ISHLT/Enduring Hearts Transplant Longevity Research Grant
One of ISHLT's missions is to award research grants and establish endowments for the study of heart and lung transplantation and end-stage heart and lung disease. The organizational goal of Enduring Hearts is to promote research to improve longevity of,
and quality of life for, pediatric heart transplant recipients, and ultimately reduce and eliminate pediatric heart disease. Our two organizations have joined forces to develop a grant, the ISHLT/Enduring Hearts Transplant Longevity Research Grant,
to achieve these missions.
Purpose
The purpose of the Grant is to further the scientific understanding of the determinants of pediatric transplant heart longevity and thereby improve the quality and duration of life. Grants will be made for research proposals that have a high likelihood
of being translated into clinical practice within five years and those that have relevance to or directly involve pediatric transplant recipients and/or their families.
Grant Amount
This grant will be bestowed every other year in an amount of up to $160,000 for the purpose of furthering the scientific understanding of the determinants of transplanted heart longevity and thereby improve the quality
and duration of life.
Research Priorities
Funding decisions will be based upon scientific merit, innovation, application of new technologies, and alignment with one or more of the below areas of scientific interest relevant to improving heart transplant recipient longevity.
- Evidence-based strategies for improving treatment adherence
- Early and accurate identification of acute cellular and antibody-mediated rejection and cardiac allograft vasculopathy, including the development of accurate non-invasive methods and strategies for surveillance
- Studies on the causes, prevention, and treatment of cardiac allograft vasculopathy
- Research and development of novel immunotherapies, identification of novel targets, improving the side effect profiles of these agents as well as better monitoring and measurement of immunosuppression
- Improving Organ Viability and Availability - strategies and innovations that would allow better organ matching and allocation and strategies and technologies to improve the availability and quality of donor hearts.
- Development of strategies and studies aimed at new nutrition and exercise guidelines that improve the long-term outcomes of heart transplant recipients
Additional consideration will be given to applications that include clinical research or applications that include feasible clinical translations(s).
Eligibility Requirements
- The Applicant must be a member of the ISHLT in good standing at the time of application and throughout the period of funding.
- The Applicant must have completed a clinical or post-doctoral training program. Applications from new investigators are specifically invited.
- The research project must be conducted at an accredited university, college, medical or dental school, School of Public Health, hospital, laboratory, or other non-profit institution.
- No grants will be made for projects that receive overlapping funding from other sources (unless supplementary in nature) or that duplicate other projects already funded.
Funding Stipulations / Grant Policies
- The Grant recipient and the recipient’s institution will be required to sign an agreement with ISHLT prior to receiving any portion of the funding.
- Research must begin between May 1 and December 31 of the grant year.
- The funds must be used within two (2) years of the final installment disbursement date, unless an extension is approved by Enduring Hearts.
- The results of funded research must be submitted in one of the following formats within three years of the initial date of funding:
- as a manuscript to The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation;
- as an abstract for the ISHLT Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions; or
- as a report for publication in The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.
- The results of funded research cannot have been previously published or presented prior to publication in The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation or presentation at the ISHLT Annual Meeting.
- Acknowledgement must recognize Enduring Hearts as the funding source and supported by ISHLT in all manuscripts and presentations derived from the funded research via the following statement, “This work was supported by a research grant from Enduring Hearts and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation” Copies of these presentations I publications must be submitted to the ISHLT Headquarters office and the Enduring Hearts Headquarters office within one (1) month of presentation / publication.
- Funding will be awarded to the institution in three (3) portions. Twenty-five percent (25%) of the funding will be provided initially, with the fifty percent (50%) of the remaining funding provided at the 1 year progress report, and the remaining twenty-five percent (25%) paid when the final progress report is completed. Each additional installment of funding will be made after receipt of a scientific progress report accompanied by a brief lay (readability grade < 12) summary. The additional installments of funding will not be made if the research is no longer being conducted at the original institution or there is a delay in the research.
- The final progress report must include:
- a scientific summary of the project at the time of completion
- a lay (readability grade < 12) summary of the project at the time of completion
- a summary of the findings/conclusions, if available
- a reconciled budget showing how the funds were expended
- a commitment to submit the research findings in one of the formats outlined in the policies section #4 above within 12 months
- The grant recipient’s institution must agree that the funds will be expended for the purpose(s) described in the application, that there is no duplicate funding for these purposes, and that no portion of the grant will be used for indirect costs, or institutional overheard. If the overall project budget includes the purchase of capital equipment, these expenditures must be reviewed and approved by the Enduring Hearts Scientific Advisory Committee and the Enduring Hearts Finance Committee.
- The grant recipient or their research project director must participate in the Grants and Awards Session at the ISHLT Annual Meeting to receive acknowledgment of the award.
Guidelines for Judging Scientific Merit
The ISHLT Grants and Awards Committee will receive, process, peer review, and score all
applications. Enduring Hearts may appoint representatives from the Enduring Hearts Scientific Advisory Committee and the Scientific Advisory Liaison to the Enduring Hearts Board of Directors to participate as reviewers of the grant applications. The ISHLT Grants and Awards Committee will provide copies of the grant applications and the collated score sheets to Enduring Hearts. The ISHLT Grants and Awards Committee and representatives from Enduring Hearts Scientific Advisory Committee will meet via conference call to select a mutually agreed-upon grant recipient and an alternative recipient, if identified, for that year.
Current Recipient
