Science Writer and Grants Development Director

Grants Development

• Responsible for building inter-programmatic collaborations that will develop complex grants, such as multi-PI, program project grants, SPOREs, etc.
• Participates in the development and management of cancer teams (4-6 meetings/month) that will focus on specific disease areas, such as breast, prostate, lung, head and neck, and bring together basic, translational, clinical and population scientists whose research focuses on these specific disease areas.
• Active participant in review of HCC funded intramural pilot program, specifically Team Science Awards, Idea Awards, and Pre-clinical/Clinical Concepts Awards.
• Meets regularly with HCC scientific programs (4 meetings/month) to stimulate collaboration and development of co-PI research projects.
• Meets regularly with Phase I team to support development of investigator-initiated trials based on HCC science. 
• Responsible for developing and maintaining templates for INDs and their associated components, clinical protocols, informed consent documents, and other documents that are needed on a recurring basis.

 Cancer Center Scientific Writing

• Collaborate and participate with the principal investigator to write and edit new and revised grant applications, and all associated annual reports.
• Responsible for the editing of grant applications and reports for grammar, readability, clarity, consistency, and conformance with any applicable RFA requirements.
• Provide expert guidance to junior faculty with respect to specific elements of all document types.
• Anticipate future needs so that templates and expertise can be developed in a proactive fashion.
• Maintain expert knowledge of current applicable regulations, guidelines, policies, instructions, etc., as they relate to clinical research, grants management, and data reporting.
• Maintain a strong knowledge of scientific writing including grammar, punctuation, usage, and style guides (AMA, CSE).
• Develops and maintains research proposal related templates that facilitate the writing of proposal related documents with a consistent style throughout, and which also facilitate the development of multi-investigator grants such as P01, P30, T32, K12, etc.
• Responsible for determining if documents and templates conform with all applicable regulations, current guidance, and policies; inform appropriate PI or director as required and suggest appropriate correction.
• Develops and maintains templates that facilitate subsequent submissions to common audiences (journal, national meeting, boiler plate for budget justification, etc.).

Cancer Center Support Grant

• Responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining Cancer Center Support Grant competitive application and progress report templates for each proposal section
• Collaborates with principal investigator and other key senior leadership authors in the development of section narratives and administrative components (non-budget) of the grant proposal
• Responsible for formatting, substantive editing, proofreading, and finalizing the document as required and requested
• Develops a standard style guide and review criteria for data checking and content verification
• Ensures the readability, clarity, consistency, and conformance to NCI submission requirements
• Communicates with principal investigator and key senior leadership authors as necessary to ensure the accuracy and clarity of the documents and to meet both internal and sponsor submission deadlines.

Scientific Manuscripts and Abstracts

• Responsible for editing extramurally-funded proposals for grammar, readability, clarity, consistency and conformance with all applicable requirements as needed.
• Reviews on an ongoing basis, publications from the FDA, OHRP, NIH, NCI, CTEP and MUSC-IRB to determine if current documents or templates need to be updated as per new requirements; notify appropriate PI or director as required and suggest new language.
• Determines (to the extent possible based on content knowledge) that document language is scientifically/medically correct, consistent, and justifiable;
• Determines (to the extent possible based on content knowledge) that document language is responsive to the document requirements;
• Prioritizes projects based on a combination of factors including receipt date, deadline date, amount of work needed, and overall impact of the project to HCC.

Additional Knowledge and Skills Preferred

The successful candidate must hold an advanced degree in a basic and/or clinical science field. The successful candidate will have demonstrated experience in grant writing and scientific manuscript preparation and submission, preferably in oncology, as well as experience in an academic medical environment. Excellent organization and planning skills; leadership ability to manage multiple projects and work assignments with competing deadlines is required, as well as evidence of problem-solving and interpersonal skills that facilitate effective interactions within cross-functional teams and with external customers. Advanced understanding of medical and scientific terminology and demonstrated experience analyzing data, interpreting information and ability to provide logical conclusions/projections and program evaluation is required. Proficiency in English writing styles and proofreading skills are required.