Clemson University, Prisma Health NIH Accelerator Program helps researchers get prestigious funding

Confidence. Experience. Career-long advice. These are just some of the things that post-doctoral fellow Amy Schuster has gained while in the Clemson University/Prisma Health National Institutes of Health (NIH) Accelerator Program.

The NIH Accelerator Program is a mentoring program for faculty investigators seeking NIH funding. Participants have access to a variety of mentors from the Health Sciences Center at Prisma Health, which includes Furman University, Clemson University, University of South Carolina and Prisma Health, who provide mentorship and consistent feedback throughout the grant application preparation process. These mentors have been chosen due to their success with K, R, and other NIH grants, and these partnerships serve as development activities to support the growth of research and collaboration at the University.

Applicants are selected for the program in recognition of their strong health research questions and applications. Participants ‘learn by doing’ in this training program, as they develop a draft proposal over the course of the year. They receive feedback from experienced researchers who have been funded by NIH and other agencies. While it is easy to simply hear about best practices, actually developing a proposal and getting feedback from more experienced researchers is incredibly valuable.

This is the third cohort of the program. In the first year, there were six mentees, and in the second year, there were 12 mentees. Out of the past two cohorts, four researchers submitted and received NIH funding so far, such as Lior Rennert, a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences. Rennert is a mentor this year. In the past year, he received an R01 for his research focus on South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare, called “A data-driven approach to identify and target high-risk rural communities via mobile health clinics.”

This year’s mentees are:

• Gregory Cranmer, associate professor, Department of Communication, College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
• Amy M. Schuster, a postdoctoral fellow, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
• Matthew Browning, associate professor, Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
• Heather Dunn, assistant professor, Department of Bioengineering, College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences
• Ashley McKenzie, assistant professor, Department of Communication, College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
• Shivani Arora, a postdoctoral fellow, Department of Bioengineering, College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences
• Sriparna Bhattacharya, assistant research professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science
• Nicole Davis, associate professor, School of Nursing, College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences
  Nick Potisek, physician, Pediatrics, Prisma Health
• Jackie Cha, assistant professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences