{"id":224312,"date":"2023-04-07T21:27:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-08T01:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?post_type=bu-article&p=224312"},"modified":"2023-04-08T17:20:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T21:20:38","slug":"youve-got-a-great-idea-how-do-you-get-it-done","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2023\/youve-got-a-great-idea-how-do-you-get-it-done\/","title":{"rendered":"‘You\u2019ve Got a Great Idea, How Do You Get It Done?’"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Marc-David Munk (SPH’99), one of the directors of the Carlin Foundation, discusses his support of early-stage research at SPH with targeted pilot grants.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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April 7, 2023<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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Over the past few years, and with generous support from alumni and friends, the Boston University School of Public Health has increased its seed funding for faculty-initiated projects that advance their education, research, career development, or practice. The Carlin Foundation Pilot Award for Public Health Innovation is a key part of that effort, as it is designed to provide a targeted, well-timed boost of funding to early-stage projects focused on infectious disease research, with the aim of eliminating health disparities in vulnerable populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Carlin Foundation is a Canadian foundation \u201cdedicated to improving health by supporting innovation in healthcare\u201d and is led by physicians Dr. Marc-David Munk (SPH\u201999) and his wife Dr. Martina Stippler. Carlin has funded the annual pilot award since 2022, with recipients selected by a committee of BUSPH faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This type of targeted funding does not just fund the development of ideas\u2014but also public health solutions, says Jacoba van Heugten, assistant dean for development. \u201cPhilanthropic partnerships also set an example of commitment that is becoming an inspirational benchmark of engagement for members of the BUSPH alumni and friends community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, there have been two recipients of the Carlin Foundation Pilot Award: Leonardo Martinez<\/a>, an assistant professor of epidemiology who received the 2022 award; and Meredith Brooks<\/a>, an assistant professor of global health who was recently named as the 2023 awardee. Both have concentrated their research into various facets of the ongoing global burden of tuberculosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the pilot awards, including the one sponsored by the Carlin Foundation, are administered by idea hub<\/a>, the innovation incubator at BUSPH that helps researchers think like entrepreneurs, with the goal of accelerating improvements in population health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInvestments to the idea hub pilot program create opportunities for faculty to take risks, investigate a new area of interest, and demonstrate proof of concept that then position them well for a larger grant application,\u201d says Vanessa Boland Edouard, idea hub director. \u201cFor junior faculty, pilots frequently assist in launching an independent research career, and securing their first large-scale grant. In selecting pilot grant recipients, we prioritize grants that advance our diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice goals, and are consistent with the school\u2019s strategic directions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a conversation with SPH ahead of BU\u2019s Giving Day on April 11<\/a>, Munk described how the late Dr. William Bicknell<\/a> was one of the catalysts of his initial interest in public health. Bicknell was an outspoken, inspirational educator<\/a> and a founder of the school\u2019s first Department of International Health (now Global Health<\/a>) who helped grow it into a globally recognized leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Munk says he was looking for graduate schools that offered an international health track and at the time, Bicknell was extremely well known and was running a strong program with research hubs in multiple countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a student, I was looking for a school that offered a very practical and hands-on approach to solving big public health problems,\u201d Munk says. \u201cLater, as a donor, I was assured that the school’s practical approach to solving problems was still a priority. I’ve carried many of the lessons I learned as a student at BUSPH throughout my healthcare career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some of those portable skills that still resonate with you now?<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

I would say it’s actually troubleshooting, quite honestly. I think there was a very practical aspect to the training that we received at BUSPH. It\u2019s not an ivory tower. A very practical set of skills was imparted, particularly in the Department of International Health. I was able to come out with formal skills, especially in epidemiology, which were obviously very useful for an academic medical career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I also picked up some very practical skills on how to manage people, politics, and problems, particularly in complex international settings. It was more about how to get stuff done, how to interface with politicians and with decision makers\u2014how to work with people to get things accomplished. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Bicknell was known for encouraging the practical aspect of getting your hands dirty on the ground, getting in the muck of teaching and learning.<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

That advice has certainly carried over to my career, and I’ve been fortunate to work in all different sectors of the health care space, and I think those skills have really transferred and have matured over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Foundation is supporting people who are developing fresh ideas and new ways of thinking about things. The reason that we felt strongly about working in that space is our sense that research and academics on some level have become maybe a bit too risk averse. You really have to show proof of concept to large established funders. Nobody wants to make a mistake by funding stuff that turns out to be a dead end, and, as we all know, science is really all about dead ends. You need to push on a bunch of different buttons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve spent time in the health care startup world and our sense was that the venture capitalists, particularly in Boston, were very good at taking these kinds of risks, and there’s a lot of venture capital\u2014whether it’s biotech or whether it’s health care services like the one I worked at in Boston. If funders were confident in an idea and were willing to put money behind it, sometimes they won. Sometimes they lost. And that was okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re trying to bring that same ethos to the university, though obviously we’re not motivated by profits. We want to support young faculty who have a great idea and need a relatively modest amount of money for proof of concept, and once they have it, they can then apply to large funders who are more comfortable funding something that had been validated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[W]e hope it makes a difference to faculty members at the School of Public Health, and we feel strongly that the School of Public Health is the place to put our funding.<\/div>