The Miami CTSI Pilot Program awards innovative, interdisciplinary, clinical translational science proposals that align with the CTSI overarching goals of addressing and improving the health of our South Florida communities. These projects are expected to generate publications and data for external funding.

Meritorious scientific projects of up to $40,000 each (for direct costs only) will be funded each fiscal year. Community and external stakeholder engagement is also expected to be included as a crucial piece of the project.

The award period is 12 months (start date subject to NIH/NCATS prior approval). Pilot awards are contingent upon funding from NIH/NCATS for the overall Miami CTSI.

Read the details for the Letter of Intent (LOI).

• Translational research projects aligned with our overarching goals, but projects must also clearly articulate a clinical translational science (CTS) component. For detailed information, visit NCATS Translational Spectrum and/or request consultation with CTSI to ensure your project meets criteria. 
• Projects must address community engagement, generalizability of results, and applicability of project to the population groups that comprise South Florida. Discovery science applications are welcomed but such applications must also articulate how their projects will contribute toward the CTSI’s overarching goals.     

Projects that are not considered responsive to this funding opportunity include:

• Projects without a CTS component, i.e., projects only focused on crossing a specific step of the translational process for a particular target or disease.
• Projects without a solid community engagement plan.
• Projects with foreign involvement to any extent (examples include any foreign involvement related to human subjects recruitment/study enrollment, or if a large portion of the scope and/or budget will be attributed to a foreign company). If you are unsure whether your proposed project includes foreign involvement, please discuss with us in advance of submission.

All criteria must be met as of application due date.

• Only full-time faculty at the ranks of Assistant or non-tenured Associate Professors are eligible to apply as Principal Investigators (PI). Full Professors may serve only as co-investigators or mentors. 
• Residents, instructors, staff, post-doctoral and clinical fellows are not eligible to apply as Principal Investigator.

Review the complete request for Letters of Intent (LOI)  here. It is recommended that you watch our Informational Session recording.

Submit a letter of intent online here not later than April 29, 2026 by 11:59 PM.

You may email the program contacts below.

1.  Mandatory: LOI applicants are required to visit the Miami CTSI Translational Science webpage and download the CTS Guide Sheet found within the REDCap LOI form.   
2.  Optionalbut strongly encouraged: Attend the information session to gain a clear understanding of the goals of the program.  For those unable to attend, the session will taped and added to our website the following day. 

The Miami CTSI is funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.  Awarded pilot projects involving human subjects and/or live vertebrate animals must receive approval from NCATS prior to starting project (drawing down funds) and can only be obtained with valid IRB / IACUC / IBC regulatory approval documentation and numerous other documents. Once regulatory approval is received, the preparation for prior approval typically takes 10-15 days. Once submitted to NCATS, approvals may be delayed – it is imperative that the process begin as soon as possible. The CTSI Team will work with awardees to ensure prior approval requirements are met and documentation is submitted. Failure of the pilot PI to obtain regulatory approval and submit the internal prior approval documentation in a timely manner could result in revocation of award.

If you have questions about the pilot awards program, please contact:

• Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., Director, Miami CTSI Pilot Translational and Clinical Studies Program [email protected]
• Melanie Couch, MHA, Director, Research Operations, Miami CTSI [email protected]