DFM Grant Program Funds Available for Pilot Studies

The Department of Family Medicine Small Grant Program supports the Department's overall research mission by funding small research studies that are expected to lead to the development of presentations, extramural grants, and publications in peer-reviewed journals. Each fiscal year, the Department of Family Medicine Research Program allocates $20,000 to support five to eight pilot projects.

Family Medicine faculty members may apply, and fellows, residents and academic staff may apply with a faculty sponsor. Priority is given to beginning researchers.

Projects should be original and designed to develop a new area of research for the investigator. The proposals should be limited and focused on a single research question and generally completed in a year. The program is designed for small exploratory studies that are likely to lead to larger projects. It is not designed for QI (quality improvement) projects or projects designed to improve clinical care within departmental practices.

If you are interested in applying for a grant, please complete the Small Grant Application Form DFM-100 available on the Research Section of the Department of Family Medicine website. It should be accompanied by a research proposal five pages in length. Proposals should contain the following:

• Specific aims/goals
• Background and significance
• Research design and methods
• Budget

Specific instructions for each section can be found on the website. The application process is ongoing, with no specific application deadlines. The funds can be used for:

• Research personnel
• Patient payments
• Data entry
• Data analysis
• Questionnaires
• Telephone interviews

Funding will not be provided for investigator time or capital equipment. Travel costs are limited to data collection. Requests cannot exceed $4,000.

All studies involving human subjects must be reviewed and approved by the University of Wisconsin Center for Health Sciences Human Subjects Committee prior to initiation.

Proposals are reviewed by one primary and two secondary reviewers who follow modified NIH (National Institute of Health) review criteria to give each grant a priority score. Grants are funded based on reviewer comments and priority scores.

Members of the Research Support Group are available to assist potential investigators with protocol development, study design and analysis.

Awardees will present a poster of the results of their pilot studies at a Department of Family Medicine statewide meeting and at a national or regional meeting within six months of project completion. Investigators are expected to submit a peer-reviewed publication within six months of study completion and/or to explore development of an extramural grant based on the pilot data.

Contact Mary Beth Plane, PhD at 608-263-5846 if you have further questions about the program itself. Forms are also available on the Department of Family Medicine research website in MS Word format under https://inside.fammed.wisc.edu/. Click on Research forms.