St. Jude, UTHSC Seek Electronically Savvy Grant Writer

The Daily News
November 28, 2007
By Scott Shepard

The institutions that are the backbone of medical research in Memphis are simultaneously searching for the same thing: someone who understands the intricacies of federal research grant applications, and who can function in the fast-paced realm of electronic grants.

The pipeline of grant money is in the midst of a cyber conversion with the winners being those that can adapt. For the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to fulfill their role as the engines of Memphis biotech, they must be able to operate literally at the speed of light, said Steve Bares, president of Memphis Bioworks Foundation. Grant applications on paper that once took months to process now zip through computer networks and can be completed in hours.

"The group of people who know how to administer these grants, all the complicated forms to apply to the National Institutes of Health, or the Department of Energy or whoever it might be, that group is quite small," said Mark Barnes, chief administrative officer and executive vice president of St. Jude. "The group that can do this online is even smaller; it's a seller's market."

Sellers and buyers

St. Jude is conducting a nationwide search for a grant and contract administrator, making the pitch that working for a premiere institution such as St. Jude can be the culmination of a distinguished career.

Meanwhile, the UTHSC is searching for an equivalent worker, perhaps with an eye on a seasoned person weary of Northeastern weather. UTHSC's advertisement stresses both the university and Memphis' mild winter weather.

The job is tough to fill because, Barnes said, so many top tier organizations are all seeking the same talent so they can continue their momentum.

"Federal grants have grown enormously over the last 15-20 years," he said. "But there's no degree program that trains these people. Mostly they were some kind of administrative person and there was a need for somebody to learn this, so they learned by doing, and coming up the ranks."

The spark was the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which provided a method for transferring federally funded intellectual property from academic centers to private licensees for commercialization. That fueled more research. Do the arithmetic, he said, and most experienced grant writers are now in their 50s, and most of them are accustomed to paperwork.

"Grants used to be generated on 300 pages of paper and someone would walk it from office to office, and then it would be sent in by FedEx," he said. "Then the federal agency would make 10 copies for reviewers and they'd lug it around."

E-talent needed

Federal agencies now want applications submitted electronically to ease the paperwork but also speed the process. Despite plenty of grousing by some universities, Barnes said, labs are swimming in new money.

While U.S. Rep. John Porter, R-Ill., was chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that budgets NIH, grants were growing at 10 percent a year. Only after Porter left Congress has funding flattened, but at a much higher level.

"There's been a lot more money for junior researchers that weren't funded before; they get a track record and a reputation that helps them get more funding," Barnes said.

The upshot: Porter's advocacy of research helped plenty of talented people get started, and now they are hungry to continue their work. The institutions that can complete and submit electronic grant applications will be first in line.

Of St. Jude's 2005 total income of $418 million, $57 million, or 14 percent, was in the form of government grants. Sixty-nine percent of revenue, or $288 million, came from charitable contributions.

In that same year, UTHSC received almost $100 million in external funding for research and sponsored programs, ranking at No. 105 among institutions of higher education funded by the NIH. Seven departments in the College of Medicine (Anatomy, Neurosurgery, Orthopaedics, Ophthalmology, Pharmacology, Physiology and Urology) ranked in the top 45 for NIH funding, while the College of Medicine as a whole ranked 68th.

In 2002 UTHSC's former vice chancellor of research, Mike Docktor, pointed at another dynamic shaping the future of medical research, working in tandem with electronic granting. Universities were either going to make a serious commitment to research, or simply get out of the game.

"We knew we needed someone with research knowledge, and who is computer literate, as well as being able to train the campus and the faculty people who have to review protocols," said Jane Poulus, business manager for the Office of Research at UTHSC. She worked with Leonard Johnson, the current vice chancellor for Research, to develop a job description for the grant program manager.

When UTHSC recruits scientists and support staff, the candidate's computer savvy is as important as their creativity, she said. Electronic communication is the emerging language, and UTHSC wants people who can function with it.

"We're staring at the beginning of the end of the paper process," she said. "It's going to take a long time, but eventually it's going to go away. Online grants will definitely speed the process of research, and we are going to make it work."