Horizon Therapeutics Fellowship Award

Goals: The goals of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Fellowship Award, sponsored by Horizon Pharma, are

• To increase the pool of highly trained pediatric infectious diseases physician-scientists;
• To stimulate research focused on the pathogenesis of chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) as well as the host response to infectious diseases seen in patients with CGD;  
• To improve care of pediatric patients with CGD through basic, translational, and clinical research.

Specifically, the PIDS/Horizon Pharma Fellowship Award will fund research focused on:

• Characterizing the immunopathogenesis of CGD
• Identifying alterations in innate and adaptive immunity in patients with CGD, including the effects of interferon-gamma on various immune cells.
• Identifying methods to improve quality of life in patients with CGD
• Establishing novel techniques and laboratory tools that can be used to improve our understanding of CGD immunopathogenesis.
• Characterizing the host-pathogen interaction of CGD related organisms (e.g., S. aureus, Nocardia, Aspergillus, Burkholderia, and Serratia)
• Development of diagnostic tools for CGD-related organisms

Eligibility:  Candidates must possess a MD or MD/PhD and be at least a first-year fellow in a Pediatric Infectious Diseases program in North America at the time of application.  During the PIDS Fellowship, the applicant is expected to devote the major portion of time (approximately 75%) conducting the research project under the direct supervision of a mentor who must be a PIDS member.

Support:  The stipend in the amount of $40,000 will be given for one year. The stipend is intended to provide salary, benefits, and/or study-related costs for the fellow.  It is not intended to provide resources for a division’s research program; indirect costs are not allowable.  

Application and Selection Process:  Application deadline TBD.

Application must adhere to the instructions and applications received after the deadline date will not be considered.

Each application will be reviewed by the PIDS Fellowship Awards Committee (see Review Criteria).

Final Report:  A final report will be submitted so that an additional year of funding may be considered. There is currently no plan for a 2nd year of funding; however, the final progress report may be used to evaluate suitability for another year of funding. The report should detail study progress, including results; conclusions; and plans for manuscript submission. The report will also be sent by PIDS to Horizon Pharma.

Acknowledgement:  The recipient of the Fellowship Award must acknowledge the pharmaceutical company in any abstract(s) or publication(s) that results from the research enabled by the award.  Specific acknowledgement wording will be provided in the award letter.

Review Criteria:  The Fellowship Awards Committee will address and consider each of the following criteria in assigning the application’s overall score, weighing them equally for each application.

• Applicant
• Mentor/Environment
• Research Plan
• Potential for success as an investigator in the field of pediatric infectious disease

Applicant

• Quality of the applicant’s academic and clinical record
• Educational and training background
• Honors and awards
• Research experience
• Commitment to becoming an independent pediatric infectious disease investigator
• Letters of reference 

Mentor / Environment

• Appropriateness of the mentor’s research qualifications in the area of the proposed research
• History of research productivity and peer-reviewed support
• Mentor’s previous experience in fostering the development of independent investigators
• Mentors’ proposed role(s) in providing guidance and advice to the applicant
• Institutional commitment to ensure that a minimum of 75% of the applicant’s effort will be devoted directly to the research project 
• Adequacy of research facilities and training opportunities
• The environment for the scientific and professional development of the candidate

Research Plan

• Significance
• Originality / innovation
• Design
• Appropriate use of laboratory technique and/or patient population
• Alignment with the goals of the award

Potential for Success as a Pediatric Infectious Disease Investigator

• Likelihood that the applicant will become a successful pediatric infectious disease investigator and contribute to training of the future generation

Checklist of Required Supporting Documents

• Applicant’s biosketch in current NIH format (5-page limit, based on 11/2016 revision)
  
• Mentor’s biosketch in current NIH format (5-page limit, based on 11/2016 revision)
  
• Letter of support: The applicant should provide a letter of support from the mentor(s) that describes the research project, documents commitment to provide at least 75% protected time during the period of postdoctoral training, and a description of the overall mentorship plan. 
  
• Research Plan: The primary hypothesis of the research proposal should be described clearly and concisely.  The experimental methods to be employed and any preliminary data should be detailed.  The implications and possible applications of results of the proposed project to the ultimate care of children should be described.  This section should not exceed 6 pages and should adhere to standard NIH guidelines.
  
  • Use an Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia typeface, a black font color, and a font size of 11 points or larger.
  • Type density, including characters and spaces, must be no more than 15 characters per inch. Type may be no more than six lines per inch. Use at least one-half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages.
    
• Career Development: Please provide a description of intended career plan that you wish to pursue upon completion of fellowship (no more than 1 page).
  
• Other support: Please document other support currently available or pending as a separate page.
  
  1. Present Support
     1. Grant Provider
     2. Type of Organization (federal, private, etc.)
     3. Principal Investigator
     4. Dates of Award
     5. Annual Funding Amount to Applicant
     6. Adjustments to be made if PIDS Award is received
        
  2. Pending support
     1. Grant Provider
     2. Type of Organization (federal, private, etc.)
     3. Principal Investigator
     4. Dates of Award
     5. Annual Funding Amount to Applicant
     6. Adjustments to be made if PIDS Award is received