Eighteen (78%) of the participants returned a completed survey. Reasons for not completing the survey, given either by the participants who chose not to complete the survey, or by their departments, included the participant now working outside research; the participant on leave; the participant in the middle of writing a research grant (R01) and therefore not having time to complete the survey; and lack of response (only 2 participants did not respond after 3 attempts to contact them). Of those who did not complete the survey, 1 was from the first-year class, 2 were from the second-year class, and 2 were from the third-year class.
Results
The average age of respondents was 43.8 years (range, 37-53 years). Most were at the assistant professor level. An additional 4 were at the associate professor level, 2 were research directors, 1 was a professor, 1 was a clinician investigator, and 1 was an interim chair. A total of 12 of the respondents were physicians, 5 had a PhD, and 1 had a Doctor of Public Health degree; 4 of the physicians also had a Masters in Public Health and 2 had a PhD. The average number of years since obtaining their terminal degree was 15.1 years (range, 4-26 years). Most respondents (11) had their terminal degree 15 years or more.
Evaluation of research activities
A total of 58 grants/contracts were submitted by the respondents, representing approximately US$19.3 million. These figures represent an underestimate because 1 first-year class respondent only mentioned having submitted more than 10 grants over the last 3 years ranging from $50,000 to more than $1 million, but did not elaborate further. Due to this lack of specification, this information could not be entered into the subsequent analysis. Seven (12%) of those submitted were training grants, representing approximately $1.7 million. Most (32, or 55%) of the submitted grants/contracts were to nonfederal organizations, whereas 19 (or -33%) were to federal agencies. Although 22 (38%) of the submitted grants/contracts were for less than $50,000, 11 (19%) (excluding training grants) were for more than $300,000. Nineteen (33%) of the submitted grants/contracts were funded including 4 training grants, representing approximately $1 million excluding training grants ($2.3 million including training grants).
Although 22 (38%) of the grant submissions were not funded (representing approximately $6.2 million), another 17 (29%) were pending, representing approximately $10.8 million, including training grants. Based on prior experience, approximately 46% of these pending grants may receive funding, which could result in an additional $4.8 million.
Table 1 shows the number of grants/contracts submitted, funded, not funded, and pending as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI by class year of the GGP fellowship. Most (42, 72%) of the grants/contracts submitted were by the first- or second-year class fellows with 12 grants pending and 16 funded. The Figure 1 shows the number of grants/contracts submitted by submission date and fellowship class year. The number of submissions increased within 1 to 2 years of the fellowship.
Although the sample size was too small for statistical evaluation, some trends are noted. Only 3 of the 18 respondents indicated that they had not submitted a grant or contract as PI or Co-PI, whereas 1 respondent indicated being an evaluator or research director on 6 funded grants. The average number of grants submitted by participants was 4.4. Participants who had submitted a grant tended to be older and to have held their terminal degree for a longer time. Thirty-seven of the total grant/contract submissions were by respondents older than the mean age of 43 years, and 41 of the total grant/contract submissions were by respondents who had received their terminal degree more than 15 years ago. The latter respondents also accounted for 15 of the 19 funded grants. No difference was noted in the rate of grant submission by terminal degree type.
Several respondents also indicated the following grant roles: qualitative analyst on 2 grants; research writer, administrator, project director, or evaluator on 8 grants; co-investigator on 2 grants; and consultant on 4 grants. Twelve of these grants were funded, with 4 training grants representing approximately $1.7 million and 8 research grants representing approximately $1.3 million.
Evaluation of GGP components
Table 2 shows the evaluation of each GGP component. Most respondents indicated that the concept paper and the grant-writing components were very helpful. Additional components indicated as very helpful included networking, mock reviews, consultant mentoring, and peer groups. Compared with the concept paper and grant-writing components, the statistics and the mentoring components were rated as less helpful. Expectations of the GGP