PHA Offers Grants to Support PH Research

This week’s blog is an invitation to researchers to seek PHA funding through our multiple funding programs. It is also a celebration of what a committed rare disease community can do to advance knowledge that will lead to change and a better future. The research that PHA began to fund in 2000 has become building blocks for what came next and what will come tomorrow. Almost all of the money that PHA invests in this effort has come from members of our community who have organized special events and/or given generously themselves.  

A by-product of PHA’s research efforts was highlighted recently by Dr. Karen Fagan, Chair of PHA’s Scientific Leadership Council, when she studied where young researchers go after receiving a PHA research grant. Looking at our sponsorship of Career Development Awards with the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Fagan found that ALL researchers who were awarded this grant from PHA have stayed in academic medicine and importantly in the area of PH-related research and clinical care. This means PHA is not just funding grants. Our donors are making it possible and attractive for the most promising clinicians and researchers to continue in PH research.   

An important part of PHA’s mission is to find ways to prevent and cure pulmonary hypertension, and to that end, PHA has committed more than $15 million, over the last 15 years, to researchers seeking to better understand the disease. This year, PHA is making more than $500,000 available to support scientists who are looking for answers that could lead to better outcomes, new therapies and, ultimately, a cure for PH.

Thanks to PHA’s generous community members and historical partnerships, PHA’s Research Program provides support for PH research projects ranging from early, exploratory and developmental work to projects that facilitate mentorship and ensure a future of promising, innovative investigators in the field.

Our donors know that their generosity is leveraged to create even more opportunity for researchers to learn about and change the history of this disease. For example, PHA’s KO8/K23 award annually combines $312,000 in PHA contributions with over $500,000 from the NIH to create an over $800,000-per-year research program. Other PHA research programs are enlarged through similar matches.

In 2015, PHA’s Research Portfolio includes funding for new awards in:

• The first program focused on pediatric PH research 
• A grant that encourages investigators to explore novel ideas and avenues that could enhance the understanding of PH 
• An award that supports faculty-level investigators studying the diagnosis, pathogenesis, treatment or outcomes of PH 
• A grant that offers support to a recipient of a mentored career development or patient-oriented research grant awarded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

Researchers, be sure to apply for one of these grants. Patients and families, we hope you will share this information with the healthcare professionals in your lives. The 2015 PHA grant opportunities include:

• The Joel Belt Pediatric PH Research & Mentoring Grant 
• Cordelia’s Pediatric PH Research & Mentoring Grant 
• The Matthew and Michael Wojciechowski Pediatric PH Research & Mentoring Grant
• The Jerry Wojciechowski PH Proof of Concept Grant 
• PHA/ATS Research Fellowship in PAH
• NHLBI K08/K23 Supplemental Award

Learn more about PHA’s 2015 funding opportunities, including eligibility criteria and deadlines.