The National Headache Foundation has been supporting clinical and basic science research in headache and its causes for over 25 years. These grants have served as springboards to obtaining over $7 million in federal funding of headache-related research. Newer resources have facilitated the application process and the review process.
Grants are now available, up to $100,000 per protocol, for research support. We are focusing the current campaign to protocols dealing with cluster headaches. This effort is supported by the Hope Schwab Fund in partnership with the National Headache Foundation.
We invite interested researchers to review the following guidelines. The grant application deadline is September 15, 2016. Applicants will be advised of the decision by November 1, 2016.
Grant Guidelines
Funds for a research project approved by the National Headache Foundation are awarded to the individual who is the principal investigator of the study. The funds are sent to the institution that employs the PI but are designated for the PI and the approved study.
If the principal investigator relocates to another institution before the study is completed, the funds and rights to publication should be transferred to the new institution. The transfer of funds needs to be approved by the original institution.
The Research Committee of the National Headache Foundation will review all such requests for transfer of funds to insure that proper equipment and expertise are available at the new institution in order to continue and satisfactorily complete the particular study. If the Committee does not feel that the study can be successfully completed at the new institution, transfer of the funds will not be approved, and the study must be completed at the original institution with a new investigator.
In the event that a funded study is not completed, any unused funds should be returned to the NHF.
Occasionally, an NHF grant is combined with a larger NIH “institutional grant,” in which case the funds will remain with the original institution if the investigator relocates.
All funds from the National Headache Foundation must be accounted for and updated in each milestone and final study report. Unused funds must be returned to the National Headache Foundation. Payment of the initial 25% of the approved grant will be issued upon receipt of a letter indicating the approval of the study by the institution or a recognized national Institutional Review Board for studies involving human subjects.
For those protocols involving animals, a letter from the institution’s animal care committee, approving the study must be received before payment is made. Subsequent payments of 25% of the total approved grant amount will be made upon submission of a satisfactory interim report noting completion of 33% and 66% of the study. The final payment will be made upon a satisfactory study report of the completion of the protocol as well as a full accounting of funds spent from the grant. The expected project duration is one year.
Funds are to be used for direct costs of conducting the study such as supplies, payments to subjects for travel, institutional review board fees, and salaries of research coordinators or statisticians. NHF will not cover costs including overhead, physician and primary investigator salaries, purchase of equipment, software, rent, or other indirect expenses. Use of funds omitted in the original budget, will not be paid without submission of a revised budget that is approved by the National Headache Foundation.
Investigators wishing to present their study at a national meeting may submit a request for a travel grant up to $1000 when submitting their final study report.
Research Policy
The National Headache Foundation (NHF) supports research in the field of headache and pain as a part of our mission, which also includes offering education and information to headache sufferers.
The National Headache Foundation is interested in research protocols that are objectively sound and whose results can, when published in the medical literature, contribute to the better understanding and treatment of headache and pain. Grants from the NHF will not cover costs including overhead, salaries (payment for technicians, others collecting data, administrative services, etc.), purchasing of equipment, rent, or other indirect expenses.
Grants may be used for the purchasing of supplies needed for the study (chemical or pharmacological reagents, laboratory animals, tissue culture materials, forms, etc) and for costs related to the recruiting of patients, data analysis, interpreting or reading results, etc.
The projects will be evaluated by the Research Committee and grant recipients will be notified by November 1, 2016. If you would like a copy of the grant guidelines, visit our Web site at www.headaches.org or email [email protected]