May 2002, Vol. 20 No. 5

Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Awardee Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Scholar Award
NIH MERIT Award Winner Charles E. Culpeper Scholarships in Medical Science
OVPR Staff Recognition Awardee Aetna Foundation Regional Community Grants Program
UMMS Basic Science & Clinical Research Awards Breast Cancer Research Funding
W. T. Grant Scholars Program
Do My Subject Recruitment Methods Require IRBMED Review? Graduate Program in Immunology Seminar

Christin Carter-Su, Ph.D., Recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Award in Biomedical Research

Every year, the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) has the honor of presenting the Distinguished Faculty Lectureship award to a faculty member in the biomedical sciences identified as making outstanding contributions to the University in the areas of teaching, research, and service. The BMRC is presented annually with a group of colleagues whose contributions to their various fields and to the institution are outstanding. This year, Christin Carter-Su, Ph.D. is the 2002 Distinguished Faculty Lectureship recipient. Dr. Carter-Su is Professor of Physiology and Associate Director of the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center at the U-M Medical School. The date of her Lectureship and reception will be announced soon. This award carries a $7,500 discretionary academic support prize.

Jairam Menon, Ph.D., NIH MERIT Award Winner

The Office of Research and Graduate Studies is pleased to announce that Jairam Menon, Ph.D.; Professor of Biological Chemistry and Obstetrics and Gynecology has been awarded the prestigious National Institutes of Health MERIT Award.

Linda Peasley Winner of a 2002 OVPR Staff Recognition Award

Linda Peasley, Basic Science Administrator for Human Genetics has been awarded the Distinguished Research Administrator Award. Congratulations Linda!

University of Michigan Medical School Basic Science and Clinical Research Awards

The Medical School Dean’s Office is soliciting nominations for the Basic Science and Clinical Research Awards. These newly established awards are to recognize scientists or groups of scientists identified as having made outstanding contributions to the Medical School in basic biomedical and clinical research. These awards carry a $7,500 discretionary academic support prize. One recipient or group will be selected for each award.

Nominations submitted to the Biomedical Research Council (for Basic Science Award) and the Advisory Council on Clinical Research (for Clinical Science Award) will be reviewed and a list of potential awardees given to the Dean of the Medical School. The Dean will make the
final selection. Nomination deadline is Monday, June 24, 2002. Nominees for the Basic Science Research Award must be faculty in the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor or Assistant or Associate Research Scientist. Nominations must include the following: a letter of support from the Department Chair or Unit Director; two or more letters of support from U-M faculty; a three page maximum summation of the nominee’s research work; one or more manuscripts reflecting the substance of research achievement; and a current CV.

Send nominations to the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, 4107 Med. Sci. I, Box 0624. Contact: Denise Swayze at 763-4086 or dswayze@umich.edu.

More University of Michigan Medical School Awards

The Medical School Dean’s Office is also soliciting nominations for the following awards:

  • Community Service Award
  • Innovation Award
  • Lifetime Achievement Award in Medical Education
  • Clinical Award for Primary Care
  • Clinical Award for the Specialist

Each of these awards carries a $7,500 discretionary academic support prize, which will be given to the faculty member or group. The nomination deadline for these arwards is June 24, 2002. Contact your department chair for complete information on these awards.

Do My Subject Recruitment Methods Require IRBMED Review?

By Vernon K. Sondak, MD & Robert Cody, MD, Co-chairs, IRBMED &
Patricia Ward, MPA, Director, Clinical Research Services

Advertisements for recruiting potential research subjects can take many shapes. Examples include: flyers in a hospital hallway or on a student union bulletin board; newspaper, radio or television ads; direct mailings; electronic mail announcements; postings on websites; brochures in a patient waiting area; communications to referring physicians designed to be passed on to potential subjects; and automated telephone message systems that play outgoing recruitment messages to patients while they are on hold or that are programmed for study subject triage and intake. Yet another form would be a press release designed to publicize a trial that is open to new subject accrual.

By federal law, the IRB is required to protect the welfare of human subjects participating in research and, specifically, to determine that the selection of subjects to participate in the project is equitable and free from coercion. As an essential part of this process, the IRB must review and approve any advertisement for recruiting subjects to a research project before it can be distributed to potential participants. Academic medical centers, by their nature, function in an open environment where physicians strive to make their research widely known to the community. How then are we to know what is an advertisement (or other recruiting mechanism) that requires IRB scrutiny before it can be released and what is ‘business as usual?’

Advertisements for recruiting are usually study-specific and not generic statements about research conducted in a particular setting (e.g., Surgery Department) or for a given group of diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease). Advertisements for recruiting are designed to be conveyed to potential participants, either directly or through an intermediary such as a referring physician.

The fact that something is accessible on a website does not in and of itself make it an advertisement intended to be conveyed to a potential participant. Postings giving details of eligibility criteria and study procedures in lay language, those describing potential benefits of the research (as opposed to the specific aims or scientific objectives of the research), and descriptions of compensation all would be viewed by the IRB as elements of an advertisement. Advertisements for recruiting are designed (at least in part) to solicit a response from potential participants, and hence provide contact information to reach individuals responsible for entry into that study. Statements such as “To see if you are eligible to participate, call...” or “For more information about this study, contact...” would be viewed by the IRB as elements of an advertise- ment. A generic statement such as “Speak to your doctor if you are interested in participating in a cancer clinical trial” or “To hear more about the research efforts of the Department of Radiation Oncology...” would not, in and of itself, constitute an advertisement for recruiting.

Please note that there is no reason why researchers should not employ web-based or other recruiting mechanisms. However, researchers are reminded that any such advertisements require IRBMED review and approval, and when modified the IRBMED must approve the modification. If an advertisement or posting is modified, the researchers must provide the IRBMED with the text of the modified advertisement before it is posted on the website. If the text on the website is identical to text being used in flyers or newspaper advertisements, then the IRBMED only needs to receive one ad with appropriate indications that this ad will be displayed as a flyer in the department’s waiting rooms, as an ad in the local news, and on the departmental website.

With these elements in mind, we believe that the IRB can do its assigned job of reviewing patient recruitment advertisements without putting an undue burden on investigators or departments.

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments. Thanks for your ongoing commitment to the protection of human research participants. Contact IRBMED at 763-4768.

Funding Opportunities

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Scholar Award
Internal Deadline: June 3, 2002

The Damon Runyon Scholar Award programis designed to help young investigators establish independent laboratories. Awards are $100,000 each year for three years. Candidates must be at the assistant professor or equivalent level. The University of Michigan may nominate two scientists: a physician scientist affiliated with a clinical department and a basic scientist. In addition to the nominees, any investigator who was a Damon Runyon Fellow (and meets the eligibility requirements) may also apply. Deadline for submission of applications to Damon Runyon is July 1, 2002. For consideration as institutional nominees, submit the following by June 3, 2002: a 1-2 page research summary, a CV, and a nominating letter from the department chair. Submit all internal applications to the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, 4107 Med Sci I, Box 0624. Contact: Denise Swayze at dswayze@umich.edu or 763-4086. Complete details on this award can be found on the Damon Runyon web site: http://www.drcrf.org.

Charles E. Culpeper Scholarships in Medical Science
Deadline: August 15, 2002

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund announces the Charles E. Culpeper Scholarships in Medical Science. These awards support the career development of academic physicians. Awards of $100,000 a year for up to three years will be made. Applicants must have received the M.D. degree or its equivalent in 1993 or later (not hold rank higher than Assistant Professor), and must have at least one year of post-doctoral clinical training. Visit the Rockefeller Brothers Fund web site for complete application guidelines: http://www.rbf.org/scholar.html.

Aetna Foundation Regional Community Grants Program
Deadline: June 28, 2002

The Aetna Foundation funds the Regional Community Grants Program to help address critical health issues in U.S. communities. The program is designed to develop strategic partnerships with nonprofit organizations that share Aetna’s commitment to health issues and that welcome Aetna’s participation in grant-related activities. Under this program nonprofit organizations may submit more than one proposal for different programs aligned with one of the following areas: children’s health, women’s health, and disparities in health. For geographic target areas, including available funds and grant limits for each area, see the Aetna web site: http://www.aetna.com/foundation/communitygrants/rfp.htm.

Breast Cancer Research Funding

The Department of Defense (DoD) Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) has released several program announcements for 2002 and has expressed interest in funding researchers from Schools of Public Health in the following areas:

  • Innovator Awards: deadline—June 13
  • Exploration Awards: deadline—June 13
  • Idea Awards: deadline—June 11
  • Physician-Scientist Training Awards:deadline—June 12
  • Clinical Research Nurse Training Awards: deadline—June 12
  • Pre and Postdoctoral Traineeship Awards: deadline—June 12
  • Undergraduate Summer Training Program Awards: deadline—June 12

Complete details for each of these funding opportunities are available at: http://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/. Contact: Gail Whitehead, public affairs coordinator for the DoD USAMRMC at: 301-619-7783 or gail.whitehead@det.amedd.army.mil.

W.T. Grant Scholars Program
Internal Deadline: June 14, 2002

The W. T. Grant Scholars Program supports promising post-doctoral (but pre-tenure, tenure-track) scholars from diverse disciplines, whose research deepens and broadens the knowledge base in areas that contribute to creating a society that values young people as a resource and helps them live up to their potential. The Foundation is interested in research that is interdisciplinary, examines young people in social, institutional, community, and cultural contexts, and addresses issues that are relevant to youth-related programs and policies. Awards are $300,000 over a five-year period. The U-M may nominate one candidate from any major division. The Foundation Deadline is July 1, 2002. For consideration as the Medical School nominee, submit your application to the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, 4107 Med Sci I, 0624 by June 14, 2002. Contact: Denise Swayze at: dswayze@umich.edu or 763-4086. Application guidelines and complete details can be found at: http://www.wtgrantfoundation.org/usr_doc/FS2002.pdf.

Graduate Program in Immunology Seminar

Wednesday, May 8, 2002
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Room 5623 Med Sci II

The guest speaker will be Susan K. Pierce, Ph.D., Chief, Laboratory of Immunogenetics, NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The topic will be “Location is everything: The spatial organization of B cell signaling receptors.”