# Collaboration and Opportunities Component

> **NIH NIH P2C** · REHABILITATION INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO D/B/A SHIRLEY RYAN ABILITYLAB · 2022 · $251,520

## Abstract

Project Summary—Mentored Collaborative Opportunities 
Mentored collaborative opportunities provided by C-STAR include sabbaticals and pilot grant awards. The 
Specific Aims of this Center's mentored collaborative opportunities component are to: (1) Match junior 
rehabilitation researchers with senior scientists at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (SRAlab) for sabbaticals; (2) Develop 
the mentoring skills of senior scientists to assure successful collaborative opportunities; and (3) Develop plans 
with home institutions of visiting researchers to share responsibility for candidates' visits. Achieving these aims 
will allow us to promote, support, and prioritize interactions between visiting researchers and C-STAR 
investigators. We will develop agreements with the home institutions of visiting researchers that specify plans to 
share responsibility for financial support of candidates' visits. In addition, we will draw on the mentor training 
expertise of Northwestern University's Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. 
 The Research Plan for mentored collaborative opportunities draws on scientist-mentors at laboratories to 
support visiting rehabilitation researchers conducting pilot projects. A critical resource is the translational 
research model of the SRAlab. Five unique Ability Labs™ focus on distinct aspects of human performance. 
Within these Labs, 37 principal investigators collaborate with 71 physicians and 361 therapists as well as 
investigators at numerous academic institutions across the United States. Several centers, including the 
Regenstein Center for Bionic Medicine, the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research, and the Center for 
Aphasia Research and Treatment, have extensive experience mentoring early-career and junior investigators. 
 In developing this application, we considered critical issues such as the structure of mentoring relationships 
and incentives to assure that they are sustained. We have budgeted two 0.5 FTE personnel for implementation 
and outcomes per year for mentored collaborative activities. All SRAlab senior scientists will contribute 5% effort 
to the P2C per year, which will be funded by SRAlab. This effort will include mentoring of C-STAR clients. We 
will provide an honorarium for scientists from Northwestern University as compensation for their mentorship. We 
will negotiate the logistics of on-site mentored collaborations with visiting researchers' home institutions and the 
home institution's financial support of visiting researchers. We anticipate a 1:4 cost sharing arrangement with 
host institutions covering 80% of visiting scientists' expenses, with exceptions for institutions serving historically 
disadvantaged populations; we will provide up to $50K to support sabbaticals for individuals from such 
institutions. We will make substantive and sustained efforts to recruit scientists from minority backgrounds, 
including those located at historically black colleges and universities and from N...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10405436
- **Project number:** 5P2CHD101899-03
- **Recipient organization:** REHABILITATION INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO D/B/A SHIRLEY RYAN ABILITYLAB
- **Principal Investigator:** Allen Walter Heinemann
- **Activity code:** P2C (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $251,520
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10405436

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10405436, Collaboration and Opportunities Component (5P2CHD101899-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10405436. Licensed CC0.

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