SRS Directed Research Proposal

There is increasing national interest and concern regarding the safety and outcomes of health care. The SRS has made the commitment to provide funding for a research project in pediatric spinal deformity that involves either of these two areas. We are soliciting proposals from our membership. Only SRS members may apply for this grant.

Safety: Projects should focus on identifying complications and on decreasing the incidence of serious adverse patient outcomes in the pediatric population. It is recommended that proposals align with evolving pay for performance measures being developed by national quality organizations.

Outcomes: The SRS seeks research project proposals that will lead to a greater understanding of the long-term outcomes of surgical and non-surgical treatment of patients with pediatric spinal deformities, ie more than 10 years post treatment.

The research project may be funded to a maximum of $100,000 over a 2-year period.

A two page preliminary application for proposals can be found on the SRS website under the Research tab - "grant applications". The application should be downloaded, completed, and submitted by mail or word document to Courtney Kissinger at the SRS. There is an outline for a full application also under the research tab. DO NOT submit a full application unless invited to do so.
All applicants MUST complete the preliminary application. The deadline for the preliminary submission is December 1st 2011.
Preliminary submissions will be reviewed and applications that meet the grant criteria will be notified by December 20th to complete the full application. The deadline for the full applications is March 2nd 2012 with the funding cycle beginning May 11th 2012.
For outcomes-related project proposals, those that will provide comparative outcomes, improve our ability to assess long-term outcomes, or utilize decision analysis to predict long-term outcomes are all considered appropriate for this request. It is recommended that these projects be at least level III studies.
Proposals may be practice, hospital, or health care system-based. Preference will be given to studies that develop tools that will provide the ability to compare results across centers.
For non-human or biomechanical studies, preference will be given to studies that have direct application or translation to patient care and safety.

Members may be a PI on up to two applications. Proposals can be for projects that have other funding sources or have been submitted for other SRS grants, but this proposal should represent a distinct portion of the project that has unique outcomes, goals, and funding from the other parts of the project.

For any questions related to this call for proposals, please contact Courtney Kissinger at ckissinger@srs.org.

Preliminary Application: [Word] [PDF]

Research