MIRECC / CoE

Grant Writing Scholars 2020

In February, the 2020 class of SC MIRECC Grant Writing Scholars (GWS) participated in a grant writing workshop in Little Rock. The GWS program provides investigators with individual mentoring and didactic training in successful grant writing. The program prepares scholars for submitting grants to funding agencies such as SC MIRECC, VA Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Dr. Michael Cucciare, the SC MIRECC Associate Director for Research Training, directs the GWS program. Drs. Geoffrey Curran and Ellen Fischer led the workshop. Dr. Curran is the Director of the UAMS Center for Implementation Research, a Senior Research Health Scientist at the North Little Rock HSR&D Center of Innovation (COIN), and a SC MIRECC Affiliate. Dr. Fischer is the SC MIRECC Assistant Director for Research and a Senior Research Health Scientist at the HSR&D COIN. Members of the 2020 GWS class are:

• Jure Baloh, PhD
• (Joseph) Jay Boffa, MS
• Derrecka Boykin, PhD
• James Broussard, PhD
• Darius Dawson, PhD
• Chelsea Ennis, PhD
• Corey Hayes, PharmD, PhD, MPH
• Spyridoula Maraka, MD, MS
• Rajinder (Sonia) Singh, PhD

Scholars submitted draft grant proposals ahead of the February workshop. They received feedback on their grants and one-on-one mentoring from VA researchers, including:

• Jeffrey Cully, PhD
• Geoffrey Curran, PhD
• Lilian Dindo, PhD
• Karen Drummond, PhD
• Ellen Fischer, PhD
• Teresa Hudson, PharmD, PhD
• Natalie Hundt, PhD
• Michael Kauth, PhD
• JoAnn Kirchner, MD
• Mark E. Kunik, MD
• Sara Landes, PhD
• Rick Owen, MD
• Kalpana Padala, MD
• Prasad Padala, MD, MS, FACHE
• Jacob Painter, PharmD, PhD
• Jeffrey Pyne, MD
• Gala True, PhD
• Eva Woodward, PhD

Scholars completed a program evaluation at the end of the workshop. Here is a summary of the results:

Scholars also gave feedback about how they benefitted from the program, including:

• The material presented was excellent in balancing depth and breadth of what to consider when writing a proposal. Having written several proposals it is always helpful to go back to basics and dissect what needs to happen for the next to be successful, and this proposal was great for that.
• The information I received from my reviewers on the first draft of my proposal was invaluable. Both reviewers put in a lot of effort to make it better.
• Writing the draft proposal and the review process was most helpful; receiving feedback before the grant submission was great!

After the workshop, scholars further refined their proposals, which will be submitted to various funding agencies.

Last updated: April 14, 2020