The University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing (IHC) is a new collaboration among the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), and the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS).
With initial funding from Montgomery County, Md., and the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State, and with a headquarters in North Bethesda, Md., IHC aims to optimize computational and analytical methods to build a learning health system that improves the quality of life and longevity of Maryland citizens.
The Pilot Funding Program is an intramural grant program to provide project support to investigators who wish to:
- Pilot computational methods prior to large-scale utilization/implementation
- Generate preliminary data for extramural funding proposals
- Shape the rationale for prospective, larger-scale studies on which IHC can collaborate
Proposals must:
- Explain the unmet health need relevant to Maryland that the project aims to address
- Detail the computational methods to be employed and any data sets needed
- Detail any expertise or data access that the investigator needs IHC to provide (provided in-kind; e.g., natural language processing expert)
- Explain how the data generated will lead to extramural funding
- Detail the planned engagement of any students or trainees
- Summarize the work that comes next and what role IHC and its personnel will play in that work
- Be limited to two pages
Applicants must include a budget for up to $25,000 over a maximum of one year, as well as an NIH-style biosketch for all project participants. Projects that can be accomplished in a shorter time frame will be prioritized.
Investigators are encouraged to think expansively about unmet needs related to health outcomes, health economics, drug discovery, and the provision of health services, including work to address inequities and barriers to access. Proposals will be evaluated for feasibility, relevance to an unmet need, innovation of approach, potential to build toward extramural funding, and opportunity for collaboration with IHC faculty.
Reporting Requirements
Funded applicants will be required to submit written reports at six and 12 months of no more than two pages, including a summary of progress, an explanation of how the work has advanced toward an application for extramural funding, and an accounting of spent funds. We ask that project leads please report any publications or funding that result from the pilot project, even after the grant period has concluded, and note IHC’s support in any resulting publications.
The Fine Print
This funding opportunity is open to faculty and trainees at all schools of UMB and UMCP. Cross-campus and cross-school collaborations are encouraged. Applicants are welcome to submit more than one application, but no more than one proposal per principal investigator will be funded. There are no restrictions on the proposed academic uses for funding (salary support, equipment purchases, data fees are all OK). No indirect costs will be provided. Proposals do not need to be routed through Kuali.
Deadline for funding applications: July 14, 2023, at 5 p.m. ET
Funding decisions will be announced in early September 2023.
Please email IHCfundingopps@som.umaryland.edu with any questions you may have.