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Guidelines for Research Applications for Department of Radiology Medical Student Summer Research Program (DRMSSR)

The Dept. of Radiology has designated funds for clinical and/or translational research. The following are the purpose, eligibility, requirements,
and guidelines for applications:

Purpose:
The Purpose of the DRMSSRP is to make research opportunities available to medical students and to encourage them to consider academic
radiology as a career option.   

Eligibility:
• Any area of Research related to the radiologic sciences is eligible for funding.
• Applications must be consistent with the mission of the Radiology Dept., as
  well as demonstrate feasibility, scientific merit, and potential future  fundability.
• Student Applicant must be a full-time medical student at an accredited North
  American medical school.
• Student Applicant/faculty advisor  must not be agents of any for-profit,
  commercial company in the radiologic sciences.
• Student Applicant may not submit more than one research grant application
  per year.
• Acceptance of an award from another source for the same project is prohibited
  unless one source provides only salary support and the other source provides
  only support for non-personnel research expenses.

DRMSSRP Grant Submissions: Requirements and Conditions

  1. All applications must have a Radiology Dept. faculty member listed as a advisor/co-investigator.  The Radiology Dept. faculty must obtain Institutional Review Board approval or letter of exemption prior to initiating grant work, as necessary.
  2. The Student Applicant must submit a completed application form.   Application forms may be obtained from Mary Lou Witte, ML 0761 or by emailing her at Mary_Lou.Witte@Healthall.com.  Applications must be submitted no later than March 15 of each calendar year for the subsequent May-August research period.  Other funding requests for research periods other than the summer session will be considered.
  3. A budget, outlining research costs must be submitted with the grant submission.  The maximum amount of any one grant may not exceed $3,000.
    --student stipend/salary may not exceed $2,500
    --Awards for shorter periods of research effort should/will be reduced 
       appropriately
    --Grant money is primarily ear-marked  as stipend, and is not primarily
      designed to offset other costs, such as imaging time, unless so specified in
      the budget
    --computers/laptops will not be approved through this process. Peripherals
      and software will be considered by the committee.
    --Posters, intended student travel for meeting presentation,  should be
      included as budget items up to $500.
    --No indirect costs are allowed
  4. A Radiology Dept. Faculty mentor/co- investigator may not supervise more than two research grantees at a time.
    -- the faculty advisor  is responsible for documentation of student  hours/
       effort
        o the advisor will guaranty effort  is commensurate with the stipend
        o failure to monitor, or guaranty compliance with the guidelines may
           lead to ineligibility to apply for  DRMSSRP grants for a period of two
           years

  5. All Student investigators are required to submit a Final Report to the Research Committee by Oct. 31. 
      
    The final report should restate the purpose, goal, or hypothesis, and include methods of investigation applied, results, and conclusions.  This part of the Final Report should include, or be in the form of, a PowerPoint Poster summarizing the research.  In addition, the report should:

    1. Indicate any significant deviations you have made from the original research plan and justify these changes. If you did not  reach one or more of your initial goals, explain why.
    2. Indicate any problems or delays that you have encountered; for example, problems in obtaining protected time to do research, slow patient accrual in the study, etc.
    3. Indicate if the results from your studies are being prepared for publication or will be prepared for publication.
    4. Indicate if the results from your studies will be used as preliminary data in a grant application to another granting agency.
    5. Indicate the clinical significance and future clinical impact of the results of your study.
    6. Indicate the strengths and weaknesses of the grant program in which you participated.
    7. Indicate the influence or role that the DRMSSRP grant had on your career or will likely have in the future.

    University of Cincinnati School of Medicine Students will also present the Poster at the annual Medical Student “Posters and Presentations” event held each fall in the UC School of Medicine.  If the student attends school elsewhere, the student will be encouraged to participate in similar events at his/her site.

 DRMSSRP Grant Guidelines

No more than three (3) pages (including any diagrams, tables, figures, charts, photos, etc.) will be accepted. Applications with greater than 
three (3) pages may be administratively withdrawn.
 
Type the proposed research plan single-spaced, specifically following the outline given. All items should be addressed.

  1. Hypothesis/ Aims / Purpose of the research  
    Provide a clear, concise summary of the hypothesis or aims of the work proposed and its relationship to your long-term goals.
  2. Potential impact/significance of research 
    Briefly address the potential impact of the research.
  3. Previous work done on same or related problems
    a. By other investigators. Briefly summarize important results outlined by
        others in the same field, evaluating existing knowledge.
    b. By applicant (if none, so state). Concisely describe previous work related
        to the proposed research. Include pilot studies showing the work is
        feasible.
  4. Contemplated method of approach to the problem
    a.  Description of proposed tests, methods or procedures should be explicit,
         sufficiently detailed, and well-defined to allow adequate evaluation of the
         approach to the problem.
    b.  Clearly describe overall design of the study, including statistical aspects
         of the approach, the adequacy of controls, and number of observations,
         as well as how results will be analyzed. Include details of any collaborative
         arrangements that have been made.
    c.  Except as provided below, if a proposed research project involves human
        subjects, the population sampled shall be inclusive of the general
        population, of relevance to the scientific question posed, without restriction
        in regard to gender, race, age, and socioeconomic status. Proposals that
        intentionally restrict the population sampled must include a compelling
        scientific rationale for such research design. Be sure to address this topic.
        If using subjects, populations, or data, the methods should include
        documentation of the availability and accessibility of these.
  5. Experimental problems
    Describe any experimental problems that must be overcome in order to successfully accomplish the goals of this research project.
  6. Literature cited 
    List No more than 5 literature references at the end of the proposed research plan.

 DRMSSRP Grant Funding Process:
 
The research committee will meet following grant/application review to discuss the grants/applications.  The Research Committee will review and score all grant applications based on scientific merit, and subsequently award the grants, according to established scoring methods.

The research committee chairperson will notify all primary and co-investigators of the grants selected by April 30.   

Funded faculty members will be encouraged to seek extramural Medical Student Research funding through the Radiologic Society of North America at www.rsna.org/Foundation/ResearchMedicalStudentGrant.cfm

The research committee will meet following grant/application review to discuss the grants/applications.  The Research Committee will review
and score all grant applications based on scientific merit, and subsequently award the grants, according to the attached scoring methods.

Guidelines for Scoring DRMSSRP Grant Submissions:

  1. Grants will be evaluated for scientific excellence and relevance.  Each committee member will review all grants prior to the meeting.  Scoring will be done prior to the meeting. Criteria rating for each subcategory: 1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 = average, 4 = below average
  2. Following a review of each grant application the research committee will score each subcategory: scientific merit score and relevance. (score sheet)  The overall grant score will be calculated by multiplying the scientific merit score by 2/3 and the relevance score by 1/3 and adding the two scores together.  
  3. Members of the Research Committee, who serve as an investigator on a grant application, cannot participate in the review or scoring that grant and will leave the room when that grant is discussed.  An additional faculty member will be asked to review/score that grant(s).
  4. After all grants have been scored, the reviewer will rank all grants from first to last prior to the meeting, based upon their scores.
  5. Each proposal will then be presented briefly and discussed, as necessary.
  6. After discussion a final signed ballot will then be completed by each member of the review committee in order to provide a final rank. If two grants are tied by the scored ranking at the cutoff for funding, but both viewed as eritorious, additional funding will be sought.

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