Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America.
Department of Medical Education, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Nov 9;15(11):e0241851. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241851. eCollection 2020.
A diverse research workforce is essential for catalyzing biomedical advancements, but this workforce goal is hindered by persistent sex and racial/ethnic disparities among investigators receiving research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In response, the NIH-funded National Research Mentoring Network implemented a Grant Writing Coaching Program (GCP) to provide diverse cohorts of early-career investigators across the United States with intensive coaching throughout the proposal development process. We evaluated the GCP's national reach and short-term impact on participants' proposal submissions and funding outcomes.
The GCP was delivered as six similar but distinct models. All models began with an in-person group session, followed by a series of coaching sessions over 4 to 12 months. Participants were surveyed at 6-, 12- and 18-months after program completion to assess proposal outcomes (submissions, awards). Self-reported data were verified and supplemented by searches of public repositories of awarded grants when available. Submission and award rates were derived from counts of participants who submitted or were awarded at least one grant proposal in a category (NIH, other federal, non-federal).
From June 2015 through March 2019, 545 investigators (67% female, 61% under-represented racial/ethnic minority, URM) from 187 different institutions participated in the GCP. Among them, 324 (59% of participants) submitted at least one grant application and 134 (41% of submitters) received funding. A total of 164 grants were awarded, the majority being from the NIH (93, 56%). Of the 74 R01 (or similar) NIH research proposals submitted by GCP participants, 16 have been funded thus far (56% to URM, 75% to women). This 22% award rate exceeded the 2016-2018 NIH success rates for new R01s.
Inter- and intra-institutional grant writing coaching groups are a feasible and effective approach to supporting the grant acquisition efforts of early-career biomedical investigators, including women and those from URM groups.
多元化的研究人员队伍对于推动生物医学进步至关重要，但由于在获得美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）研究资助的研究人员中，性别和种族/族裔差异持续存在，这一目标受到阻碍。有鉴于此，NIH 资助的国家研究指导网络实施了一项“研究计划书撰写指导计划”（GCP），为来自美国各地的多元化早期职业研究人员提供密集指导，贯穿整个提案制定过程。我们评估了 GCP 的全国影响力及其对参与者提案提交和资金获取结果的短期影响。
GCP 以六种相似但不同的模式进行。所有模式都从一个面对面的小组会议开始，然后在 4 到 12 个月内进行一系列指导会议。参与者在项目完成后 6、12 和 18 个月进行调查，以评估提案结果（提交、资助）。自我报告的数据通过在公共资助授予知识库中搜索来验证和补充，如有可用。提交和资助率是根据参与者在某一类（NIH、其他联邦、非联邦）中提交或获得至少一项资助提案的人数得出的（NIH、其他联邦、非联邦）。
从 2015 年 6 月至 2019 年 3 月，来自 187 个不同机构的 545 名研究人员（67%为女性，61%为代表性不足的少数族裔）参加了 GCP。其中，324 名（59%的参与者）提交了至少一项资助申请，134 名（41%的提交者）获得了资助。共授予了 164 项资助，其中大部分来自 NIH（93 项，占 56%）。在 GCP 参与者提交的 74 项 R01（或类似）NIH 研究提案中，迄今为止已有 16 项获得资助（56%给 URM，75%给女性）。这 22%的资助率超过了 2016-2018 年 NIH 新 R01 的成功率。
机构间和机构内的资助计划书撰写指导小组是支持早期职业生物医学研究人员获得资助的一种可行且有效的方法，包括女性和来自 URM 群体的研究人员。
