Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 18, 2005|Volume 33, Number 19

Article based on popular course provides guidance on writing grant proposals

At a time when competition for research grant funds is at an all-time high, researchers at the School of Medicine have turned a popular course on grant-writing into a practical "how-to" article published in the Feb. 15 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

The article stemmed from a course developed by Dr. Sharon K. Inouye, professor in the Department of Internal Medicine. Inouye taught the course with Dr. David Fiellin, associate professor of internal medicine, for the Yale Investigative Medicine Program and the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program.

"High-quality research and advances in medical science are dependent on grant funding," says Inouye. "In this era of budget cutbacks, obtaining grant funds has become intensely competitive. The course has been so popular and well-received that we wanted to make it accessible to anyone who writes grants in clinical research."

The article summarizes the content of the course. The practical examples provided come, with permission, from Yale investigators. Inouye and co-author Fiellin extracted the review sheets of 66 National Institutes of Health grants of one study section, and categorized major areas of critique raised by the reviewers of each grant. Based on this evidence, the authors propose a systematic approach that will enable grant-writers to avoid common pitfalls in the grant-writing process.

"We provide guidance to grant-writers to maximize their chances for success," says Fiellin. "We also provide specific recommendations, including a grant-writing checklist, and highlight areas that are frequently critiqued by reviewers."

"While basic scientists may benefit from some of the points in the article, the target audience is intended to be investigators in patient-oriented research," Fiellin adds. "But anyone writing grants for research, clinical programs or quality improvements may find helpful hints."

-- By Karen Peart

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