Grant Program Coordinator

Grants Program Coordinator (Pre and Post Award Administrative Activities)

MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is to eliminate cancer in Texas, the nation, and the world through outstanding programs that integrate patient care, research and prevention, and through education for undergraduate and graduate students, trainees, professionals, employees and the public.

SUMMARY

To provide highly responsible administrative and financial support to the Program Manager, Sr. Financial Analyst, and Department Administrator for all aspects of large-scale grants and other grant activities including grant preparation, review, grant management, effort reporting, grant reconciliations, and grant/contract financial reporting.

JOB SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES

Grant Application Submission and Processing (Pre-award activities)

Each Grant Program Coordinator is assigned to work with specific faculty members and their respective staff to support pre-award. Activities include but are not limited to: submission of grant applications and progress reports, submission of lab-based research contracts.

Financial/Administrative Coordination of Grants & Contracts (Post-award activities)

Provides comprehensive management for all aspects of all departmental grant awards and manages funds and fund allocation across multiple projects and reports appropriately. Activities include but are not limited to: account review and reconciliation, effort certification, monitoring accounts, submission of ePAFs.

• Specific responsibility for all aspects of the research grants (small and large scale), Strategic Alliances and lab research/contract activities belonging to four Senior Research Professors within the Department. (Neelapu/Davis/Yang/Samaniego)
• Effort monitoring for all my PIs on a month-to-month basis. I keep running excel spreadsheets for each PI so they know at a moment's notice what their effort commitment is at any given point, and we can ensure there is no over commitment occurring.
• Lab staff salary allocation spreadsheets kept for all my PIs lab staff. Updated monthly and sent to each PI so they know how their staff are being supported
• Regular weekly /bi-weekly meetings with my PIs to discuss all project-related issues and future plans
• I also regularly meet with some of the PIs Instructors who are looking to develop their research grant portfolio; I've worked with a few to let them know about funding opportunities linked to their research focus. I've also worked very closely with a couple of Instructors who are looking to receive promotion to professor by working with them on their submission documents (proof reading, editing).

Responsible for pre-award grant management including:

• Detailed budget development with PIs
• Collecting of other award-specific requirements: biosketches, letters of support, scientific proposal, compliance (IACUC/IBC etc) and any other relevant submission documents
• Editing/reviewing research proposals and scientific papers (for Dr. Jing Yang, I proof read ALL her work as English is not her first language)
• Submission to sponsor via Coeus/Click-Grants/Fluxx (or similar portals)
• Timely liaison with OSP to ensure pre-award submissions are reviewed in line with MDACC timeframes
• Responding to any sponsor requests for extra information (JIT requests)
• Pre-award account set-up when required or where necessary with Grants & Contracts

Responsible for post-award grant management including:

• On-going budget monitoring and reconciliation of all expenditure )personnel and non-personnel),; fixing any discrepancies, ensuring no overspend/deficits or unallowable expenses are charged, using budget to project any future hiring potential for PIs based on project budgets and balances. (I have been doing this many times with Dr. Yang as her lab has been growing steadily)
• Ensuring all effort for PIs and any lab staff is captured in a timely and accurate fashion vis the submission of ePAFs.
• On-going liaison with sponsors (Federal, private) for the preparation and submission of progress reports, final financial reports etc.
• Submitting any relevant on-going project specific requests to Grants & Contracts and ensuring these are carried out/followed-up; for example: Account set-up (preparing the BAF), No-Cost Extensions, reduction/increase in committed effort, budget remaps where required etc.
• For external sponsors (pharma etc) there is more on-going communication and correspondence due to the nature of the funding
• Ensuring that any philanthropic donor gifts are received and aligned to the correct Fund Group & Account in liaison with the Development Office for PIs who receive them
• Working very closely with Moon Shots managers (B-Cell Moon Shot and High Risk Multiple Myeloma Moon Shot) to ensure all salaries of project staff are accurate, highlighting any budget errors, actioning all necessary ePAFs for PIs and lab staff on the Moon Shot projects in a timely and pro-active manner, informing them of any mid-project budget changes/spending plans for the PIs and their labs, ensuring that the labs have the correct account numbers to use and know their budgetary limits for the fiscal year, maintaining budget spreadsheets for purchases made on an on-going, month-to-month basis, approving any Moon Shot requisitions where required.
• Researching and identifying suitable funding sources for new research project submissions; disseminating appropriate funding calls where necessary to department contacts (PIs, Instructors/Post-docs etc)
• Coordinating research protocol submissions/amendments, administrative planning of grant initiatives, and maintenance of regulatory documents in compliance with federal and MD Anderson guidelines and all required protocol guidelines.
• Maintaining an understanding of current federal research funding and associated protocol guidelines.
• Participating in research seminars and any other related research educational events/training that are job specific.

Departmental Support for Research Activities

• Administrative liaison between central department administrative offices and assigned faculty and laboratory staff.

Other duties as assigned

Education Required - Bachelor's degree.

Experience Required - Three years of extensive administrative experience. May substitute required education degree with additional years of equivalent experience on a one to one year basis. With preferred degree, one year of experience required.

It is the policy of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to provide equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by institutional policy or by federal, state or local laws unless such distinction is required by law. http://www.mdanderson.org/about-us/legal-and-policy/legal-statements/eeo-affirmative-action.html