Subject: RFA DE-90-02 from NIH Guide 7/27/90
From: Dot Baker <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 90 09:02 EST

Paul,
   This is the last of the three items from the 7/27/90 NIH Guide.
Please post this one as RFADE-90-02.072790.
    Thanks.   Have a nice weekend.
                                  Dottie
 ---------------------------- Text of forwarded message -----------------------
     
NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARD-INSTITUTIONAL GRANTS
     
POLICY AND GUIDELINES
     
RFA:  DE-90-02
     
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DENTAL RESEARCH
     
P.T. 44; K.W. 0720005, 0715148, 0785040
     
Application Receipt Date:  December 10, 1990
     
AUTHORITY AND PURPOSE
     
Under authority of Section 487 of the Public Health Service
(PHS) Act as amended (42 USC 288), the National Institute of
Dental Research (NIDR) awards National Research Service
Award (NRSA) institutional grants (T32) to eligible institutions
to develop or enhance research training opportunities for
qualified individuals of the institution's selection who
seek to prepare for careers in biomedical and behavioral
oral health research.  These Guidelines announce significant
changes in both the structure and the administration of its
NRSA institutional program.  These changes have been
endorsed by the National Advisory Dental Research Council
and by the Dental Research Programs Advisory Committee.
     
This publication contains a description of the new policies
and procedures.  Although the NIDR supports training in all
areas of biomedical and behavioral oral health research, we
intend to issue an RFA annually (each spring) in the NIH
Guide for Grants and Contracts to indicate particular
area(s) of emphasis.
     
The purpose of the NRSA program is to help ensure that
highly trained scientific manpower will be available in
adequate numbers and in the appropriate research areas and
fields to maintain the nation's biomedical and behavioral
oral health research agenda.  Title 42 of the Code of
Federal Regulations, Part 66, is applicable to this program
as are the following Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
numbers:  13.840, 13.841, 13.842, 13.843, 13.844, 13.845,
and 13.878.
     
LEVELS OF TRAINING
     
Applications will be accepted for research training at the
predoctoral level and specialized basic science and/or
clinical science training at the postdoctoral level.
     
Research training grants are a useful mechanism for the
postdoctoral training of dentists whose dental training
usually provided only limited research experience.  Since
recent NIDR data indicate that dentists with a Ph.D. degree
are more successful in obtaining subsequent independent
research support than investigators with either degree
alone, the NIDR requests that applicants for institutional
grants propose training programs in which the training is
part of a research degree program.  Priority will be given
to programs that offer dentists the opportunity to obtain a
Ph.D. degree.  However, in certain cases, proposals offering
training as part of a master's degree program will be
acceptable.  Preapplication consultation with NIDR is highly
desirable.
     
APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
     
Domestic nonprofit private or public institutions may apply
for grants to support research training programs.  The
applicant institution(s), and any proposed consortium
arrangement,  must have the staff and facilities required
for the proposed program.  The training program director at
the institution will be responsible for the selection and
appointment of trainees and for the overall direction of the
program.
     
The training program must provide opportunities for
individuals to carry out supervised biomedical or behavioral
oral health research and to develop demonstrable research
skills. Clinical departments or programs should have a
significant relationship with basic scientists that will
assure trainees with clinical backgrounds the opportunity to
acquire the necessary foundation for future investigative
work.
     
GENERAL PROVISIONS
     
NRSAs may not be used to support studies leading to the
D.D.S. or other similar professional degrees, or to support
residencies, i.e., postgraduate training for dentists
providing health care directly to patients where the
majority of their time is spent in non-research clinical
training.  However, if a specified period of full-time
research training is creditable toward specialty board
certification, the NRSA may support such research training
if the trainee has shown a clear interest in a research
career.  Since dentists usually have had little or no prior
research training, their training program must have, as a
minimum, two years of basic research training.
     
Research trainees are required to pursue their research
training on a full-time basis, devoting at least 40 hours
per week to such efforts.  Research trainees in clinical
areas are expected to devote their time to the proposed
research training and to confine clinical duties to those
which are a necessary part of the research training.
     
TRAINEE ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
     
The individual to be trained must be a citizen or a non-
citizen national of the United States or have been lawfully
admitted for permanent residence (i.e., in possession of the
Alien Registration Receipt Card I-551 or I-151) at the time
of appointment.  Individuals on temporary or student visas
are not eligible.
     
Predoctoral trainees must have received a baccalaureate
degree as of the beginning date of their NRSA appointment
and must be enrolled in a graduate program leading to the
award of a doctor of philosophy of science or equivalent
degree in biomedical or behavioral oral health research.
Individuals who wish to interrupt their dental school
studies for a year or more to engage in full-time research
training before completing their professional degrees are
eligible; however, prior approval by the NIDR is required
before their NRSA appointment is offered.
     
Preference must be given to postdoctoral individuals who
have received, as of the beginning of the NRSA appointment,
a D.D.S., D.M.D., or equivalent dental degree from an
accredited domestic or foreign institution.  Certification
by an authorized official of the degree-granting institution
that all degree requirements have been met is acceptable.
Individuals with a research doctoral degree (Ph.D. or
equivalent) may be appointed to the training grant.
However, in general, they are expected to apply for the
individual  postdoctoral NRSA fellowship award (F32).
     
RECRUITMENT AND APPOINTMENT OF MINORITY TRAINEES
     
The primary objective of this NRSA program is the
preparation of qualified individuals for careers in
biomedical and behavioral oral health research.  Within the
framework of the program's longstanding commitment to
excellence and projected needs for investigators in
particular areas of dental research, it is important that
attention be given to recruiting individuals from minority
groups that now are underrepresented nationally in these
sciences.  Information on plans for the recruitment of
trainees should include a description of efforts to recruit
individuals from underrepresented minority groups.  Renewal
applications should include cumulative information on the
subsequent career development of all trainees, including
information about their minority status.
     
PAYBACK PROVISIONS
     
Trainees must sign an agreement that they will fulfill the
NRSA payback requirements.  Recipients agree to engage in
biomedical or health-related behavioral research and/or
teaching for a period equal to the period of NRSA support in
excess of 12 months.  Once an individual has had 12 months
of postbaccalaureate NRSA support, all subsequent NRSA
support is subject to payback.
     
Recipients must undertake the obligated service on a
continuous basis within 2 years after termination of NRSA
support.  Individuals who fail to fulfill their obligation
through service must pay back the total amount of NRSA funds
paid to the individual for the obligation period plus
interest at a rate determined by the Secretary of the
Treasury.  Financial payback must be completed within three
years beginning on the date the United States becomes
entitled to recover such amount.  Under certain conditions,
the Secretary of Health and Human Services may extend the
period for starting service or for repayment, permit breaks
in the period of service or repayment, or otherwise waive or
suspend the payback obligation of an individual.
     
Officials of the applicant organization responsible for
recruitment of trainees should familiarize themselves with
the terms of the service requirements and explain them
carefully to prospective training candidates before an
appointment at the institution is offered.
     
PROGRAM STRUCTURE
     
An applicant may request as many postdoctoral or predoctoral
trainee positions as the proposed program can accommodate.
However, training programs with fewer than five positions
for postdoctoral trainees over the five-year period will not
be funded.  The program should be structured in such a way
that acceptance of new postdoctoral trainees be limited to
the first three years of the five-year award, i.e., as a
minimum, two trainees the first year, another two the second
year, and one the third year.  A similar pattern is to be
proposed by applicants requesting more than five positions.
Ultimately, the number of positions awarded will be decided
by the review process, program needs, and availability of
funds.
     
The NIDR will not fund more than one training grant from the
same institution unless distinctly different training
programs are proposed.
     
STIPENDS AND OTHER TRAINING COSTS
     
For predoctoral individuals at all levels of experience, the
stipend level is $8,500 per annum effective October 1, 1988.
     
For postdoctorals, the stipend for the first year of support
is determined by the number of years of relevant
postdoctoral experience at the time of appointment.
Relevant experience may include research experience
(including industrial), teaching, internship, residency,
clinical practice, or other time spent in full-time studies
in a health-related field beyond that of the qualifying
doctoral degree.  The stipend for each additional year of
NRSA support is the next level on the stipend scale.
Postdoctoral stipends, effective October 1, 1988, are as
follows:
     
Years of Relevant Experiences     Stipend
     
0                                 $17,000
1                                  18,000
2                                  25,000
3                                  26,250
4                                  27,500
5                                  28,750
6                                  30,000
7 or more                          31,500
     
NRSA stipends may be supplemented by an institution from
non-Federal funds.  Federal funds may be used for stipend
supplementation only if specifically authorized under the
terms of the program from which the supplemental funds are
derived.  An individual may make use of Federal educational
loan funds or V.A. benefits when permitted by those
programs. Under no circumstances may the condition of stipend
supplementation detract from or prolong the training.
     
The Tax Reform Act of 1986, Public Law 99-514, impacts on
the tax liability of all individuals supported under the
NRSA program.  Degree candidates who, prior to the enactment
of Public Law 99-514, were able to exclude all monies
received under an NRSA award from their reported income, may
now exclude only course tuition, fees, books, supplies, and
equipment required for attendance.  Non-degree candidates,
who formerly were able to exclude from stipends $300 a month
for a period not to exceed 3 years, will now be required to
report all stipends and any monies paid on their behalf for
course tuition and fees required for attendance.  These new
statutory requirements became effective January 1,
1987.
     
NIH is not in a position to advise students or institutions
about their tax liability.  In any event, changes in the
taxability of stipends in no way alter the relationship
between NRSA fellows, trainees, and institutions.  NRSA
stipends are not now, and never have been, salaries.
Trainees supported under the NRSA are not in any employer-
employee relationship with NIH or the institution in which
they are pursuing research training.
     
Tuition and fees, including medical insurance, are allowable
trainee costs if such charges are required of all persons in
a similar training status at the institution, without regard
to their source of support.  Tuition at the postdoctoral
level, if justifiable, is limited to that required for
specific courses in support of the approved training
program.  Annual increments in tuition costs beyond the
first year of a multi-year award (generally five years) may
not exceed six percent.
     
Trainee travel, including attendance at scientific meetings,
that the institution determines to be necessary to the
individual's training, is an allowable trainee cost.
     
Institutional costs of $1,500 per year per predoctoral
trainee and $2,500 per year per postdoctoral trainee may be
requested to defray the cost of other training related
expenses, such as staff salaries, consultant costs,
equipment, research supplies, and staff travel.  Also, an
indirect cost allowance based on 8 percent of total
allowable direct costs, or actual indirect costs, whichever
is less, may be requested.  Applications from State and
local government agencies may request full indirect cost
reimbursement.
     
PERIOD OF SUPPORT
     
Institutional grants are made for competitive segments of
five years and are renewable.  No individual trainee may
receive more than five years of total NRSA support at the
predoctoral level and three years of aggregate NRSA support
at the postdoctoral level, including any combination of
support from institutional training grants and individual
fellowship awards, except under certain circumstances. Any
exception to this policy requires a waiver from the NIH.
Dentists requiring additional time to complete training as a
participant in a Ph.D. program may anticipate favorable
consideration of a waiver request, contingent upon
certification of the recipient's good academic standing.
     
REVIEW PROCESS
     
Applications will be evaluated for merit by an NIDR initial
review group (IRG).  Site visits may be involved.  The IRG
will consider, among the criteria in its review, the
following:
     
o   The proposed research training and program design:  core
curriculum; prescribed set of courses or seminars; the
manner in which individualized guided research activities
will be selected; procedures for monitoring trainees
progress; the existence of a true training program (as
contrasted with fellowship training for individual
trainees); the appropriateness of the proposed number of
trainees; the unique and/or innovative nature of the
training program; resources and facilities.
     
o   Relevance to the goals of the NIDR, as described in the
new NIDR Long-Range Research Plan for the Nineties,
"Broadening the Scope".  Copies are available by a request,
in writing, to N.I.D.R., P. O. Box 54793, Washington, D.C.
20032.
     
o   The qualifications of the program director and
participating faculty including the roles of specific
preceptors; their time commitment; current research grant
holdings and pending research grant activities; specific
experience in graduate research training.
     
o   Training environment:  evidence of high level of ongoing
fundamental and clinical research activity; availability of
equipment, facilities, and clinical resources.
     
o   Selection of  trainees:  plans for recruitment and
criteria for the selection of trainees, including
minorities, must be described fully; how will trainees be
allocated to preceptors.
     
o   Past training record:  it is critical to the review of
both new and renewal applications that a detailed
description of past performance in the training of
scientists be provided; reviewers will look for demonstrated
accomplishment, or potential, by the faculty in the training
of scientists who will make major contributions to dental
research (e.g., as indicated by success in achieving
individual research grant support or recognition for
outstanding scientific accomplishment); past trainee
involvement in academic, clinically-oriented, and laboratory
research; their ongoing productivity.  For renewal
applications, what is the record in filling the number of
awarded trainee positions?  What was the completion record
of such trainee appointments?
     
The IRG, following assessment of the quality of training
grant applications and assignment of priority scores
indicative of merit, will comment on each applicant's plans
for attracting individuals from underrepresented minority
groups to the research training program.  When the
application is a renewal of an award made under the new
guidelines, these commentaries will cover accomplishments in
recruiting individuals from underrepresented minority groups
and in training them for research positions.
     
Applications will then be reviewed by the National Advisory
Dental Research Council.  In addition to the recommendations
made by the initial review group, the Council will include,
among the information they consider, the IRG's comments on
the plans for (and success in) recruitment of individuals
from underrepresented minority groups into the training
program.  The NIDR will notify the applicant of the final
Council action shortly after its meeting.  Funding decisions
will be made based on the review groups' recommendations,
the need for research personnel in specified program areas,
and the availability of funds.
     
REVIEW SCHEDULE
     
The NIDR has established a new policy instituting a single
annual NRSA training grant receipt date and review cycle for
all new and competitive renewal applications.  The schedule
is indicated below.  It is designed to allow Program
Directors time to recruit candidates during the fall/winter
of the academic year for appointments to begin the following
summer.
     
Application          Initial Review    Council     Earliest
Receipt Date         Meeting           Meeting     Award
     
December 10          June/July         July/Aug    Sept
1990                 1991              1991        1991
     
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
     
Effective July 1, 1990, all competing NRSA
institutional training grant applications must
include a description of formal or informal activities
related to instruction about the responsible conduct of
research to be incorporated into the proposed research
training program.  This announcement was published in the
NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, Vol. 18, No. 45,
December 22, 1989.
     
The NIDR expects to fund approximately five new and/or
renewal institutional training awards in response to the
annual RFA.
     
For additional information, including the grounds for
approving extensions of support and payback provisions,
please refer to the announcement in the NIH Guide for Grants
and Contracts, entitled, "National Research Service Awards -
Guidelines for Individual Awards - Institutional Grants,"
Special Edition, Volume 13 (1), dated January 6, 1984.
Additional information is available in the brochure,
entitled, "National Institutes of Health - National Research
Service Award, Institutional Grants (T32) - April 1989".
These are usually available at the applicant institution, or
contact the following person:
     
Samuel H. Joseloff, Ph.D.
Chief, Office of Grants Inquiries
Division of Research Grants
National Institutes of Health
Westwood Building, Room 449
Bethesda, MD  20892
Telephone:  (301) 496-7441
     
APPLICATION PROCEDURES
     
Application should be made on Grant Application Form 398
(Rev. 10/88).  This revision, which replaces Training Grant
Application Form PHS 6025-1 (Rev. 1/83), contains special
instructions for institutional NRSAs.  Application forms are
usually available at institutional offices of sponsored
research or their equivalent.  If not available locally,
send a request accompanied by a self-addressed mailing label
to Dr. Sam Joseloff at the above address.
     
An original and four copies of the application are to be
mailed to the Division of Research Grants in accordance with
the instructions in the application kit.
Insert the title and number of this RFA on line 2 of the
application face page.
     
The RFA label (found in the 10/88 revision of application
form PHS 398) must be affixed to the bottom of the face page
of the original copy of the application.  Failure to use
this label could result in delayed processing of your
application such that it will not reach the review committee
in time for review.
     
Two information copies should be sent to:
     
H. George Hausch, Ph.D.
Chief, Scientific Review Branch
National Institute of Dental Research
National Institutes of Health
Westwood Building, Room 519
Bethesda, MD  20892
Telephone:  (301) 496-7658
     
Please notify the following person of your intentions to
submit an application and contact for additional
information:
     
Thomas M. Valega, Ph.D.
Special Assistant for Manpower Development and Training
National Institute of Dental Research
National Institutes of Health
Westwood Building, Room 510
Bethesda, MD  20892
Telephone:  (301) 496-6324