Grants Facilitation Unit Overview
Facing grant writing can often seem like an overwhelming endeavor, but you don’t have to do it alone! The School of Medicine Office of Research (SOMOR) Grants Facilitation Unit (GFU) offers high-quality support to UC Davis School of Medicine investigators throughout their academic careers, providing one-on-one consultations, organizing strategic initiatives, critically reviewing proposals, offering educational classes and seminars, and connecting researchers across disciplines.
We assist investigators across the research career spectrum with proposals to numerous sponsors to develop and strengthen research programs within the School of Medicine. We specialize in NIH mechanisms, including fellowship (F) awards for predoctoral and postdoctoral scholars, career development (K) awards for early-stage investigators, R-series awards for early stage or established investigators, institutional training grants, and center grants (P or U series) for multi-investigator teams. We assisted with over 120 grant proposals in FY 2020-2021.
We work collaboratively with the UC Davis Office of Research Interdisciplinary Research Support team as well as other grant support units across the campus.
The GFU does not provide administrative support, budgetary guidance, or submit your application; these services are offered by your department or unit. Refer to this list of internal items to be completed in preparation for grant submission.
At the conclusion of our work together, we will require you to complete a brief follow up survey to assist us with data collection for various institutional reports, newsletters, etc. The survey should take no more than five minutes of your time.
Connect with us via email or by submitting a service request form.
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Early Career AwardsWe support early stage and early career investigators through individualized consultations, strategic proposal development, and critical review. Our efforts and mentorship provide investigators scaffolding to further develop their research trajectories and programs of research. Primary contact: Hardeep Obhi, Ph.D., hkobhi@ucdavis.edu |
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R-series and Institutional Training GrantsWe work with faculty on R-series grants (R01, R21, R03, etc) and institutional training grants to support the School of Medicine research enterprise. We meet investigators where they are and offer consultations and critical review as needed. Investigators may need to connect with the School of Medicine Office of Research Operations Unit as they can assist with data tables for training grants. Primary contact: Heather Hughes, Ph.D., hkahughes@ucdavis.edu |
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Center, Project, and Collaborative GrantsWe coordinate the activities of administrators and faculty in the preparation large grant proposals for program projects/center grants (P01, U54, U01, P30, P50, etc.) in basic and translational biomedical research. We work with teams of investigators to plan for and execute the writing of these complex proposals. As part of our support, we meet regularly with teams, support project management, and critically review proposals from draft to final version. Primary contact: Jeffrey Engler, Ph.D., jaengler@ucdavis.edu |
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Grant Writing InstructionWe provide mentorship as well as both formal and informal instruction to various programs, department, classes, and clubs on effective proposal writing. We instruct a two-quarter Grant Writing course, Introduction to Grant Writing I and II (CLH 208 and 209, 4 units), which leads scholars through the required components of NIH grant proposals. We are also instructors and coaches in the following institutional grant writing programs: Primary contact: Erica Chédin, Ph.D., emchedin@ucdavis.edu |
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