Pfizer Medical Education Group and UCSF Smoking Cessation Leadership Center Announces Joint CME Grant Opportunities

The Smoking Cessation Leadership Center (SCLC) at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) and the Pfizer Medical Education Group (MEG) recently announced a new collaboration to offer grant opportunities focused on smoking cessation. 

Pfizer’s MEG provides independent grant support to organizations for healthcare quality improvement and education projects related to smoking cessation.  MEG’s goal is to increase the number of people who stop smoking by improving the frequency and effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions (e.g., counseling and/or FDA-approved pharmacotherapy) provided by health professionals. 

The SCLC, which is volunteering its assistance to this grants program and receives no financial remuneration from Pfizer, is a national program office of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and also receives significant support from the American Legacy Foundation.  The mission of the SCLC is to increase smoking cessation rates and increase the number of health professionals who help smokers quit.  The Center creates partnerships with a variety of groups and institutions to develop and implement action plans for smoking cessation.  Partnerships with dental hygienists, nurses, pharmacists, emergency physicians, hospitals, labor unions, family physicians, counselors, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and myriad other groups all lead toward the same goal: saving lives by increasing smoking cessation rates and cessation interventions. 

 This Request for Proposals is being issued by both organizations.  The SCLC is the lead organization for review and evaluation of applications.  A review committee, led by the SCLC will make decisions on which proposals will receive funding.  The review panel consists of leading scholars and experts in the field of smoking cessation.  Grant funding will be provided by Pfizer. Collectively, up to $2 million is available per award.  There are three categories of grant funding: 

Category 1:  Grant support available for existing smoking cessation training initiatives. Eligible organizations may apply if they have a prior or ongoing project that addresses healthcare provider needs as it relates to improving clinical practice so that it leads to increased smoking cessation quit rates. Projects must have a proven track record of success with their educational methods and approach. Documentation must be provided that the initiative has achieved success in the past and how additional funding can expand or improve the effort. Grant requests must not exceed $200,000.  Total available in the category is $1,000,000. 

Category 2:  Grant support available to individual hospitals or hospital networks for education and quality improvement programs that include implementation of and goals around the achievement of updated Joint Commission smoking cessation performance measures.  Grant requests must not exceed $50,000.  Total available in this category is $500,000.

Category 3:  Grants in support of state-wide tobacco use reduction projects that include a healthcare provider training component related to smoking cessation.  Special emphasis will be given to states that address high-risk populations with co-morbid conditions, such as smokers with mental health issues and/or substance abuse disorders. Grant requests must not exceed $100,000.  Total available in this category is $500,000. 

Virtually all healthcare stakeholders, except commercial CME providers, are eligible to apply for these grants; this keeps with Pfizer’s longstanding policy. 

Letters of intent are due by August 1, 2012 at 5:00 p.m.  Full proposals are due October 10, 2012, with announcements expected November 14, 2012.  Performance of the grant will begin in December 2012 and end December 2014. 

Given UCSF’s CME directors recent public stance against commercial support this shows that the individual centers at UCSF are more open with the thinking of their new chancellor.