LGAP - Large Grant Acceleration Program

An in-depth analysis of NIH funding by Joni Prasad, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Director of the ORA, discovered that while UMSOM has met or exceeded R01 funding levels of peer institutions, UMSOM’s funding in large, program project or center grants (P01, P30, P50, U19, U54s, and similar) is significantly lower than peer medical schools.  Accordingly, ORA concluded that an area of promising research growth for UMSOM lies in encouraging PI teams to submit applications for such large NIH awards.

While these grants are highly prestigious, ORA and Dr. Reece are aware that these submissions require intensive effort and administrative support, so we have launched LGAP to support researchers who are interested in taking on this task.

This program is intended to support the submission of NIH program or center-type applications, including P01, P30, P50, U19, and U54s. Anyone submitting a new program or center-type grant outside of these specific activity types must submit a request, including a proposed budget, to ORA for consideration as to whether the proposal is within the bounds of the program (i.e. non-NIH centers, rare NIH center opportunities like UM1s, P41s, etc.).

The ORA office is happy to have a conversation with you and your research teams.  The ORA office can provide additional help in identifying funding opportunities if you don’t have something in mind already and then guiding you to appropriate resources available. Reach out to the ORA office at som-ora@som.umaryland.edu

Pre-submission Seed Funding - One-time $10,000 Award

Initial seed funding to support small upfront costs prior to submission, including the assembly of external boards/scientific advisory groups, outside consultants, scientific writing support, and travel. In cases where the team has shown sustained commitment to a new submission, one-time seed awards funded by the Dean’s Office for up to $10,000 are available.

In order to access this seed funding, the team must submit a two-page proposal to ORA with details about their intended grant submission (specific funding opportunity, the proposed research team, research plan, pre-approval from the NIH when required, etc.) and the intended use for the seed funding. This funding is only available for submissions of new awards, not competitive renewals of existing large grants. 

Any team awarded seed funding will be required to invite an ORA representative to their regular team meetings to demonstrate progress towards the submission.

The administrative work necessary to support these kinds of submissions is extensive, and not all departments/centers/institutes/programs have the necessary resources to provide someone with the time and expertise to support these submissions. The Dean's Office will contract with a grants administration specialist to assist the departmental grants administrators with reviewing all RFA requirements, organizing submission timelines, preparing budgets, compiling and reviewing documents, and entering data into ASSIST for submission.

In addition, there is limited support for graphics design/drafting of non-scientific portions of your proposal.  If you are looking for this kind of expertise, reach out to the ORA office at SOM-ORA@som.umaryland.edu.

The Dean’s Office is aware that large grants of this nature frequently require significant amounts of institutional support to be listed in institutional support letters. Requests for contingent support must be made through ORA and will be negotiated on an individual basis for each proposal. ORA recommends having a detailed budget for the proposal available, along with details about the intended specific uses for the support.

Yes! For any team that is awarded a new grant that was submitted through the LGAP Initiative within the next 3 years, a one-time award of $30,000 in unrestricted funds will be awarded to the PI for use at their discretion. For multi-PI awards, the $30,000 will be split equally between all PIs.

Note: This program is intended to support the submission of NIH program or center-type applications, including P01, P30, P50, U19, and U54s. Anyone submitting a new program or center-type grant outside of these specific activity types must submit a request, including a proposed budget, to ORA for consideration as to whether the proposal is within the bounds of the program (i.e. non-NIH centers, rare NIH center opportunities like UM1s, P41s, etc.).