# Pilot Projects Program

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA · 2023 · $686,776

## Abstract

The overarching goal of the Center for Pacific Innovations, Knowledge, and Opportunities (PIKO) is to
develop a robust infrastructure for clinical and translational research (CTR), intending to mitigate health
disparities in Indigenous Pacific People (IPP), defined as Native Hawaiians, Other Pacific Islanders, and
Filipinos, as well as in other underserved populations (e.g., immigrants, homeless, and sexual and gender
minorities). To achieve this goal, a Pilot Project Program (PPP) will be designed to provide funding, on a
competitive basis, to Junior Investigators (JI) and Established Investigators (EI) who are seeking to make
significant changes to their research program. They will come from the faculty of the University of Hawaii,
Hawaii Pacific University, and Chaminade University of Honolulu. Funding will be prioritized toward innovative,
high quality, and impactful T1–T5 CTR pilot projects, with an emphasis on T3-T5, that accelerate the translation
of clinical and biomedical research into better patient care and improved public health for IPP and other
underserved populations. The provision of support for pilot projects is expected to result in heightened research
productivity and increased competitiveness for mainstream extramural funding for JI/EI. Also, given the serious
concerns about the aging of the NIH-funded scientific workforce, and the dearth of IPP principal investigators,
we will actively encourage applications from IPP JI/EI. Thus, the PPP Core objective will be achieved through
the following Specific Aims:
 Specific Aim 1: Solicit, review, and fund meritorious pilot projects by developing eligibility criteria, and
managing solicitation procedures and application submission processes; and by establishing review criteria and
managing review, funding-decision, and award-approval processes.
 Specific Aim 2: Provide post-award oversight and evaluation of pilot projects by monitoring and
evaluating the performance, progress, productivity, and return on investment of the awardees; and by assuring
awardees comply with federal policies, rules, and guidelines for conducting CTR.
 By the end of five years, the PIKO PPP Core will have funded 35 to 45 JI/EI to conduct culturally responsive
and scientifically rigorous CTR pilot projects focused on improving the health of IPP and other medically
underserved and vulnerable populations. Preliminary data from these pilot projects will be used to secure
federal and national grant funding. Most of the funded JI/EI will be from IPP backgrounds, thereby increasing
the number of IPP investigators successfully competing for NIH or other extramural funding.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10685396
- **Project number:** 5U54GM138062-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
- **Principal Investigator:** Scott Kiyoshi Okamoto
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $686,776
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10685396

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10685396, Pilot Projects Program (5U54GM138062-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10685396. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*