NIMH is moving right along...

[rivka]

I got my Summary Statement for my grant today, which is excellent time considering that I've only had my score for a few days. (They tell you to allow 6-8 weeks.) The Summary Statement has two parts: a "summary of discussion," which summarizes what everyone had to say, and then critiques from my three in-depth reviewers giving both numerical rankings and strengths-and-weaknesses for five different review categories.

Here's the bullet:

This application has numerous strengths including: addressing a highly significant public health problem (failure to initiate or delayed initiation of antiretroviral therapy); a clearly thought through iterative model of intervention development; well established involvement of the community; and a generally strong research design. In addition, testing takes place in both an outpatient clinic and an AIDS Service Organization setting thereby increasing generalizability. An additional strength is the complimentary expertise of the team.

Weaknesses include: a seemingly over ambitious work scope and time-line; insufficient description of plans for recruitment and retention; and a lack of clarity of how this study relates to other research being conducted by members of the team. Additional more negligible weaknesses are described in the individual critiques.

Overall, this is an extremely strong and timely application. (emphasis mine)

So there it is. I think the critiques are fair, for the most part, so that's a relief. These are fixable weaknesses, although I don't know quite how I will be able to provide more detail about several topics in the resubmission when I'm also going to be required to cut the length in half. (In half! *cries*)

I talked to my external mentor Sheryl at length on Friday. She thinks my score is encouraging and that I may well get funded this time around. (We'll see if she still feels the same way after she reads my Summary Statement.) She advised me that I should read the Summary Statement several times, let it sit for a few days, and then ask my NIMH Program Official if we can set up a phone meeting to discuss my chances and my options for the next step. So that's what I'll do now.

Being critiqued is always wounding, so below the cut I'm going to put in some nice things they said about me and my grant, as a sop to my ego. Feel free to ignore if (a) you already think I'm awesome, or (b) this type of evidence would not convince you.

Reviewer 1: This is an important topic and unique intervention... Very important topic. Excellent use of iterative model of intervention development. Excellent team. Good integration of conceptual model. Innovative. Well thought out use of measures. Excellent attention to design. Generally strong and well-laid out analysis plan. Rigorous. Well justified choice of intervention content. Environment excellent.

Reviewer 2: This is an impressive application that seeks to intervene in an important problem. Excellent team. Involving both clinic-based and ASO-based teams is essential. Addressing conspiracy theories and other roots of denial is very important and not done in the past. Progression of steps to inform and evaluate the development of the intervention is excellent. Excellent environment.

Reviewer 3: This is a very well written application from a strong team of researchers. The proposed project is potentially highly innovative...the scientific approach is solid and well thought out. Wide potential applicability nationwide. Environment conducive to a high probability of success for this project.

Comments

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

!!!!! This sounds awesome. Woo!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Well, keep in mind that I left out the specific critiques in the under-the-cut section. But yeah, it was pretty encouraging to read.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

They have to say stuff to be balanced, right? - so positive *and* negative comments both...... But those seem like extremely positive and encouraging statements to my uneducated eye. I'm just saying. :)

[rockstarbob.livejournal.com]

Sheesh, that sounds super encouraging! I hope you're riding the high right now, because clearly you are awesome.

[jenett]

That all sounds awesome. (Also, it includes a lot of the kinds of praise that people don't say unless they actually mean it - "innovative","impressive", etc.

If they just sorta-vaguely liked it, those words would not be there.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Well done, you! Wow. That's pretty awesome.

And frankly "overambitious" is a better way to screw up than many.

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

Oh, well done!

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

I would not be at all surprised if your grant were to receive funding. The compliments are very strong, and the critiques are all things you can (relatively) easily adjust.

[bosssio.livejournal.com]

Okay, here it is and be prepared to hear it.

You are very intelligent, well-educated, humble, and completely focused on turning out an excellent and scientifically supportable study. You have the sense to accept criticism as ways to show you how you can do better. And others in your field are starting to notice.

What you are doing is very important, and you are becoming and are on the path to being an extremely important voice in this field - not because of your ego (you have one but it isn't your primary motivation). No, because you care deeply and you want to affect change. You want to [i]know[/i] what people are thinking and believing because you respect them as people with agency, but people who have a lot of (well deserved) baggage that may be preventing them from fully trusting an establishment who has not a great past/reputation.

You care deeply about helping people because HIV/AIDS is unfair. It is a great wrong that can be prevented and mitigated and people's lives can be improved. Not through magic or wishful thinking, but through research like yours where you are grounding your understanding of how people think both in science and in respect.

I see you living your faith and your values in your work. And when you do this, you are unstoppable. And you don't do it to inspire or impress. You do it because you are you. And that is what makes you so special.

[redbird]

Bravo.

[tassie-gal.livejournal.com]

Those comments sound really encouraging. As someone who is STILL (yeah yeah I know its hitting 5 years and I should have been done in three) trying to write a PhD - seeing someone go through the "next step" as it were, with good feedback gives me a light. I suspect you are like me and take critical analysis personally, even when it isnt. Its taken me 5 years to stop taking every negative comment about drafts personally, and its only in the last 6 months that I can just go "eh, ok, lets start that again then...."
I'll cross fingers and toes and hope you get funded....hey maybe I could work for you! :-D

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

I'm so proud to know you.

[castiron.livejournal.com]

****applause****