Coordination Center Component

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Project Summary—Pilot Studies Providing critical pilot funding to support state-of-the-art, clinically relevant studies by junior researchers across the country is an essential service of our “Center for use of Smart Technologies to Assess Real-world Performance (C-STAR) Medical Rehabilitation Resource program. We will use several methods to reach members of our target populations (primarily junior rehabilitation researchers and clinicians) across the country: (i) our C-STAR website, (ii) our Rehabilitation Measures Database—which attracts an average of about 11,000 daily hits from precisely the individuals who may be candidates for pilot funding, and (iii) through professional interactions—our PIs, Core Directors and key personnel will reach out to potential applicants during the many relevant meetings they attend nationwide. We will take steps to ensure that our outreach targets individuals from underrepresented populations in rehabilitation research through targeted outreach to historically black colleges and universities and to offices of minority affairs at other universities. Application for C-STAR pilot funding will be a two-stage process. First, we will require a simple Letter of Intent (LOI) that includes the project title, a half- page description of the specific aims, an NIH-style biosketch for the investigator and key personnel, and a cover page that asks for information that will allow us to select a review panel with appropriate expertise (i.e., engineering, outcomes, clinical, implementation and community engagement), based on the goals of the project, subject population, and domain of the research (in-lab, in-clinic, or real-world assessments, or two or more intersecting domains). If the LOI is selected, we will require a full application, one month later, that will consist of an additional 3-page summary of the approach, a budget, and a letter of support from the home institution. The LOI and full application will be submitted through our C-STAR portal and managed through NITRO- competitions software, developed by Northwestern University Clinical and Translation Sciences Institute. Applications will be objectively evaluated by Center Core Directors and relevant key personnel; Leora Cherney, PhD, Pilot Studies Director, will convene the review panel and oversee the review process. We anticipate a wide variety of funded studies, in terms of the study type, patient population under study, and the technologies employed. We will solicit applications twice a year and award 6 pilot projects per year, each with a total direct cost of up to $25,000. In addition, full institutional indirect costs will be provided to ensure pilot funding is used for research. All applicants will receive extensive feedback on their projects and mentorship from C-STAR faculty as desired or needed. Applicants who are funded may choose whether to conduct their research at their home institution or at SRAlab. Applicants will have access to our four cores: Engineering, Clinical, Outcomes, and Implementation Science & Community Engagement. We will prioritize projects that (i) support junior researchers with intriguing ideas, in particular, those from underrepresented groups, (ii) have the potential to advance rehabilitation research and benefit patients, and (iii) will lead to extramural funding and career advancement.