promise for successful proposal development and eventual NIH or Foundation grant awards. Fellows are expected to spend the equivalent of two days per week working at the Pacific Plaza grant-writing facility.

Application Requirements:

The application package should include the following components:

* A summary of the research topic that the faculty member intends to pursue and how it is related to health disparities. The text summary should be a maximum of 4 pages in length and may be accompanied by an appendix for bibliography and tables not to exceed 10 pages. The summary should include: a) a sketch of background of the research, b) if possible, some specific aims and/or hypotheses, c) relevant previous work, d) a preliminary sketch of proposed methods, e) [if relevant] a history of previous efforts to get funding to pursue this topic.

* A letter and biosketch from the proposed non-SF State mentor stating his or her agreement to serve in that capacity during the fellowship year.

* The applicant's up-to-date resume or biosketch.

* A letter of support from your department chair which includes approval of half-time reimbursed released time for one semester.