Center on Advancing Decision Making in Aging Request for Proposals

Please note--this is funding for a seed project proposal and NOT a fellowship. 

The Stanford Center on Advancing Decision Making in Aging (CADMA) promotes the study of decision making processes and the determinants of choices that affect health and well-being in the later years of life. One of several distinguished NIA Roybal Centers, CADMA is a collaboration between Stanford Health Policy (Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research/Center for Health Policy) and Stanford Center on Longevity.

CADMA is seeking seed project proposals for 2013-2014.  Projects focusing on research highlighting the following specific aims will be considered for one year awards:

• Investigating the roles that age-related changes in emotion and cognition play in decision making, especially those surrounding cognitively complex and emotionally-charged topics.
• Learning how decision making processes influence day-to-day decisions, such as choices regarding exercise and diet that influence health and functional status of the elderly.
• Developing and evaluating support tools or information usefully to such tools that could be provided at or near the time of when people face difficult life decisions.

It is expected that these early stage research projects will lead to additional external support and be developed into longer term, comprehensive projects. These projects should result in strategies and products that will improve the well-being of older Americans by facilitating decision making at both the individual and policy levels. Awards will be granted for the period from September 1, 2013 through August 31, 2014 and MUST be completed in that timeframe.

Applications are encouraged from Stanford-affiliated

• Trainees (graduate students, medical fellows, residents)*
• Post-doc Fellows*
• Junior Faculty*
• Senior Academic Staff*

All applicants must be at Stanford for the duration of the anticipated project period.

*Junior investigators must collaborate with senior faculty who will act as project mentor(s). Recipients must meet with their designated senior faculty mentor regularly to review the academic and scientific progress of the recipient and the project. Mentor involvement is expected to be substantial, and to lead to co-authorship.

Proposal Guidelines

Proposals should be approximately 2 pages in length and include the elements listed below:

1) Background/Purpose (This section should address the following questions.)

• How can the proposed research positively impact health decision making among the elderly, their family members, or relevant policy makers? In other words, what is the significance of the issue, and its use and purpose?
• How should the choices/decisions studied by each project be framed to elucidate the potential contributions of the research most clearly?
• How will the proposed research impact the elderly and their kin networks?
• What new contributions will the research make to the extant knowledgebase?

2)     Methods/Statistical Analyses

• What are the specific measurements that will be collected or assessed? 
• Details include data sources (primary and/or secondary), including sample size, data collection methods and sponsoring agency, data quality and limitations, pertinent variables, available data years, and proposed analyses.

3)     Expected Results

4)     Future Directions/Seed Project goals            

• What next steps are planned following completion of the seed project?

5)     Abstract (not part of page limit; appx. 300 words)

6)     Biosketch (not part of page limit)

7)     Letter of support from faculty mentor

8)     Budget and Budget Justification (not part of page limit)

• See below

Budget

A projected budget should accompany the proposal. Please use a NIH PHS 398 form.  The budget should detail expected costs such as salaries, supplies, travel and data sources.  The budget should not exceed $33,000 in direct costs. The budget justification should justify all line items on the budget.

Application Submission

Letter of intent is strongly encouraged and is due by March 4, 2013. Proposals and budget are due by March 25, 2013. Seed Applications should be sent electronically as an attachment in Microsoft Word format to neesha.joseph@stanford.edu. If you are unable to submit your application via email, please contact Neesha Joseph at (650) 724-9362 to make other arrangements. Feel free to contact Neesha if you have any questions regarding proposal submissions or CADMA.

Award Process

Proposals will be sent to the CADMA Advisory Committee for initial review. Committee members may contact applicants with questions about their proposals. It is expected that applicants will respond to questions in writing by the suggested deadline to be considered during the formal proposal review meeting.

*Advisory Committee members who serve as mentors on a project submitted for review must recuse themselves from evaluating their project’s application.

Award notices will be issued following the Advisory Committee meeting in May. The Advisory Committee may request budget revisions at that time.

Stanford Institutional Review Board

Award recipients must complete the Stanford human subjects tutorial and receive human subjects approval/exemption before beginning work on the seed project. Seed project protocols should be submitted to the Stanford IRB no later than June 1, 2013 to be included in the July review. For more information on IRB protocol submission, please visit http://humansubjects.stanford.edu.

Once investigators are notified of approval/exemption, the study protocol ID# and date of approval/exemption should be emailed to neesha.joseph@stanford.edu. Hard copies of approval/exemption notices must be sent to Neesha Joseph via pdf email attachment or fax 650-723-1919.

HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portabillity and Accountability Act):

All seed project investigators and their research staff are required to complete HIPAA online.

Seed Project Initiation

Receipt of final IRB status and revised budgets are required to qualify for distribution of funds. Seed projects are expected to be initiated September 1, 2013. After submitting all required documents, you will be contacted with details about setting up your account.

Seed Project Requirements

1) Send IRB approval to Neesha Joseph, neesha.joseph@stanford.edu

2) All investigators are required to present their work at Stanford Health Policy Research in Progress Seminar (Wednesdays 1:30pm) by the date listed in the checklist, or at least 3 months prior to the end of funding if a no cost extension is granted.

3) A written progress report is due to Neesha Joseph within one month of the end of the initial award ending period.

4) A final project summary is required at the end of the funding period.

5) Include the grant number AG024957 on all publications and presentations resulting in whole or in part from your CADMA seed grant.

 Expectations

1) By the end of the award period, recipients should apply to external sources for extension of their research projects.

2) Grantees should submit articles for publication, and typically give authorship to senior mentors named in initial application. All publications should comply with NIH guideline, including appropriate recognition of funding source.

3) Grantees must notify CADMA project manager in a timely manner about presentation, publications, grant applications and other notable seed outcomes. Grantees should continue to report such outcomes as a result of their seed work even after the end of the award period.

Grants Management

PIs are required to communicate with the Project Manager quarterly to review grant-related issues such as flow of funds, resource allocation, & preparation of NIA/NIH reports.

Center Personnel

Principal Investigator- Mary K. Goldstein, M.D.

Co-Principal Investigator- Laura Carstensen, PhD

Program Director- Kathryn McDonald, M.M.                       

Project Manager- Neesha Joseph

For more information on CADMA, visit http://healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu/research/cadma/