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Families, Friends, Physicians, & Researchers working together
to improve diagnosis, treatment, & quality of life for people affected by von Hippel-Lindau disease.

Cancer Research Fund - VHL Alliance

Research Advisory Board

The Research Advisory Board (RAB) of the VHL Family Alliance is composed of a number of eminent research scientists with expertise in biomedical investigations in general and the VHL protein in particular.

The Research Advisory Board, under the direction of James Gnarra, Ph.D., Chairman, includes a number of scientists with experience in VHL, angiogenesis research, pharmacogenetics, and translational medicine.

I. Purpose

  1. To review the scientific merit of basic and clinical research proposals, contracts, and fellowships related to proposals submitted to the VHLFA.
  2. To be available on an ad hoc basis to offer advice or to review research proposals or issues.
  3. To make recommendations to the VHLFA as to both short term and long term research goals in VHL.

II. Membership and Responsibilities

  1. A minimum of one member of the Research Advisory Board will be a patient advocate who will evaluate research proposals for VHL disease relevance and the potential impact of each proposal on VHL disease diagnosis and/or treatment.
  2. Research Advisory Board members shall be chosen for a six year period which is not renewable but they may be reelected after a 1 year hiatus. .
  3. An assistant chairman shall be selected each year. This person shall have at least one year of prior experience on the Research Advisory Board whenever possible. After one year as assistant chairperson, he or she shall become the chairperson.
  4. It is the responsibility of the chairperson to select reviewers for each proposal and to be sure grants are sent to the reviewers in a timely fashion.
  5. Research Advisory Board members with potential conflict(s) of interest will recuse themselves from reviewing and scoring that proposal.
  6. Board members shall be asked to resign if they have a substantial conflict with the goals of the VHL Family Alliance (also known as the Cancer Research Fund - VHL Alliance) as determined by the Chairman of the Research Advisory Board and the Chairman of the Board of Directors..

III. Review of Research Proposals

  1. Each grant or fellowship application shall have a minimum of two primary reviewers with expertise in the research area of the proposal.
  2. Research proposal review meetings may be in person or through teleconferencing or e-mail at the discretion of the Research Advisory Board and the VHLFA Board of Directors.
  3. Any member from the parent or collaborating institution of an application shall withdraw from the discussion of that application and shall not vote on the application.
  4. All applications shall be scored on a scale from 100 (best) to 500 (worst) points.
  5. The Research Advisory Board may make recommendations as to adjustments on any levels of funding for individual applications. The Research Advisory Board may also recommend an appropriate level of scores below which no further grants should be funded even if money is available. The Chairman of the RAB compiles a report and submits recommendations for funding to the VHLFA Board of Directors.


[Last updated 19-Feb-2008 ]

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