Funding Opportunities

Community Health: Assessment and Improvement Measures Program

The Mayo Clinic Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCaTS) supports research projects that address community health needs as identified by local community health needs reports.

Requests for applications have been issued for the following Community Health: Assessment and Improvement Program (CHAMP) awards:

  • CHAMP Research Awards. CHAMP Research Awards support research projects that address community health needs. Awards cover up to $75,000 direct costs plus indirect costs. Eligibility, funding and application information for CHAMP Research Awards is provided below.
  • CHAMP Partnership Awards. CHAMP Partnership Awards support research partnerships aimed at developing research projects addressing community health needs. Funding covers up to $10,000 direct costs plus 30% indirect costs. Learn more about the CHAMP Partnership Award.

Projects at all stages of the clinical and translational science spectrum are encouraged.

Research projects focused on basic lab discoveries that address a community health need are particularly encouraged, as are those that engage stakeholders such as community or patient representatives as partners in all phases of the research, including dissemination and implementation. Such projects should describe how findings will directly lead to improvements in community health. In addition, the potential for future extramural support of further research should be described.

Proposals that directly involve work in the community are specifically encouraged. Examples include proposals involving:

  • Implementing and disseminating new tools and programs of proven efficacy
  • Addressing barriers to implementation of effective therapies
  • Developing new and sustainable community health interventions

Such projects should describe methods of engaging the community in project design, implementation and dissemination.

Key project goals should include measurable improvements in community health and long-term sustainability — for example, the potential for future extramural support of further research or ongoing implementation.

Community health needs assessments

Community health needs assessment (CHNA) reports are available from Mayo Clinic Community Engagement for all communities in which Mayo Clinic operates. Individuals are encouraged to review the specific reports for more detailed information. Key priorities identified by the local communities include the following:

Olmsted County, Minnesota — 2019 CHNA top health priorities

  1. Mental health
  2. Financial stress
  3. Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs

Mayo Clinic Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona — 2019 CHNA top health priorities

  1. Access to care
  2. Cancer and breast cancer
  3. Social determinants of health and homelessness

Mayo Clinic Hospital, Jacksonville, Florida — 2019 CHNA top health priorities

  1. Access issues such as transportation, housing and senior isolation
  2. Cancer
  3. Obesity, nutrition and lifestyle

Eligibility

Consultants, senior associate consultants and associate consultants from any Mayo Clinic campus are eligible for the CHAMP Research Award.

Research scientists, research fellows and research associates may apply as long as the content of the protocol does not overlap with an application submitted by their supervising principal investigator.

Current CHAMP Research Award holders are not eligible to apply.

Funding

CHAMP Research Awards support up to $75,000 in direct costs plus indirect costs for study-related expenses, including the investigator's effort of up to 10%. A portion of funds may be directed toward community collaborators if appropriate and justified.

The protocol duration is one year; no-cost extensions are considered if compelling reasons are approved.

Capital equipment, computers, laptops and other general-purpose equipment are unallowable expenses.

Recipients of grants or awards supported by CCaTS may be asked to review applications for other CCaTS grants.

Application information

Timeline

  • Full application deadline: April 29, 2020, 5 p.m. Central time
  • Award activation period: July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021

Application requirements

Completed application packets are submitted through the START application tool (must be logged in to the Mayo Clinic network). No budget is required at the time of application. Successful applicants will develop budgets after notification of award.

In the attachments, applicants are required to include:

  • Biosketches for faculty team members using the new biosketch format from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Brief budget justification
  • Letter of support (if applicable) if work is done with a community-engaged stakeholder (encouraged but not required)

Review criteria

CCaTS applies the following criteria when reviewing applications for the CHAMPS Research Award:

  • Alignment with needs identified and prioritized by local community health needs reports
  • Potential impact on community health
  • Innovation
  • Potential for the project to lead to future extramural support
  • Feasibility within the time and budget proposed
  • Qualifications of the investigators
  • Partnership with community collaborators

Prior approval for research involving human participants

Awardees with projects involving human participants are required to submit information to the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) to obtain prior approval before conducting any activities related to human participants. Documentation includes a human research protections plan. CCaTS staff members guide awardees through the process and provide assistance.

One required document is the Protection of Human Subjects plan. There is no specific page limitation, but it should be succinct. The document should cover the following:

  • Risks to human participants
    • Human participants involvement, characteristics and design
    • Sources of materials
    • Potential risks
  • Adequacy of protection against risks
    • Recruitment and informed consent
    • Protections against risk
  • Potential benefits of the proposed research to human participants and others
  • Importance of the knowledge to be gained
  • Data safety monitoring plan (if required)
  • Clinicaltrials.gov requirements (if required)

Reporting

At the conclusion of the first year, a report should be prepared that clearly describes progress that has been made toward achieving the stated aims of the proposal, including all community engagement activities, publications and presentations resulting from this work. Follow-up reports are solicited annually by CCaTS to capture resulting publications and grants.

Publications

The NIH Public Access Policy requires that all publications resulting from NIH funding be uploaded to PubMed Central. Recipients of CCaTS awards, including intramurally funded awards, must follow this policy. The Mayo Clinic Public Access Policy intranet site (must be logged in to the Mayo Clinic network) guides awardees through the process of uploading publications.

Please remember to cite the Mayo Clinic CCaTS in your publication.

Contact

Contact Us · Privacy Policy