# Pilot Projects Program

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO MED SCIENCES · 2020 · $547,671

## Abstract

There is an urgent need to increase diversity in research in order to improve health care for underserved groups.
Hispanics, women and unrepresented minorities (URM) early stage and new investigators are at a
disadvantage in obtaining funding from the National Institutes of Health. The Pilot Project Program (PPP)
Core of the Hispanic Alliance for Clinical and Translational Research (Alliance) is a critical component to
this Institutional Development Award in Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR) application. The long-
term goal of the PPP is to increase the number of URM scientists in clinical and translational research dedicated
to the study of health conditions affecting a Hispanic population. The objective of the PPP is to increase the
cadre of URM independent investigators in clinical and translational research addressing health conditions
prevalently affecting the medically underserved Hispanic population Puerto of Rico with an emphasis on
community engagement. This will be accomplished through sustained collaboration and coordination of
clinical and translational research activities as proposed in the following aims: 1) advance the development
of innovative and interdisciplinary collaborative clinical and translational research on health conditions affecting
the Hispanic population through the support of junior faculty (early stage and new investigators) and established
investigators via pilot projects; 2) promote community engagement translational research pilot projects for the
studies of community health; and 3) foster the development of competitive researchers in clinical and translational
research by designing in collaboration with the Professional Development Core (PDC) a tailor-made career
development plan for providing the needed skills and preliminary data. Reflecting on the accomplishments of the
current PPP, the activities of the Alliance's PPP build on our success's while seeking to address those challenges
identified. As a result, the PPP will: 1. Fund 6 pilot projects per year and with adequate justification expand
funding up to 2 years; 2. Coordinate Pilot monitoring with other Alliance cores (e.g., PDC, Community
Engagement and Outreach Core [CoE], Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design, and Tracking and
Evaluation Core) to assure compliance with the requirements of publications and grant submission; 3. Conduct
mock study sessions where the investigator can be a silent observant of the review process; 4. Participate in the
Alliance's Annual Scientific Meeting where a productivity award will be given to Pilot Project awardees; 5.
Schedule meetings with mentors to discuss mentoring styles and problems mentors/mentees may be
experiencing; 6. Collaborate with CoE in disseminating scientific information to the community in the activity titled
“Town Hall Meeting with a Scientist: Science & Health” and 7. Establish an interdisciplinary and interinstitutional
working group to assure diversity in the investigators, ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10027572
- **Project number:** 1U54GM133807-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO MED SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** VALERIE WOJNA
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $547,671
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-02 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10027572

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10027572, Pilot Projects Program (1U54GM133807-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10027572. Licensed CC0.

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