DoD Prostate Cancer, Health Disparity Research Award by Department of Defense

The FY20 PCRP Health Disparity Research Award supports promising research ideas that have high

potential to make a significant impact in eliminating disparities in prostate cancer incidence,

morbidity, mortality, and survivorship. Applications for this award are encouraged to be relevant

to one or more of the FY20 PCRP Health Disparity Research Award Focus Areas and must

ed to the selected focus area(s). If the proposed project does not address one of the FY20 PCRP Health Disparity Research Award Focus

Areas, the application must provide a description to justify how the project will nevertheless

address a critical disparity-related need in the field of prostate cancer research and/or patient

care. Applications are encouraged from a spectrum of disciplines, including but not limited to

basic science, engineering, bioinformatics, population science, psycho-oncology, translational

research, health care services.

Community Engagement: Investigators are highly encouraged to engage members of the targeted

population or community in the development and implementation of their research project, where

appropriate. A comprehensive, but by no means exhaustive, list of health disparity research

resources and community or advocacy organizations is provided at the end of the Health Disparity

Research Award Information section. Applications that involve and utilize population- or

community-based organizations to support their research project should demonstrate the level of

involvement in letters of support for the application.

Impact: Research supported by the FY20 PCRP Health Disparity Research Award is expected to have

the potential to make a significant impact in addressing prostate cancer health disparities.

Research with a high degree of innovation is anticipated to have a higher potential for significant

impact. Applications must also include a detailed transition plan that articulates the pathway to

moving the project’s findings to the next phase of development after successful completion of the

award and continue advancing the research toward making a clinical impact, even if clinical impact

is not an immediate outcome.

Research Scope: Proposed projects may include basic, translational, or clinical research, including

clinical trials. A clinical trial is a research study in which one or more human subjects are

prospectively assigned to one or more interventions (which may include placebo or other control) to

evaluate the effects of the interventions on biomedical or behavioral health-related outcomes. Only

small-scale, early (i.e., up to and including Phase II or equivalent) clinical trials are allowed.

Investigators proposing a clinical trial are highly encouraged to consider leveraging the PCRP

Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium (http://pcctc.org/) to facilitate the rapid initiation

and completion of the trial. The inclusion of preliminary data are encouraged but not required. Any

preliminary, unpublished data provided should be from the Principal Investigator (PI) or a

member(s) of the research team.

Projects that are investigating the biological basis of health disparity within one or more

populations are encouraged to carefully consider the proposed research methods. The application

should especially consider the impact of stratifying populations by either (1) genetic and/or

genomic classification of the population(s) or (2) self-reported race, and ensure that the

application justifies the selected approach. Applications must include a robust statistical plan

with complete power analysis to demonstrate that the sample size is appropriate to meet the

objectives of the study.

To maximize the potential for impact, investigators are strongly encouraged to incorporate the

following components into their study design where appropriate: authentication of proposed cell

lines, statistical rigor of preclinical animal experiments, incorporation of experiments to assess

clinical relevance, and translatability of findings. As such, the PCRP-funded Prostate Cancer

Biorepository Network (PCBN) (http://prostatebiorepository.org/) and/or the North Carolina –

Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project (PCaP) (https://pcap.bioinf.unc.edu) are important resources to

consider if retrospectively collected human anatomical substances or correlated data are critical

to the proposed studies. Investigators considering use of these or other resources are highly

encouraged to provide a letter of support indicating access to and the availability of the desired

resources to support the study. The FY20 PCRP Health Disparity Research Award mechanism also

encourages studies utilizing data derived from large patient studies that include long-term health

records, biospecimen repositories, and pre-existing research that apply state-of-the-art genomic

and/or proteomic analysis, bioinformatics, and/or mathematical models to such data.

New Investigator category: This award encourages research ideas from investigators in the early

stages of their careers. The New Investigator category is designed to allow applications naming PIs

who are early in their faculty appointments or in the process of developing independent research

careers to compete for funding separately from Established Investigators. Applications naming PIs

using the New Investigator category are required to include a collaborator (or collaborators)

appropriate to the application who has experience in prostate cancer health disparity research, as

demonstrated by a record of funding and publications. The application must describe the potential

of the collaboration(s) to be successful and how the collaboration(s) will augment the PI’s

expertise to better address the research question. All applicants for the New Investigator category

must meet specific eligibility criteria, as described in Section II.C, Eligibility Information.

A Congressionally mandated Metastatic Cancer Task Force was formed with the purpose of identifying

ways to help accelerate clinical and translational research aimed at extending the lives of

advanced state and recurrent patients. As a member of the Metastatic Cancer Task Force, the CDMRP

encourages applicants to review the recommendations (https://health.mil/

Reference-Center/Congressional-Testimonies/2018/05/03/Metastatic-Cancer-Research) and submit

research ideas to address these recommendations provided they are within the limitations of this

funding opportunity and fit within the FY20 PCRP priorities.

The anticipated direct costs budgeted for the entire period of performance for an FY20 PCRP Heath

Disparity Research Award will not exceed $600,000 for an award under the New Investigator category

or $750,000 for an award under the Established Investigator category. Refer to Section II.D.5,

Funding Restrictions, for detailed funding information.

Awards will be made no later than September 30, 2021. 

For additional information refer to Section II.F.1, Federal Award Notices.