The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
supports a program of Child Health Research Centers (CHRC), intended
to provide resources to speed the transfer of knowledge gained
through studies in basic science to clinical applications that will
benefit the health of children. This will be accomplished by
increasing the number of pediatric medical centers that can stimulate
and facilitate the application of research findings to pressing
pediatric problems, as well as by increasing the number and
effectiveness of pediatric investigators who have a grounding in
basic science and research skills that can be applied to the health
problems of children.
HEALTHY PEOPLE 2000
The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving the health
promotion and disease prevention objectives of "Healthy People 2000,"
a PHS-led national activity for setting priority areas. This Request
for Applications (RFA), Child Health Research Centers, is related to
the priority areas of nutrition, maternal and infant health, diabetes
and chronic disabling conditions, and immunization and infectious
diseases. Potential applicants may obtain a copy of "Healthy People
2000" (Full Report: Stock No. 017-001-00474-0 or Summary Report:
Stock No. 017-001-00473-1) through the Superintendent of Documents,
Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325 (telephone
202-512-1800).
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Applications may be submitted by domestic for-profit and non-profit
organizations, public and private, such as universities, colleges,
hospitals, units of State and local governments, and eligible
agencies of the Federal government.
A CHRC grant is awarded to a children's hospital or a department of
pediatrics of an approved medical school in the United States of
America that has as a primary teaching site either a general
children's hospital or a children's program, with an identifiable
organizational structure that is part of a larger medical
institution. Recipient institutions must have the clinical pediatric
specialties and subspecialties and the discrete clinical and research
facilities sufficient to ensure the linkage of basic research and
clinical applications that will meet the purposes of the CHRC
program.
The CHRC must have a strong, well-established research base, resting
on the interests of established investigators who make their
expertise available to the junior investigators and act as mentors or
senior collaborators for them. The research at the Institution must
be relevant to the current areas of interest of the research and
programmatic needs of the NICHD. Research should be broadly-based,
not defined by a specific disease category or organ system. There
should be an adequate pool of junior investigators likely to benefit
from career development under the guidance of established
investigators. In addition, each Center must have a scientifically
sound and equitable system for choosing which junior investigators
and which projects are to be supported. Finally, there should be
evidence of an institutional commitment to support the Center
resources and to the development and retention of pediatric
investigators.
