Sponsored Research at GUMC

Several offices work together to support sponsored research at GUMC across multiple areas.

Pre-Award

Research Development Services supports all pre-award activities. Researchers, staff, and students should contact RDS for assistance with identifying sponsored research funding, proposal and budget development, formalizing collaborations, and internal proposal routing and approval. RDS submits complete application packages to the funding agency or sponsor on behalf of the investigator.

The Office of Sponsored Research reviews all internal proposal and sponsor application packages prepared by RDS. The pre-award unit ensures that all research applications to government and private funding agencies include accurate proposal-related costs and comply with sponsor and University guidelines. Final approval and electronic submission are conducted by the OSR Director or the designee. Following OSR review and approval, foundation and corporate sponsored research funding applications are submitted by the RDS deputy director.

Post-Award

When a notice of award is received, OSR’s post-award unit is responsible for award receipt, negotiation of terms and conditions, spending account setup, management, and close-out. Cooperative agreement and contracts awards, including sub-awards, independent contractor agreements, and clinical trial agreements are also handled through the post-award unit. Researchers also work directly with OSR to satisfy all award reporting, no-cost extension, and other administrative elements that require sponsor approval.

All post-award financial matters are handled by the Sponsored Projects Financial Operations division of the Office of Financial Affairs. This includes any issues relating to charges appearing on Budget to Actuals Reports (BAR), invoices to sponsors, payments to subcontractors, financial reporting, and auditing. This office also manages sponsored accounting policies.

The University’s Office of Institutional Partnerships (OIP) acts as a university-wide liaison to coordinate and facilitate communications with corporate, foundation, and association donors. OIP works closely with RDS and OSR to provide support to GUMC researchers and departments as they pursue philanthropic partnerships across a variety of fields.

The Georgetown University Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) provides oversight and guidance in human subject research, animal care and use, biosafety, chemical safety, radiation, safety, occupational health, export controls, conflict of interest, handling of hazardous, controlled, or regulated substances, material transfers, and research misconduct.

Clinical research and trials are an important part of GUMC’s mission. OSR grants and contracts officers work collaboratively with the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Clinical Research Management Office (CRMO) and the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization’s Clinical Research Operations Office (CROO) on clinical trial contract and budget negotiation, implementation, and administration.