NANETS Early Career Development Award

Purpose: The purpose of the NANETS Early Career Development Award is to encourage investigators at the end of their fellowship or beginning of their faculty appointment to pursue clinical and/or translational research focused on neuroendocrine tumors. It is anticipated that recipients of this award will go on to productive careers focusing on clinical and/or translational research that has the potential to directly improve outcomes for neuroendocrine tumor patients.

Award Term: The NANETS Early Career Development Award will provide $50,000 per year for one year. Award funds will be directed to the sponsoring institution. At the conclusion of the award period, the recipient must provide NANETS with a written progress report of research performed during the award period, and may be selected to present their findings at the annual NANETS meeting. Award funds must be used to support the grant project and travel/housing at the annual NANETS meeting.

Eligibility:
       • Candidates must have a MD, MD/PhD, PhD, DO degree or equivalent
       • Candidates must be in training or in the first 5 years of an academic career in an accredited medical school or           other institution in North America
       • Candidates must devote 50% of their time to the research project and/or the clinical care of neuroendocrine                tumor patients
       • Candidates must be a NANETS member

Grant Application:
The format of the application is listed below. One of the major criteria for selection will be the potential of the individual to develop a clinical or translational research program focused on neuroendocrine tumors. Therefore, emphasis will be placed on the career development plan and the applicant’s personal statements. The research proposals section should focus on research projects with the potential to directly impact and improve the treatment of patients with neuroendocrine tumors. Appropriate projects would include (but are not limited to) studies of neuroendocrine tumor epidemiology, risk factors, clinical outcomes, novel treatment strategies, and translational research projects with clear clinical significance. The research proposal can include development of a clinical trial and/or correlative studies involving existing clinical trials. The grant application must have the following components:

       A. Career Development plan (2 pages): written by the mentor and applicant. This should include intramural coursework/seminars, protected time, participation in intramural clinical trials and plans to attend national meetings focused on neuroendocrine tumors.

       B. Personal statement by the candidate (1-2 pages): the applicant should include description of any past research projects, evidence of interest in neuroendocrine tumors, and description of how the project will contribute to the future development of the candidate as a clinician and/or investigator in the field of neuroendocrine tumors.

       C. NIH biosketch of the applicant (4 page maximum)
       D. NIH biosketch of the mentor (4 page maximum)
       E. Letter of institutional support (1 page)
       F. Research Plan (no more than 3 pages) containing the following elements:
                    • Specific Aims
                    • Background and Significance
                    • Preliminary Data (if available)
                    • Methods
       G. Proposed Budget The funds can be used to support the salary of the applicant and/or research costs. Indirect expenses should be as low as possible – cap @ 5%.

Review Process: Deadline for submission of the application is August 08, 2011. Please submit either a PDF or Word document to research@nanets.net. Applications will be reviewed by the NANETS Research Committee and presented to the NANETS Board of Directors for final vote and approval. Notification to the winner(s) will be made by September 16, 2011 and funds will be dispersed to the sponsoring institution by December 31, 2011.