DoD Prostate Cancer Dr. Barbara Terry Koroma Health Disparity Research Award | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The DoD Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) Dr. Barbara Terry Koroma Health Disparity Research Award (HDRA) is a Department of Defense funding opportunity run through the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) that is meant to push forward innovative prostate cancer research specifically aimed at understanding and reducing health disparities. Since the mechanism started in FY01, the program reported 308 applications received and 62 recommended for funding, which signals a competitive environment and a clear emphasis on applications that are both strongly justified and tightly aligned with the award's disparity mission. The basic intent is to support new ideas, concepts, and methods that could make a meaningful contribution toward eliminating deaths from prostate cancer and improving the well-being of men affected by the disease, with the expectation that funded projects will deepen understanding of why disparities exist and help move the field toward eliminating them.

A central requirement is that applicants clearly and explicitly explain how their proposed work addresses a prostate cancer health disparity. The announcement lays out a broad view of what counts as a disparity area, including (but not limited to) race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, differences in access to care or standards of care, insurance status, age, geography, and cultural beliefs. The program is open to a wide range of scientific approaches, spanning basic research, population science, translational work, and clinical research, as long as the core focus remains on a disparity issue in prostate cancer. In addition to being disparity-focused, applications are expected to connect to one or more PCRP focus areas and are encouraged to respond to one of the program's overarching challenges. If an application does not directly address an overarching challenge, it must make a convincing case for how it still targets a critical disparity-related need in prostate cancer research and/or patient care.

The opportunity allows research involving human subjects, but it specifically restricts the work to studies that are not clinical trials. That said, the announcement makes room for correlative studies and allows the use of populations derived from existing clinical trials, which can be important for investigators who want to analyze samples, outcomes, biomarkers, or related endpoints without running an interventional trial under this mechanism. The solicitation points applicants to CDMRP's Human Subject Resource Document for official definitions and guidance on what the program considers clinical trials versus other forms of clinical research, which matters because misclassification can make an otherwise strong application noncompliant.

The HDRA also includes three optional features that applicants can use to tailor their proposal and, in some cases, potentially access a higher funding level or a more appropriate review pathway. The first is the Qualified Collaborator Option, which is designed for projects where success truly depends on a major collaborator's unique expertise and resources. The program strongly encourages collaborations across basic, population, and clinical researchers, as well as partnerships that combine prostate cancer expertise with health disparity expertise and/or collaborations with community organizations that are essential for reaching disproportionately affected populations. To qualify as a "qualified" collaboration for the enhanced funding consideration described in the full announcement, the application must include a Qualified Collaboration Statement from the PI and a separate letter from the collaborator. The criteria are fairly specific: the collaborator's role must be essential in a way that the project could not be completed without them; they must provide both intellectual input and tangible research resources (such as equipment, reagents, personnel support, tissue samples, or access to patients/populations); they must commit at least 10 percent level of effort, reflected in the budget; and if the PI lacks experience in prostate cancer research or in working with disproportionately affected populations, then the collaborator must bring that missing experience.

The second add-on is the New Investigator Option, which is aimed at investigators early in their independent careers. Under this option, New Investigators compete separately from Established Investigators during both peer and programmatic review, which can help reduce direct competition with long-established labs. Even with this separate track, the program encourages early-career PIs to strengthen their teams by including more experienced prostate cancer and/or disparity researchers with demonstrated funding and publication records, and it places responsibility on the PI to explain how those team members fill gaps and improve the project. The announcement also notes that applicants can combine the New Investigator Option with the Qualified Collaborator Option if both are appropriate, but New Investigator eligibility must meet the specific criteria laid out in the Eligibility section of the full solicitation.

The third feature is the Nested Health Disparity Traineeship Option, which allows a project to embed a single dedicated training slot for either a graduate student or a postdoctoral fellow. The purpose is workforce development in prostate cancer disparities research, and the trainee does not need prior experience in prostate cancer or health disparities. This option is primarily for salary support and requires a clearly described, individualized training plan that fits the proposed project. Examples of expected training components include relevant coursework, laboratory or analytic techniques, conferences and seminars, journal clubs, teaching or clinical responsibilities where appropriate, and grant-writing activities. The PI must also describe the training environment and provide well-developed mentorship and oversight plans. Only one traineeship (predoctoral or postdoctoral) can be requested per application, so applicants are expected to be focused and realistic about what the trainee will do and learn.

Administratively, this archived opportunity was posted June 15, 2013, with an original and current closing date of October 9, 2013, and an archive date of November 8, 2013. It was offered as a discretionary funding opportunity using a grant/cooperative agreement instrument type within the Science and Technology/Research and Development activity category, under CFDA 12.420 (Military Medical Research and Development). The program anticipated making about five awards with an estimated total funding amount of $4.8 million, and it indicated no cost sharing or matching requirement. Eligibility was listed as "unrestricted" (open to any entity type), subject to any clarifications in the full text. For applicant support, the announcement directs technical access issues to the CDMRP Help Desk (301-682-5507) and points to the CDMRP eReceipt site for program announcements, forms, and human subjects guidance.

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Next opportunity: DoD Prostate Cancer Physician Research Training Award

Previous opportunity: DoD Prostate Cancer Exploration Hypothesis Development Award

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