Finding the right funding opportunities

0:00 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients. When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research program. Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit. However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs.

0:40 For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene. Welcome to today's episode. I'm Toyosi Onwuemene, and it is a pleasure to be speaking with you today. Thank you for listening. Today, I am talking about how to find the right grant opportunities. And before I get started on the episode, I do want to encourage you, if you are interested in working with a coach to negotiate your academic career, you should think about signing up for Academic Negotiation Academy.

1:25 For more information, reach out to us on our website, clinicianresearcherpodcast.com. All right. So when I started my career, I just wanted to do research. And I had done some research as an undergraduate. I did some basic science wet lab type research. And when I moved to medical school, I did some clinical research. And when I was a resident, I did some clinical research as well. So when I got to fellowship and making the transition to faculty, I assumed that I would continue to do research. And so when I was told that, well, as part of being a researcher, I needed to submit grants, that kind of came as a shock to me.

2:09 I was like, well, I've been able to do research this whole time. I've never had to submit grants. I mean, I've submitted grants, but I didn't have to. Whether the grants got funded or not, I was able to do my work. So why? Why now? Why do I need to submit grants? Why can't I just do the research without finding grant money? And this is a sentiment that I know is echoed by other clinician researchers. I get people sometimes saying, well, I just want to do the research, but I don't want to do all this grant writing stuff. And I totally do echo the sentiment because grant writing is a bear. It's a lot. It's a lot of time investment, and you may not get the grant that you submit for.

2:52 And so if there is a possibility to do the research without actually asking for the money to do it, why wouldn't you take it? So one of the things I wanted to share is just that it will always cost money to do something. And so if you think about the fact that as long as you are asking a person to take up their time to do work, then that person's time does need to be compensated. So if they have a job, there is a way that their company makes money, and their work is in support of that.

3:32 And if they are working for your research program, that work for you needs to be funded. And if you say, well, I'm just going to fund myself. I'm going to do research by myself. I have nobody in my program. Therefore, I shouldn't need to have money to fund this research. Recognize that if you are an employee at an academic medical center, somebody is writing the checks to pay your salary every month. And usually, as a clinician, a lot of that money comes out of the collections as far as the patients that you see. So you're generating revenue every time you see patients.

4:14 And if you decide that you want to take away some of that time to go do some research, then okay, that's time that you're no longer generating clinical revenue. And it's like, well, so where does the revenue come from? And so those are the questions that always come up. And it's not always easy, I think, for academic faculty to understand that because it's like, well, it's my own time. And remember that I talked in an earlier episode about how research is not something you do on the side. It's not something you do after all your work is done. It is part of your daytime activity. So research should be part of your work. And if it's part of your work, then it's important to recognize, well, if that time during my workday is not being funded by clinical activities, how is it being funded?

4:58 And it's either being funded by a subvention from your institution, or there's grant money available to pay for it. And so that's what's important to understand when it comes to looking for grant opportunities. So how do you find the right grant opportunity? It's like, okay, so maybe I buy this idea that I need to fund myself. How do I find the right grant opportunities? And the other piece of it is to say that, okay, if you don't fund yourself, then what's probably going to happen is someone will say, well, okay, well, here's a clinical strategy by which you can fund yourself. And that is a difficult space in which to get research done.

5:41 As you know, if you've had the number of years of clinical training that you probably have had, there wasn't much of research in that. And if you're going to really grow to become the clinician researcher you want to be, you do want to make sure that you have time and space to develop your research training in the way you need to. So that time does need to be covered. And it's important to think strategically about what that could look like. And many institutions will start off by helping clinicians with a startup package, give them resources they need until they're able to make their own transition toward independence. So how do you find the right grant opportunities?

6:23 So the first step is always to start with the impact. So for many of us, when we start writing these projects, when we start working on research projects, we are just working on whatever is handed to us. So we identify a mentor, we go into their lab, we figure out the project that makes the most sense to us or is most interesting, or we just take the project that we're given, and then we make the most out of it. And we're not really thinking about, well, what impact do I really want to have? Not usually. But it doesn't matter whether you've already started with a project, you even are funded to do two or three projects, or four or five.

7:05 It's never too late to go back to ask yourself, what's the impact I want to make with my work? And for some of us, where we are is where we are. It's like, well, this is a project that came to me out of fellowship, and I've been working on it ever since. And there's value in that. But there is always value in stopping and saying, so what's the piece of this that's most important to me? What do I hope this research will accomplish? And how will that satisfy my need to contribute and to feel that I've contributed meaningfully? So it's never too late to go back and say, let me start with why, and let me start with figuring out what this research project means to me, or what this line of research means, what group or category of patients this research is going to affect, and why that matters to me.

7:50 And it's always important because clarifying the why just helps you. It helps you go the distance, because this work is hard. Being a clinician researcher is not really an escape from clinical care. Though I'd argue that many clinicians are trying to escape the burnout that can be associated with clinical care. Becoming a clinician researcher is not a pathway to escape. It's a pathway into a different type of job, no less demanding, and sometimes more challenging in different ways than actually working clinically. But it is important as you are trying to negotiate this territory and recognize that there's so much rejection and so many challenges along the way, is recognizing what this work is bringing to you.

8:36 So that for the days that are bad, the days that feel very bad, you have a remembrance of why you're there in that space. Otherwise, the temptation comes to quit and click for good and just take whatever is next. But remember that you should recognize the impact you want to make because it helps you be very clear about what tools and what resources you may need to get you there. So number two is to understand your need. So okay, you've now established that you are going to write proposals and submit them for funding. You have a sense of the impact that you want to make.

9:17 And the next step is just to understand, so what do you need? Within the context of leading a research program, what do you need? So let's think about some of the components of what you might need. So number one, you need your time to be protected. And again, protecting your time is really about making sure that there is time allotted during the day for you to actually carry out the activities of your research program. And for some of us, that looks like 20% and we're working up to greater than 20%. For some of us, maybe that looks like 50% and you're struggling to keep your clinic at its 50%. And for some of us who may already be on career development awards or beyond, it could be 75% or more.

10:00 So what you need is important. Okay, so you have this grant that's covering your time 75% of the time. When does that grant end and what is that bridge to the next award? And so recognizing your need allows you to structure your submissions in alignment with your need. And it's very important just to clarify so that you know how to move forward. Number three is to map out the path to help you get there. So we talked about your effort as one of the things that you need. Another thing is the effort of other people. So it's great that you are able to do all the essays in the lab that are relevant.

10:44 But if you're going to be the kind of PI, the kind of clinician, researcher, leader that you want to be, you can't be doing all the experiments and thinking about the forward direction of the research program at the same time. Yeah, when you're starting and you're super early, maybe you can get away with that. But as you start to really build over time, and if you're going to make a meaningful impact and you have because you've determined a number one what impact you want to make, then you want to clarify what do I need? What's the path to help me get to where I'm going? So I've decided I'm taking this project in hematology. I'm really interested in this aspect of it. What does it take to get there?

11:24 And recognizing all the resources you need allows you to be clear about, OK, if I'm going to secure funding from my time, these are the grant writing opportunities that make sense. And if I'm going to secure money for my team, these are the grant opportunities that make sense. And sometimes there's overlap between the grant that funds your protected time and the grant that funds your team to do the work as well. So knowing where you're going helps you figure out the path to how you get there. So number four is to create space in your life to respond to opportunities. Again, that's to create space in your life to respond to opportunities.

12:06 One of the things I talk about is the importance of creating writing structures so that day in and day out, whether it feels like a good day or it feels like a bad day, you have a strategy to improve your writing productivity. And so as you're doing that, it allows you to create space for the writing and also create space for opportunities. So many times, some of these grant funding opportunities are cyclical. And so this FOA is released for the next four years. You know that in June, there'll be another submission. In October, there'll be the next submission. And in February, there'll be the next submission. So you know that these are opportunities that are coming again and that they haven't expired so you can prepare towards them.

12:55 But you're also creating space for when the six-week opportunity comes in where it's like, okay, your LOI was expected, go. And creating space in your life, especially if you have kind of like established writing structures to help you move your research forward, if you have space in your life, when those opportunities come, then you can recognize them and more importantly, be able to jump on them as well. And so creating space so that when opportunities come out, especially those opportunities that are time-limited or time-sensitive, then you're able to create space to respond to those opportunities.

13:36 So to some extent, you have two broad categories of opportunities you're applying for, opportunities that will come again. So the RO1, at least as far as we know it is the RO1 is the RO1 is the RO1. It's gonna come again next time. That's gonna come again. That's cyclical. And then there are opportunities that just come. They show up. And you know that if I don't go for this, I don't know if it'll come back. And so you wanna be prepared for the cyclical things that are gonna come every time. So you're not like, oh, it's June again and I'm not ready. You're like, wait a minute, you knew it was coming in June. Because last year they said it was gonna come in June. Anyway, so clarifying that is helpful and being ready when those opportunities arise.

14:19 So there's the opportunity that you already knew was coming, then there's the opportunity that you didn't know was coming and it's like, go, it's six weeks, go. And when you have space in your life, you're able to respond. You're able to identify the opportunities that are meaningful to you, the opportunities that actually matter, and then you're able to do the next step, which is to commit. To commit. So there's one thing to find the right grant opportunities. There's another thing to clarify that it meets your needs. There's another thing to have a path to get there and then to finally be like, I'm gonna see this grant submission all the way through. It really does take commitment to make a grant go all the way to the finish line.

15:03 You gotta be committed because if you're not committed, the grant may not be funded. And then what? Does the program die because the grant was not funded? And in reality, every time a grant is unfunded, it really is an opportunity for you to stop and say, what do I wanna do next? And does this proposal still help me? Because if that's the answer, if the answer is yes, then you would create space in your life to repurpose this grant, either repurpose it or resubmit it. So committing to the grant submission allows you to say, I've chosen, I'm moving forward.

15:44 There'll be obstacles, there'll be challenges, but I'm gonna hit the finish line. And that may be the most important thing. So many people are putting in proposals, but then they are kind of like falling short. They're saying, ah, that's not what I wanna do. Oh, there's not enough time. What we're doing is committing to action, and we're going all the way, all the way, all the way. Okay, so five teaching points. Number one, determine what impact you want to make. Number two, understand your need. Number three, map out the path to help you get there so you already have a plan. And then create space in your life to respond to opportunities so that as they come across your desk, you know exactly where to go, you know what to do.

16:28 And then finally, commit. You gotta commit, because if you don't commit, really nothing in the world happens without commitment. So, if you are a mentor who is mentoring a young faculty member, I want to encourage you to share this with your mentee and also with other mentees in your program as well. And if you are looking to negotiate your academic career, please look us up on clinicianresearcherpodcast.com. You can also feel free to DM me on Facebook or on Instagram, and I would happily talk with you about your questions. All right, it's a pleasure to speak with you today.

17:10 Take care. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself. Someone else needs to hear it. So take a minute right now and share it. As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.