Clinical Research Scholars Program

Purpose

The Clinical Research Scholars Program (CRSP) is a mentored research career development program for CCTR, CRBT, NFCIBR and Ben Towne Center junior faculty members. The program objective is to support junior faculty in the development of successful clinical, translational and outcomes research at Seattle Children’s. This goal is accomplished through a structured program of mentoring by dedicated CRSP faculty, educational seminars and financial support.

CRSP supports career development in a wide range of pediatric research areas, including the mechanisms and treatment of diseases of children, as well as research related to areas such as patient safety and quality improvement. The proposal must involve human subjects research. 

CRSP is administered by Program Director Dr. Joseph Flynn and the Center for Clinical and Translational Research (CCTR) Business Office.

The CRSP program manager is Amanda Hartman, PhD. Please email the program manager with any questions about CRSP or your other research funding inquiries. Your financial point of contact should be your assigned grants and contracts administrator (GCA). If you do not know who your GCA is, please contact the CCTR mailbox.

Eligibility Criteria 

• Rank of acting instructor, acting assistant professor or assistant professor
• Primary member of the CCTR, CRBT, NFCIBR or Ben Towne Center.
• Standard path: Seattle Children’s-based clinician-educator, clinician-scholar, or clinician-clinician track
• Intensive path: Seattle Children’s-based junior faculty, generally in physician-scientist track
• Applicant’s division chief must guarantee:
• Standard: Minimum 30% FTE (10% from CCTR up to salary and fringe maximum set by NIH cap and your existing 20% protected academic time from division/department/Seattle Children's Hospital)
• Intensive: Minimum 50% FTE (25% from CCTR up to salary and fringe maximum set by the NIH cap and your existing 25% protected research time from division/department)
• A primary mentor must be identified, with willingness to mentor demonstrated in a letter of support.
• The applicant should propose career development in pediatric clinical, translational or outcomes research that includes human subjects research (research involving a living individual about whom data or biospecimens are obtained/used/studied/analyzed through interaction/intervention, or identifiable, private information is used/studied/analyzed/generated).
• CRSP awards are intended to support the direct costs of research at Seattle Children’s. Indirect costs are not allowed. CRSP awards should not be used to fund work occurring at an external institution. This includes staff or employees outside of Seattle Children’s. Subcontracts will not be approved. If the required expertise to complete your project is not offered at Seattle Children’s, this must be discussed with program directors and pre-approved by the CCTR Business Office before final application submission.
• International projects may now be considered for CRSP funding on a case-by-case basis under the approval of the CRSP program director with guidance from members of the Global Health Consortium. If you have an international project and wish to apply to the CRSP, please contact the CRSP program manager before you apply. * If not yet appointed as a faculty member, a letter from the division head/department chair should be supplied stating the date of appointment will commence at or before the time that CRSP funding begins.

** Salaries may be subject to change based on the updated NIH salary cap.

Path Details

CRSP has two paths, standard and intensive. Both paths are two years in duration, contingent on successful Year 1 completion. They share a common program of educational seminars and mentoring, but have different expectations of the Scholar, requirements for protected time and financial support.

** Salaries may be subject to change based on the updated NIH salary cap.

Letter of Intent

The purpose of the letter of intent is to help CCTR plan for the anticipated number and type of CRSP applications and yield quality finalized CRSP applications that have been fully developed. Letters of intent are due one month prior to the final application deadline. Final applications will not be accepted unless a letter of intent was submitted by the LOI deadline. Letters of intent are non-binding (i.e., applicants may choose not to submit a full application.)

Key Dates

Please visit the CRSP application page on CHILD for precise dates.

• RFA release in January
• There are two informational sessions scheduled per year. Please contact us to receive the calendar invite.
• Letter of intent due late March
• Biostats consultation due mid-April
• Budget draft due mid-April
• Full application due late May
• Award announcement by early July
• Project initiation period July 1 – September 30
• IRB approved by September 30
• First mentor meeting completed by September 30
• Funding begins October 1

For More Information and How to Apply

If you would like to see a successful CRSP application example or have additional questions, please reach out to the CRSP program manager at CRSP@seattlechildrens.org. We additionally recommend that interested applicants setup a time to meet with the CRSP program director before the LOI due date in March. This can be arranged by notifying the CRSP program manager.

To apply to the program, please visit the CRSP application page on CHILD to find instructions on how to apply via the CRSP overview guidelines with updated terms and conditions, due dates and application forms.