Integrative Medicine Pilot Grant Program
Funding Application Opportunity

Application Form MS Word Doc.

The Department of Family Medicine announces a new competitive seed grant program to stimulate outcome-based research in integrative medicine and complementary alternative therapies for children and adults with mental health challenges.  This University of Michigan Integrative Medicine pilot grant program is an internal funding opportunity specifically designed to support initiation of new and innovative research projects that will lead to extramural funding in this arena. Funds will be awarded to a maximum of $8,500 per application.  No more than three applications are anticipated to be funded per fiscal year.

Applications from all academic disciplines are welcome. Applications seeking matching funds for grants from other sources, up to our limit, are encouraged.  Preference will be given to applications that include collaborators from more than one discipline and/or include community-based complementary health practitioners or integrative medicine physicians in the planning and/or execution of the projects.

All applications will be limited to one year of support.  Projects funded in one fiscal year will not be renewed in subsequent years.  The funds may not be used to support faculty salaries.

Grant applications are due November 12, 2007.  Funding will be effective January 2, 2008. Successful applicants will be expected to provide brief written reports on their projects in the December following the award period.  Reports for 2007 awards will be due December 31, 2008.

Eligibility

University of Michigan instructional track, clinical track, or emeritus faculty, research scientists, and research investigators are eligible to submit applications. The principal investigator must have a primary University of Michigan appointment.  Awards from this seed grant program are not intended to replace departmental start-up funds for new faculty members or to support ongoing funded program projects.

Review Process

Recommendations for funding will be made after scientific reviews are completed by an interdisciplinary research review panel of faculty with expertise in the fields of integrative medicine and mental health. Grant applications will be judged on the basis of the:

• Scholarly merit and significance of the project
• Centrality of integrative health approaches to mental health in the project
• Potential for the project to provide preliminary data for future funding 
• Contribution of the project to the study and/or clinical application of integrative health/medicine in the applicants’ own discipline, or to the field at large
• Appropriateness of budget justification
• Innovation.

Application Instructions

All applications must include a cover form, project abstract and narrative that follows the NIH standard application format.  The cover form is available at www.med.umich.edu/umim/research. The project abstract should not exceed 250 words. The proposal narrative should be limited to five pages and consist of the following sections: Specific aims, Background & significance, Preliminary studies and Research design.  Budget justification should not exceed two pages.  Biographical sketches should be limited to two pages.  Other support should include all currently active and pending federal, non federal, commercial or institutional funds held by the applicant.  If the proposal includes collaboration of non-University personnel, e.g. community practitioners, letters of agreement from these personnel need be included.
 
The application must be completed using a font with the following characteristics:

• Minimum Size is 10 pt.
• Maximum number of characters per inch is 15.
• A ½ inch margin must be maintained on the right and left hand side of the pages.

Applications that exceed page limits or do not confirm to these instructions will be returned.

A complete application includes the following:

• Cover form that includes signatures of the chair or unit head and principal investigator
• Project abstract
• Proposal narrative 
• Budget justification
• Biographical sketches of key personnel
• Information on other support available
• Letters of support from collaborators.

Submission Deadline

Four (4) copies of the application should be submitted by November 12, 2007. 

UM Integrative Medicine Pilot Grant Program
Department of Family Medicine
PO Box 1018 
        Or
715 E. Huron St. Ste. 2E
Ann Arbor, MI. 48104.

For questions concerning applications for this pilot research program, please contact Rita Benn, PhD (ritabenn@umich.edu) or her administrative assistant at 998-7715.