Grant Writing Coaching Group Program Hosted by Dr. Daniel Jay at Tufts Sackler School

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Contributed by NRMN

Tuesday March 1st 2016. *Dr. Daniel Jay  hosted an in-person kick-off session for an NRMN Grant Writing Coaching Group program on campus at the Tufts Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences in Boston, MA. Joining him in hosting was Sheila M. Thomas, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of Diversity and Minority Affairs, Division Of Medical Sciences at Harvard Medical School, who will also act as a grant-writing coach alongside Dr. Jay across the several months of the program.

* Daniel Jay, PhD is a Professor of Developmental, Molecular, and Chemical Biology at Tufts Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences.
Dr. Jay during a session.
 
The curriculum follows Dr. Rick McGee's Grant Writing Coaching Group Northwestern University model, and is designed to give guidance to postdocs and junior faculty to develop their skills in writing NIH-style proposals while actively preparing their own submission for funding. Rick McGee Jr., PhD., is the Associate Dean for Faculty Recruitment & Professional Development and a Professor in Medical Education at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Rick's work and research are focused on the development of young scientists through understanding undergraduate and PhD student career decisions, coaching-based models to support early PhD students and group-based models to assist junior faculty in their development.

The twelve participating mentees in Dr. Jay's cohort came to Boston from Florida International University, University of Texas, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Tuskegee University, Tulane University, UMass Medical School, Saint Louis University, Loma Linda University, Harvard University, and MIT.  Some areas of research for which these mentees are seeking grant funding include ALS, prostate cancer, HIV, post traumatic stress disorder, and nutritional health disparities. 

Dr. Jay and Dr. Thomas (seated in the middle) with some program participants.

At the session's introduction, Dr. Jay and the group reviewed the format of an NIH R01 Grant and the various elements of such a grant proposal: rationale; justification and feasibility; research design; expected outcomes; potential problems and alternative strategies; and future directions. The participants then broke out into two groups to perform peer reviews of each other's draft grant proposals and provide constructive feedback.  


Participants during a session.

After this first in-person meeting, the group is expected to meet bi-weekly for virtual sessions lasting 90-120 minutes. The program lasts anywhere from two to four months, as may be needed in order for mentees to get to the stage of being ready to submit their grant proposal.

For additional information, about the Grant Writing Coaching Group, or to determine if it is a good fit for your needs, feel free to contact Abby Cook at cookap@bc.edu.





The Diversity Program Consortium Coordination and Evaluation Center at UCLA is supported by Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health / National Institutes of General Medical Sciences under award number U54GM119024.
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