To expand the number of faculty members and health care professionals who participate in extramurally funded research, Loma Linda University Health began offering Grants for Research and School Partnerships (GRASP) awards in 2010.
Starting with the 2017 application cycle, the GRASP program will allow non-MD health care providers from LLU Medical Center or Faculty Medical Group to participate. To qualify, the non-MD clinicians must have an advanced degree.
To apply for a GRASP award, the research project under consideration must be led by two co-principal investigators who work in different parts of Loma Linda University Health.
The pairs must include:
• Two faculty members from different schools at Loma Linda University, or
• One school faculty member and one health care provider from Loma Linda University Faculty Medical Group, or
• One school faculty member and one health care provider from Loma Linda University Medical Center.
A fourth GRASP opportunity debuting in 2017 is designed to foster international collaboration. For this opportunity, the co-principal investigator pair must include one school faculty member from Loma Linda University and one post-baccalaureate professional employed by an international hospital, medical center, college or university that is part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
2017 application deadlines
Applications are due Monday, Oct. 10, at 5 p.m. Pacific time.
Previous to that, letters of intent are due on the following target dates:
• For faculty/Faculty Practice Group specialist pairs, faculty/Medical Center specialist pairs, and faculty/international pairs – Monday, Aug. 14, at 5 p.m. Pacific time
• For LLU faculty pairs – Monday, Sept. 18, at 5 p.m. Pacific time
For full details of eligibility and criteria for evaluation, visit the GRASP webpage.
2016 awardees
The $75,000, 24-month GRASP awards for 2016 went to the following teams at Loma Linda University:
- Lisa Roberts, DrPH, associate professor at the School of Nursing, and Susanne Montgomery, PhD, associate dean and professor at the School of Behavioral Health
- Kristopher Boyle, PhD, assistant professor at the School of Pharmacy, and Eileen Brantley, PhD, assistant professor at the School of Medicine
- Ellen D’Errico, PhD, associate professor at the School of Nursing, and Gayathri Nagaraj, MBBS, assistant professor at the School of Medicine.
Roberts’ and Montgomery’s study — titled “Understanding health and emotional responses and perceptions of Asian-Indian needs” — will focus on a mindfulness-based stress-reduction intervention designed to help Asian-Indian immigrant women living in the United States cope with challenging social-adjustment situations that predispose them to elevated levels of anxiety and depression.
Boyle’s and Brantley’s study — titled “AhR agonist analogs as novel agents to treat refractory breast cancer” — seeks to test a potential treatment for the deadly disease which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, currently kills approximately 40,000 women per year in the United States alone.
D’Errico’s and Nagaraj’s study — titled “Intraneural facilitation: managing chemotherapy-indirect peripheral neuropathy” — will evaluate the effectiveness of a novel, non-invasive, physical therapy treatment for a painful, irritating and sometimes serious side effect of chemotherapy in breast cancer patients.