Texas Tech University

TTU, TTUHSC Researchers Collect Writing Tips, Expand Network Through Seminar

May 31, 2023 | By: Karen Michael 

From developing the perfect idea for research to finishing off a grant proposal and submitting it, several researchers from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Texas Tech University learned tips to write winning grant proposals for the National Institutes of Health at a seminar in early May at the Innovation Hub.

John Robertson, managing member of Grant Writers' Seminars & Workshops
Seminar leader John D. Robertson, left, listens as Christopher Enakpene, an associate professor in the TTUHSC School of Medicine, asks a question about applying for grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Researchers from both universities turned out for the seminar, hoping to learn best practices in writing winning grant proposals and to expand their network for future collaborative efforts. The seminar was led by John Robertson, managing member of Grant Writers' Seminars & Workshops. He has led the workshop for Texas Tech and TTUHSC research faculty and staff for three years.

Christopher Enakpene is an associate professor in the School of Medicine at TTUHSC. He specializes in maternal fetal medicine.

“I deal with high-risk pregnancy,” he said during the lunch break of the seminar.

Because a product previously approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was recently withdrawn from the market, Enakpene said there is a need for innovative ideas that may help with about 10 percent of all pregnancies that are delivered prematurely.

Collaboration between Texas Tech and TTUHSC is “very, very important,” he said. It's important to develop knowledge that can be used in clinical practice, he said.

Possible collaborations were part of the goal in hosting researchers from both institutions to the event. This year's was hosted by the TTUHSC Research Innovation, Collaboration, and Entrepreneurship (RICE) team, and the two universities plan to swap hosting duties in the coming years. The RICE team and the Texas Tech Office of Research and Innovation are working together to bridge a gap between researchers on the two campuses.  

This year had the highest turnout of TTUHSC faculty.

Another researcher at the event, Danielle Levitt, is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology & Sports Management specializing in alcoholic and substance abuse, metabolic health, exercise physiology and cell biology.

“I'm trying to get some tips to refine my grant-writing skills. I've currently got an application under review, and I'm planning for another grant application. I really want to learn everything I can,” she said.

Levitt has already submitted one application to the National Institute on Aging, and she is developing another one for the National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Both institutes are under the NIH.

“So far, I have taken away some tips on how to better structure my specific aims pages. It took me a really long time to build mine, and I don't always know if it's the most effective. I think using the approach that we're learning now will help me format my specific aims in a more effective way, which is ultimately, you know, the hook and the most important part of the grant,” Levitt said.

She was also interested in building a larger network at the event.

“I think being around people from HSC really does help – especially the networking part,” she said. “NIH likes to see the collaboration between the main campus and the health sciences center.”