Aldon Mark Berger Mental Health Imaging Research Grant

The Foundation of the ASNR is pleased to announce a NEW grant focused on mental health imaging!

With the generous support of the estate of Elaine D. Berger, an endowment dedicated to supporting research and education in mental health has been established for the ASNR. The Foundation of the ASNR now invites applications for neuroimaging research to better understand the pathophysiological underpinnings of behavioral health and mental health disorders with the goal of improving treatment and outcomes.

One grant, in the amount of $220,000, will be funded in the coming year.

Aldon Mark Berger Mental Health Imaging Research Grant applications are now being accepted.

All applications must be submitted online by Tuesday, January 21, via asnr.smapply.io

This grant mechanism supports innovative high-impact projects using neuroimaging in conjunction with other methodologies to investigate the neural mechanisms of psychiatric disorders, mental health conditions, and potential therapeutics and other interventions.

Examples of topics include, but are not limited to anxiety disorders, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, mood disorders, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, personality disorders, PTSD, schizophrenia, chronic pain, substance use, and alcohol use disorders. Applications investigating mechanistic frameworks for social determinants of mental health such as gun violence, isolation, bullying, socioeconomic inequities, social media, and loneliness will be considered responsive. Pre-clinical studies integrating quantitative neuroimaging methodologies with cell signaling, molecular, and systems level mechanisms are invited. Projects leveraging large clinical imaging datasets are also invited provided the work will move the field toward understanding determinants and outcomes. Innovative proposals with multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary teams that leverage diverse expertise are strongly encouraged. Proposals aiming to uncover causal mechanisms and improve clinical outcomes will be viewed favorably.

The research proposal must have a clearly stated, testable hypothesis, or hypotheses, and well-developed aims. Background and scientific rationale should highlight knowledge gaps and explain how the application will fill such gaps.

  • Candidates must be North American members of ASNR in good standing with an MD, PhD, DO, or equivalent degree.
  • All candidates should have an active or imminent academic appointment, such as faculty, instructor, research staff, or post-doctoral student, within a Radiology department.

Applications from investigators at all career stages are welcome. An applicant can only submit one application as PI per cycle but may be a Co-I on more than one grant per cycle.

Multiple PIs from the same institution may submit applications per grant cycle.

A. The total funding amount is up to $220,000 over 2 years (direct costs only), which will be paid in two equal installments on July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026. Any portion of the grant not utilized should be returned to The Foundation of the ASNR. The proposed allocation of resources (salary support and other research costs) should be specified in a detailed line-item budget submitted with the full proposal.

B. The funding will go directly to the Institution or the department of Radiology as direct costs only. An itemized budget is required as part of the award proposal submission. Funds (up to $110,000 per year) may be apportioned as required by the investigator but must be justified in the application. Examples of fund use might include: (i) salary support for the investigator and/or associated staff (e.g., research assistants, clinical coordinator, statistical support, and/or MD or PhD collaborators), (ii) appropriate scanner time access, (iii) processing software and other types of software (iv) cloud computing resources, and (v) costs related to attending conference, workshop courses or training courses (e.g., computer programming course, specialized image analysis course, or any other workshops). Only direct costs can be included. No overhead or indirect costs are provided.

Expenses for physical infrastructure to support the proposed research (for example, desktop or laptop computers, monitors, GPU cards, memory, or other physical devices) are considered indirect and supported by the host institution and should not be included in the budget.

C. An interim progress report is due on June 30, 2026, and must be submitted in writing to The Foundation of the ASNR. Progress reports should not exceed one page. The progress report should summarize the specific aims, and the progress achieved, explain any significant changes to the specific aims, new directions to be undertaken due to those changes, and expenditures to date. Any publications, patents, or other material related to the funded research should be included on a separate page and submitted separately.

A final report will be due within 90 days of project completion (i.e., Sept 30, 2027). The final report (not more than 3 pages) should include the above with the additional summary of any publications, patents, or grant that are or will be prepared using the results obtained from this Foundation grant. For the final report, recipients should also describe the clinical impact of the results of the research, the strengths and weakness of the grant program, and the role that the Foundation or ASNR has played in the recipient’s career. In addition, a “Return-on-Investment” Survey will be emailed to recipient 3 and 5 years after receiving the grant.

D. The recipient will present his/her research at the ASNR 65th Annual Meeting & The Foundation of the ASNR Symposium in May 2027.

E. The American Journal of Neuroradiology (AJNR) welcomes the best science and encourages publication submissions to AJNR before considering other journals.

F. Applicants who have held any of the Foundation of the ASNR Research Awards, the RSNA Research Scholar, Research Fellow, or Research Seed Grant Award, GERRAF, or ARRS Grant Award in the past must declare their previous awards on the application. The applicant is considered ineligible if they are or will concurrently be holding any of previously mentioned grants, while applying to or holding a grant from the Foundation of the ASNR.

G. Note: while institutional IRB approval is not required at the time of grant proposal submission, IRB approval or waiver must be submitted to ASNR before fund disbursement for all grant recipients.

H. No grant will be made without prior confirmation from the Program Director or Department Chair that the applicant’s proposal will be supported in full by the host institution.

I. This grant may be transferred to another institution, following approval by The Foundation of the ASNR for the designated individual, provided the new institution abides by the original agreement and the awardee can conduct the proposed work in the new setting. This request must be submitted in writing to The Foundation of the ASNR at least 30 days prior to the transfer. Each institution sponsoring the recipient will receive a portion of the funding that is in proportion to the length of time that research was performed at their institution. If a decision is made by The Foundation of the ASNR not to allow transfer of the grant to another institution, the original institution sponsoring the recipient will receive funds that are proportionate to the length of time the research project was performed at that institution

J. Grants will be approved for 2 years. A No-Cost Extension of the terms of the grant may be requested to extend the research period up to 12 months beyond the original ending date. Approval of an extension does not include the awarding of additional funds. A request for an extension must be made in writing to the Chairs of the Foundation of the ASNR. The request must state the reason(s) for the extension, length of extension requested, and review the progress in the original grant period. Requests must be submitted at least 30 days prior to the original ending date. Please note that only one No-Cost Extension request will be considered per project.

K. The grant is not transferable to another individual.

  1. Grants will be designated and administered by The Foundation of the ASNR.
  2. The Research Committee of ASNR, or its designate, will provide review and recommendations to the Foundation for the recipient of the grant.
  3. The Grant Program Review Scoring Scale will be the same as NIH scoring scales and modeled on the NIH R21 mechanism (which emphasizes high impact, exploratory investigations). (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-20-195.html). See scoring criteria at end of this prospectus.
  4. Applications from senior and junior scientists will not be reviewed separately, but consideration will be given to applicants who are within 5 years of completing their post-graduate training.
  1. The deadline for receipt of submissions is 9:00 AM Central Standard Time (CST), Tuesday, January 21, 2025. Full proposals should also be submitted via https://asnr.smapply.io. Please visit https://asnr.smapply.io to submit your application by creating an account and logging-on to select the grant for which you would like to apply.
  2. Selection of grant recipients will be in early spring, with subsequent notification of the recipient and institution. All those with interests in the award, or employees of an institution that may be involved in the award, shall recuse themselves from voting on such applications. If applications are received from the institutions of the Research Committee Co-chairs, the Co-chair(s) will recuse themselves the responsibility of coordinating review of the applications from their home institution.
  3. Please visit FAQ section of the Foundation of the ASNR website at https://foundation.asnr.org/page/awards-and-honors/frequently-asked-questions/ for further clarifications.
  4.  In May 2025, the Foundation Research Grants announcement will be made via E-News and posted on the ASNR and Foundation of the ASNR websites. The recipient will present their research at the ASNR 64th Annual Meeting & The Foundation of the ASNR Symposium in May 2026 and receive an invitation to the President’s Gala for that meeting.