99 Grant Writing Program to Enhance Junior Faculty Research Funding Success

Abstract

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The grant writing process provides investigators with critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills, crucial for personal and professional development. However, opportunities for junior faculty to learn these skills are highly variable. Thus, we developed a grant writing program to assist in the preparation of an NIH R proposal. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The R Club Grant Program was implemented in 2021 for junior faculty of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine and Center for Clinical & Translational Science & Training (CCTST). The program consists of a series of workshops (e.g., How to Craft a Specific Aims Page, How to Construct a Competitive R01 Proposal) utilizing examples of successful proposals and grant review criteria to demonstrate how to translate a conceptual framework into a research proposal (level 1). All participants can receive constructive feedback on a Specific Aims page from an experienced grant writer (level 2), and for a select cohort, the program provides comprehensive scientific content edits and iterative feedback on a full research proposal, with a focus on grantsmanship, presentation, and overall competitiveness (level 3). RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Over three NIH grant cycles, the program to date has provided 38 early-career investigators with multi-level grant writing support. All participants attended the workshops and received supporting documents, 21 received feedback on a Specific Aims page, and 6 received one-on-one writing assistance on their full research proposal. Of the 6 investigators who received the greatest level of support, 3 have received NIH scientific review, with a 66.6% funding success rate for either an original (R01, n=1) or subsequent overlapping (R35, n=1) proposal. In a survey sent to workshop attendees, 100% of respondents (n=23) reported ( Strongly Agreed or Agreed ) that the training was a worthwhile investment in their professional development and 96% stated that they will be able to apply the knowledge and skills learned. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Initial evaluation measures suggest that grant writing support programs have great potential to enhance funding success rates. As the program evolves it will be crucial to evaluate both qualitative and quantitative feedback measures to ensure efforts are directed to the appropriate level(s) of service to maximize the funding success of our faculty.