Type II: Center Award

Eligibility 

The principal investigator(s) must hold an appointment at their institution(s), which allows them to serve as principal investigator on extramural grant applications.

All applications must involve two or more investigators, at least one of whom:

• Has a primary faculty appointment in the Emory Department of Pediatrics (DOP) OR
• Is on the professional staff at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (Children's). This includes those Emory faculty who are outside of the Emory DOP or employed by the Pediatric Institute and who are on Children's professional staff as well as all non-faculty clinicians on Children's professional staff.
• Faculty from GRA-affiliated institutions are permitted to apply, provided the applications include an investigator from Emory DOP or Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. 

Application Process

Letters of Intent (LOIs) are required and must be submitted by April 9. Upload LOIs at the link provided when the portal opens (by Feb 12, 2026)

The first stage of the process is a Letter of Intent (LOI) addressed to and evaluated by a team for the applicable center. Applicants should consult with the applicable center director prior to submission to craft the most competitive application possible. LOIs may be a maximum of 2 pages (not including references) plus a one-page specific aims page in PDF format, should be addressed to the director(s) of the center to which the PI is applying, and must include the following components:

• Project title
• PI and key personnel
• Summary of project and methods (including hypotheses)
• Specify the type and timeline for the extramural grant submission being planned that will be submitted as a result of the funded pilot

A third page devoted to Specific Aims 

The LOIs will be reviewed based on the following criteria:

• Strength of the overall research plan and rigor of methodology
• Relevance to Child Health
• Relevance to Center goals
• Rigor of Specific Aims
• Likelihood of resulting in a strong extramural grant application
• Feasibility

Only a select number of LOIs will be moved forward to the full application stage. If a Letter of Intent is selected to move forward, the PI will receive a link to submit a full application no later than May 12 and full applications will be due June 25. 

The primary component of all full applications is the research plan: a 4-page, single-spaced, Arial 11 font, .5" margin scientific plan document. Note that references should be listed but are not included in the page limit and that the Specific Aims page is also not included in that page limit. The research plan must include the following components:

• Title
• Background and Significance to Child Health
• Specific Aims (separate from the 4-page document)
• Experimental Design and Methods
• Timeline for submission of extramural grant proposal
• Expected Results
• References (not includes in the 4 page limit)

Additional documents required for all applications include:

• NIH-format Biosketches for all key personnel. All applications must use the current format; instructions are available here. (Note that you will be required to use SciENcv after January 25, 2026 for all extramural applications, and thus we strongly encourage you to adopt that for this application.)
• NIH-format Other Support pages for principal investigators. Instructions for the current format are available here.  
• Budget, budget narrative and statements of work for consortium institutions (Required budget template is available under the FAQ and templates tab here)
• Signed Financial Letters of Agreement from the department head of every department included in the pilot budget except the Emory Department of Pediatrics of Children’s - see template provided in the templates tab of this RFA.
• (As Applicable/Available) IRB and IACUC approval/determination letters
• (Optional) Letters of Support from collaborators whose involvement is critical to the proposed project

The Proposals will be reviewed by a centralized review committee based on the following criteria:

• Strength of the overall research plan and rigor of methodology
• Relevance to Emory and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s
• Relevance to Child Health
• Rigor of Specific Aims
• Feasibility

Participating Centers: