We are excited to announce a new partnership between several CUNY Colleges and Mount Sinai, promoted by the Mount Sinai Center on Health and Environment Across the LifeSpan (HEALS) and the City University of New York to fund transdisciplinary pilot grants tackling topics on “Climate Change and Health”. Applications will enhance each Program’s missions while converging the scope of research on climate change and environmental effects at CUNY with that on environmental health at Mount Sinai. The goal is to bring together researchers across sponsoring institutions to create new, transdisciplinary partnerships.
We anticipate that these pilot funds will be crucial for generating preliminary data for future RFAs including those arising from the NIH Climate Change and Health initiative, a multi-IC cross-cutting NIH effort to reduce health threats from climate change across the lifespan and build health resilience in individuals, communities, and nations around the world, especially among those at highest risk.
All applications must foster new collaborations among faculty from BOTH Institutions, with at least one faculty from each University (at least one PI from one of the CUNY sponsoring colleges and one from Mount Sinai must be included on all proposals). Proposals will be accepted from all areas that fit within the “Climate Change and Health” research theme. Examples of eligible applications include: 1) the use of a device or a technique developed by CUNY faculty, to assess patients in a clinical cohort followed by a Sinai faculty member; 2) modeling built environment factors in disease onset at Sinai and interventions on resilience in urban neighborhoods by CUNY.
For questions on eligibility and responsiveness of the applications, please email Robert Wright, MD, MPH at Mount Sinai (robert.wright@mssm.edu) or Patrizia Casaccia, MD, PhD at ASRC (pcasaccia@gc.cuny.edu) and John Tsapogas RFCUNY, Director of Award Pre-Proposal Support (john_tsapogas@rfcuny.org).
APPLICATION FORMAT:
Applications should be Arial 11‐point font, 0.5” margins, and a maximum of 6 pages including cover page.
The application should include:
- Cover page (Title, PI and list of co-Is, including institutional affiliations) (1 page)
- Abstract (300 words maximum) (1 page)
- Specific aims (1 page)
- Significance, Innovation, Approach, Future funding plans/goals (3 pages)
Separately, please also provide:
- NIH biosketch (max 5 pages each) for each PI and co-I (if applicable)
- NIH PHS Form 398 Budget and Budget Justification
- References
Biosketches, budget items, and references do NOT count towards the 6 pages, and all items should be submitted as one single PDF.
FUNDING GUIDELINES:
- Applications must have a minimum of ONE Mount Sinai and ONE CUNY PIs (either can be contact).
- CUNY primary PIs will be from one of the CUNY Sponsoring Institutions (i.e. ASRC, Graduate Center, CCNY, SPH, Brooklyn College, and Queens College). Faculty from all other Colleges, collaborating with the primary PI may participate as co-investigators (co-I)
- Subcontracts are NOT allowed. Funds will be divided among institutions. Please submit separate budgets for Mount Sinai and for CUNY.
- We expect to fund 1-3 awards of $50,000 each in combined direct costs (Mount Sinai + CUNY) or 1 larger award and some smaller awards. The number of awards granted will be based on the availability of funds and the nature of the proposals.
- Expected project period is March 6, 2023 – March 5, 2024.
- Funding may be used for any direct research expenses. PI and co-I faculty salary support, conference or meeting participation, will not be allowed.
- Funding for successful applications can be initiated as soon as appropriate IACUC and IRB approvals are obtained.
- Progress and final reports regarding grant applications, as well as annual updates thereafter are required from awardees as part of CUNY and HEALS P30 reporting requirements and are due 60 days after the end of the funding period.
EARLY- STAGE INVESTIGATORS
- Applications from early-stage investigators (Assistant Professors) at BOTH institutions are encouraged and prioritized. For those early-stage investigators, a pre-review will be provided to help shape the application.
- Pre-Review Deadline (ONLY Early-stage Investigators Program): December 2, 2022 (11:59 pm)
- The Final submission dates will be December 27, 2022 for all applicants.
APPLICATION DEADLINE:
(Excludes EARLY- STAGE INVESTIGATOR Applications):
- Applications are due by: December 27, 2022 (11:59 pm)
- Awardees will be selected: Week of February 27, 2023
- Project period: March 6, 2023 – March 5, 2024
For administrative questions, email Rozalyn Paupaw at Rozalyn.paupaw@mssm.edu for Mount Sinai based faculty and Kevin Wang Kwang@gc.cuny.edu for CUNY based faculty.
For questions on eligibility for joint Climate Change and Human Health projects email Robert Wright (robert.wright@mssm.edu) at Sinai and Patrizia Casaccia (pcasaccia@gc.cuny.edu) or John Tsapogas (john_tsapogas@rfcuny.org) at CUNY.
Additional Resources:
| Investigator Pilot Project Grant Application |
| Early- Stage Investigator Application |
| Biosketch Blank |
| Biosketch Example |
| Budget Form |
| Budget Justification |
| Submission Link |
| List of Participating Members |
