ETUDES Center Call for Pilot Applications

Mission: The ETUDES Center invites proposals for pilot projects focused on identifying, triaging, and managing children and adolescents with depression and/or at risk of suicide.

ETUDES (Enhancing Triage and Utilization for Depression and Emergent Suicidality) is an NIMH-funded research center that aims to build capacity in pediatric primary care to identify, manage, and treat youth at risk for suicidal behavior (https://www.etudescenter.org/).  Many young people who die by suicide have had a recent clinical encounter in primary care.  Suicide prevention interventions delivered in primary care are effective for preventing suicide, and primary care is the preferred location for patients and families to receive mental health care, particularly for youth of color.

We preferentially seek to fund pilot projects that will provide principal investigator (PI)-applicants with the pilot data and experiences they need to develop later requests for external funding (NIMH K-, R-, foundation, etc.), and address gaps in the Center’s current research portfolio.  While ETUDES focuses on youth depression/suicide in primary care settings, we are also receptive to proposals that address these issues in non-primary care settings.  They could include but are not limited to studies on: (1) health equity; (2) firearm safety; (3) social media and its relationship with youth mental health; (4) understanding how families use digital mental health tools; (5) use of artificial intelligence and other novel data analytic approaches; and (6) predictors of suicidal behavior in youth.  

The PI must be a current postdoctoral trainee or early career investigator at the University of Pittsburgh or Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (e.g., instructor, assistant professor, early stage psychologist, social worker, primary care physician, or psychiatrist).  While not a requirement, we encourage applications that include interdisciplinary partnerships and community based non-academic collaborators.  We also encourage applications from new investigators without extramural funding as well as investigators who have access to additional funds that can leverage an award from ETUDES (e.g., start-up funds, K-award, foundation grants).

Available funding: We expect to commit up to $100k in pilot funding and make several awards ranging from $10K to $40k over a 1-year period depending on the number and quality of applications received.

Application Instructions: Applications will be due by 9/11/23 and should include:

  • Application Cover Letter (submit online)

  • Descriptive title of the proposed research

  • PI name, address, email, and telephone number

  • Participating co-investigators and their project role(s)

  • NIH Biosketch for the PI and for their primary mentor(s) if the applicants is a trainee.

  • Letter(s) of support from community partners (if applicable)

  • Specific aims and hypotheses (1 page)

  • Scientific proposal (3 pages excluding references) that will include short sections on:

    • Background (significance, innovation)

    • Methods

    • Analytic plan

    • Plan for future independent funding

    • Project timeline

  • Budget request (1 Page). The ETUDES Pilot funding can be used to pay for staff salaries, project materials, participation fees, travel to a national conference to present work, and open access publication fees but not salary support for the PI or for their mentors and co-investigators.

We anticipate notifying PIs of awards in October 2023.

Contact Ms. Amy Anderson, ETUDES Methods Coordinator, with questions and send your completed applications to her as a single PDF file by 5pm on 9/11/23 (amy.anderson2@chp.edu).