grants & training.

Learn about funding opportunities, award information, eligibility, and much more related to the many rich opportunities available to Early-Stage Investigators (ESI).

Pilot grant Program

The C2DREAM Pilot Grant Program offers an opportunity for post-doctoral fellows and ESI’s to engage in mentored research projects that address chronic disease health disparities in Minnesota communities.

The program, facilitated by the C2DREAM Investigator Development core, specifically seeks community-engaged research projects focusing on cardiovascular disease and related chronic conditions such as hypertension and obesity, with a focus on BIPOC communities, immigrants, and refugees in Minnesota.

Emphasizing the impact of racism and discrimination, the program prioritizes proposals that examine their role in CVD and RCC disease risk, community experiences, and patient outcomes. Successful applicants will align their proposals with C2DREAM Conceptual Model and receive support to obtain preliminary data necessary for independent grant applications to the National Institute of Health or other funding sources.

How it works:

Request for applications: Cycle 3

This pilot grant program is designed to support post-doctoral fellows and early-stage investigators, and help them obtain preliminary data needed for independent grant applications to the NIH or other funders.

Up to six awards will be offered in Cycle 3. Each award will provide a total of up to $50,000 maximum over a two year period (up to $25,000 per year). Detailed application instructions can be found here.

Awards are intended for post-doctoral fellows and early-stage investigators (ESIs) who have not previously held federal funding as a Principal Investigator (PI) at the R01 level or equivalent. Co-PI community-academic research partnerships (i.e., with one academic PI and one community PI) are allowed.

For full eligibility, award benefits, expectations and more, click below.

c2dream pilot grant scholars – Cycle 1

  • Katherine Diaz Vickery, MD – Hennepin Healthcare

    Title: Development of a multiple health behavior change intervention for Cardiovascular risk reduction among people experiencing homelessness: the CV-HOMES study

    Summary: The CV-HOMES study will develop a multiple health behavior change coaching program to lower cardiovascular (CV) risk among people who have experienced a key social risk resulting from structural racism, and unstable housing.

  • Mohamed Ibrahim, MMBS – Wellshare International

    Title: Reducing Cardiovascular Disparities in the Greater Mankato Somali Community by Utilizing Community-based Interventions to Build Capacity Within the Community to Identify, Manage and Prevent Hypertension.

  • Erin Westfall, DO – Mayo Clinic

    Title: Reducing Cardiovascular Disparities in the Greater Mankato Somali Community by Utilizing Community-based Interventions to Build Capacity Within the Community to Identify, Manage and Prevent Hypertension.

  • Abby Lohr, PhD, MPH – Mayo Clinic

    Title: Addressing CVD inequities in Minnesota: a co-investigation with im/migrants exploring how to sustain a community-driven, social network intervention using a racism-conscious approach

    Summary: In this study, our objective is to explore how to scale and sustain a community-driven, social network intervention to improve cardiovascular disease outcomes among im/migrant populations using a racism-conscious approach.

  • Laura Suarez Pardo, MD – Mayo Clinic

    Title: Cardiac distress in Latinx/Hispanic women with cardiovascular disease and risk factors: examining its prevalence and the role of discrimination and acculturation experiences.

    Summary: The study will examine ‘cardiac distress’ in Latinx/Latino/Hispanic women with cardiovascular disease, its association with health-related quality of life, and the contributing role of acculturation, acculturative stress, discrimination, and familism.

  • Ambria Crusan, PhD, RD/LD – St. Catherine University

    Title: Increased access to fruits and vegetables for DASH Diet compliance in immigrant Hispanic/Latinx individuals with hypertension

    Summary: The primary aim of this project is to determine the effect improved access to culturally-appropriate fruits/vegetables (F/V) to meet the DASH diet recommendations has on immigrant Hispanic/Latinx individuals with hypertension (HTN) and obesity in a phased, iterative process.

c2dream pilot grant scholars – Cycle 2

  • Hannah Cory, PhD, MPH, RD – University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

    Title: Assessing and understanding the impacts of experiencing racism in adolescence on cardiovascular health markers in Twin Cities-based young adults

  • Jeremy Van’t Hof, MD, MS – University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

    Title: Evaluating inequity in pharmacy access in Minnesota

  • Guillaume Onyeaghala, PhD, MPH – Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute

    Title: Identifying barriers and opportunities to address underrepresentation in microbiome research among African Americans affected by kidney disease in Minnesota

  • Francine Overcash, PhD, MPH – University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

    Title: Feasibility and Acceptability of a Social Network Mediterranean Diet Intervention among Hispanics/Latinx in the Twin Cities.

  • Patrick Hammett, PhD, MA – The Minneapolis VA Center for Care Delivery and Outcomes Research (CCDOR)

    Title: An Organizational Strategy for Reducing Tobacco-Related Cardiovascular Disease Risk among BIPOC Patients at Mental Health and Substance Use Clinics in Minnesota.

  • Warren McKinney, PhD – Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute

    Title: Cardiovascular Disease and Inactive Status: A Single Center Pilot to Evaluate Racial Disparities in Access to Kidney Transplantation after Waitlisting.

  • Laura Hooper, PhD, MS, RD – University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

    Title: Strengths-based, culturally responsive, body-positiveapproaches to health: Development of a training for clinicians caring for ethnically and racially diverse adolescents with high weight status in Minnesota.

Travel Awards: Coming soon!

The C2DREAM Travel Grant Program is a competitive travel award that aims to support ESI’s and post-doctoral fellows in presenting their C2DREAM-aligned work at regional or national confrerences.

The travel awards offered through the C2DREAM Travel Grant Program will reimburse up to $1,500 in expenses related to transportation, lodging, and conference registration costs. These awards are intended to alleviate some of the financial burdens associated with attending conferences, allowing recipients to showcase their research to a wider audience.

To ensure fairness and maximize the reach of the program, only one award per person is granted each year. Additionally, the selection committee prioritizes applicants who have not previously received an award. Applications are evaluated on a rolling basis, as budget allows.

External grant review program: Coming soon!

The C2DREAM External Grant Review Program aims to support eligible investigators in obtaining pre-submission review of their National Institute of Health (or equivalent) research proposal from an external scientific consultant.

The goal of the C2DREAM External Grant Review Program is to increase the likelihood of researchers obtaining funding for impactful health equity research by offering an opportunity to improve the quality and competitiveness of grant proposals through expert evaluation and feedback.

C2DREAM will provide a payment of $500 to an external reviewer to critically read a well-developed draft of the proposal, prepare a written review using standard NIH templates, and participate in a follow-up call with the investigator and primary mentor to discuss the critiques zin more detail and inform revisions.

For more information please Contact: c2dreamgrants@umn.edu

contact: c2dreamgrants@umn.edu