Institutional Commitment to Candidate’s Research Career Development

One Page Limit

·       Draft Letter and make sure to include the Items below.

  • Letter must be on one page; please leave ample room on top for

·       Once drafted please send it to the Admin Person who is assisting you with the proposal.

  • The Admin will have it signed by Dr. Rosen and Dr.

The “Institutional Commitment to Candidate’s Research Career Development” attachment is required.

Follow the page limits for the Institutional Commitment to Candidate’s Research Career Development in the NIH Table of Page Limits unless otherwise specified in the FOA.

Attach this information as a PDF file. See NIH’s Format Attachments page.

Content:

The institution should provide a document on institutional letterhead that describes its commitment to the candidate and the candidate’s career development, independent of the receipt of the CDA. It is also essential to document the institution’s commitment to the retention, development, and advancement of the candidate during the period of the award.

The “Institutional Commitment to Candidate’s Research Career Development” attachment should generally document the institution’s agreement to provide adequate time, support, equipment, facilities, and resources to the candidate for research and career development activities. See the list below for specific items to include in the document.

In the document describing its institutional commitment, the applicant organization must:

  1. Agree to release the candidate from other duties and activities so that the candidate can devote the required percentage of time for development of a research career, as specified by the For most K awards, commitment of at least 75 percent or nine person months of time is required.
    1. NIH and other PHS agencies use the concept of “person months” as a metric for determining percent of effort. For more information about calculating person months, see NIH’s Frequently Asked Questions on Person Months.
  2. Describe actions that will be taken to ensure that the candidate can devote the required time to research career development (e.g., reduction of the candidate’s teaching load, committee and administrative assignments, and clinical or other professional activities for the current academic year). If the candidate’s clinical or teaching responsibilities will be reduced, describe how this will be accommodated (e.g., hiring additional staff, reassigning staff, etc).
  3. Describe the candidate’s academic appointment, bearing in mind that the appointment must be full-time, and that the appointment (including all rights and privileges pertaining to full faculty status if in an academic setting) and the continuation of salary should not be contingent upon the receipt of this
  4. Describe the proportion of time currently available for the candidate’s research and what the candidate’s institutional responsibilities will be if an award is made.
  5. Describe how the institution will provide the candidate with appropriate office and laboratory space, equipment, and other resources (including access to clinical and/or other research populations) to carry out the proposed Research

 

  1. Describe how the institution will be supportive of any proposed mentor(s) and/or other staff consistent with the career development

Signatures:

The institutional commitment must be dated and signed by the person who is authorized to commit the institution to the agreements and assurances listed above. In most cases, this will be the dean or the chairman of the department. The signature must appear over the signer’s name and title at the end of the statement. If the candidate will be working outside of the applicant institution (i.e., sponsoring institution), signatures from both the applicant/sponsoring institution and host institutions are required.

The sponsoring institution, through the submission of the application and in the institutional commitment section, certifies that all items outlined above will be provided and that the institution will abide by the applicable assurances and PHS policies.

Note: For applicable assurances, see the NIH Grants Policy Statement, Section 4: Public PolicyRequirements, Objectives and Other Appropriation Mandates.

 

SAMPLE LETTER

 

Date

 

Dear Members of the Review Committee:

 

We are writing to express our support for Dr. Smith’s application for the NIH Pathway to Independence (K99/R00) Award entitled “Biophysics of TCM pulse diagnosis—spectral analysis of arterial pulse.” Dr. Smith is an excellent candidate for this award, and we are pleased to confirm the institution’s commitment to the success of her research project and her development into an independent investigator.

 

Dr. Smith has built an excellent research track record and assembled a superb team of expert mentors, collaborators, and advisors who will aid her in realizing the goals of the compelling research and career development plan she has proposed in this application. Her studies involving spectral analysis of arterial pulse waves and exploration of the mechanism of pulse diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) have outstanding potential to advance basic cardiovascular research and, therefore hold promise to dramatically impact preventive medicine. Her collaborative work with her mentor, Dr. Andrew Ahn, have been extremely fruitful thus far. and we expect the new research and training endeavors proposed in her K99/R00 application to create more opportunities for her to continue this work.

 

The Martinos Center provides Dr. Smith with an ideal environment in which to realize her career development and research goals, offering the mentorship, resources, and training to aid her transition to a successful independent investigator. Indeed, as an NCCAM Center of Excellence for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the Martinos Center provides unique resources, expertise and infrastructure to support to Dr. Smith’s research, for imaging-based research in complementary and alternative medicine. The Center has been a leading center for neuroimaging research on the mechanisms of acupuncture action in the brain since 2003.

 

More broadly, the Martinos Center is home to a large multidisciplinary community of experts who develop and apply a wide range of imaging and biomedical instrumentation technologies for clinical and basic biomedical investigations. As a member of this research community, Dr. Smith has full access to the facilities, resources, training, collaborative opportunities, laboratory space, and office space needed to carry out her proposed research and training. Working with Dr. Ahn, we will make sure that her time is protected throughout the duration of the award period, such that she can devote 100% of her effort to activities related to the award.

 

The Department of Radiology is proud of its role in helping train young investigators like Dr. Smith. We have great confidence in her future as an independent researcher, and her contributions to the advancement of biomedical research. This award will greatly facilitate the next critical stage of her career development, and will support her smooth transition to independent research. Thank you for your consideration of this application for the K99/R00 award.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

James Brink, M.D.

Chair, Department of Radiology Massachusetts General Hospital

 

Bruce R. Rosen, MD, PhD

Director, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital Professor of Radiology and Health Sciences and Technology

Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.