Research Policies

• Accepting a gift
• Submitting a proposal for funding
• Setting up a new award
• Managing an award
• Closing out an award

Accepting a Gift

If a gift is from a private individual, send a letter and the check from the donor to Debbie Santiago in the Radiology Business Office for processing.

If the gift is from a corporate sponsor, send the check, the gift acceptance letter, and the financial disclosure form (State of California Form 700-U) to Christine Razler in the Radiology Business Office for processing.

The Radiology Business Office will send the check and documents to the UCSF Foundation. The Foundation will assign a fund number and contact the Radiology Business Office with the information.

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Proposals are prepared by the Principal Investigators (PI's) and their pre-award staff.

The Research Administrator, Christine Razler, reviews all proposals prior to the Chair, Ronald Arenson, M.D. signing the Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) approval form (for extramural proposals) or the letter of recommendation (for intramural proposals such as Academic Senate and REAC). There are special requirements for electronic proposals.

For Academic Senate and REAC applications:

1. Email the budget and budget justification to Christine Razler for review.
2. A letter signed by the Chairman must be submitted with the application. This letter is usually written by applicant or the mentor of the applicant. It is co-signed by Dr. Arenson. After Christine Razler has approved the budget and budget justification.

Proposals are due at the Research Administrator's office by 9 AM at least 6 working days prior to the funding agency's deadline. They are due at the Chair's office by 9AM at least 5 working days prior to the funding agency's deadline. They are due at OSR by 9AM at least 4 working days prior to the funding agency's deadline.

The Radiology Business Office maintains a copy of all proposals for extramural funds until a funding decision has been made. If funding is denied, then the proposal may be discarded.

The only exception to this procedure is the Radiology Seed Grant program. This program is administered through Erin Harrison in the Office of William Dillon, M.D., Vice Chair for Research.

Human Subjects and Vertebrate Animals

Proposals involving the use of human subjects or vertebrate animals must conform to the funding agency guidelines and to the policies and procedures of the Human Research Protection Program and of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

The IACUC does not review proposals for scientific merit, but does require that each proposal be reviewed and approved for scientific merit before IACUC approval is given for animals to be used. This review may be conducted by the NIH or one of the other agencies found on the IACUC website. Full Committee IACUC applications must include documentation of current scientific merit review and approval from one of the listed agencies. If there is no review by any of the above, the application should be sent to the Vice Chair for Research, William Dillon, M.D. c/o Erin Harrison for review by the Radiology Departmental Review Committee (DRC) fourteen days prior to the planned submission date to the IACUC. Applications can be mailed to Box 0628 or FAXed to 415-353-8593.

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Setting Up a New Award

The Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) sends the Notice of Award to the Extramural Funds, and the Research Administrator, Christine Razler.

Fund numbers are assigned by Extramural Funds or OSR in accordance with campus policies. DPA and Dep Code information is provided by the Business Office Research Analyst, Bob Gruner.

Once fund/DPA and Dep Code have been established, Extramural Funds generates an Award Synopsis and sends an email notification to the Research Administrator and to the PI's post-award administrator. The Research Analyst sends the post-award administrator a checklist which covers the following points:

1. Review the award document.



2. Set up the speedchart number. This form will be sent to you to complete once a DPA/fund has been established.
1. Grant/Contract Number, PI Name, Project Title.
2. Budget and project period.
3. F&A cost calculation and rates.
4. Terms and conditions - FDP, SNAP, salary cap, etc.
5. Note the names of Grants Management Specialist and Program Official.
6. If the award is non-NIH, please make note of items requiring action (i.e., if/when progress reports are due, how invoicing is done, if/when financial reports are due).


3. If requested, provide Accounting with breakdown of budget by NCA Group.



4. For awards budgeted for salaries, discuss with the PI the plans to move the personnel onto the fund and then fill out a funding change request form and send it to the appropriate academic or staff personnel analyst. Obtain this form from the Business Office. Please make funding changes within one month of receiving the assigned fund number.



5. For awards with recharge activity, contact the department involved; e.g., Animal Care Facility, Cell Culture Facility, Magnetic Resonance Science Center.



6. For clinical trials, a ZZ account must be established for billing of patient scans and set up prior to scheduling a patient. If a radiologist with a paid % effort is on a clinical trial, please notify the Research Administrator, Christine Razler. The Research Administrator will discuss this further with you.



7. For awards involving subcontracts, follow the OSR guidelines. In conjunction with the PI's faculty assistant, review materials required and within one month of receiving the award notice, prepare and send the required materials to OSR with a cc to the Radiology Business Office.

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Managing an Award

In compliance with campus and departmental SAS 112 procedures, post-award administrators verify personnel and non-personnel expenses using WebLinks ledgers on a monthly basis.

They provide Principal Investigators (PI's) with a monthly budget status report, which should include a projection of expenses.

Post-award administrators are responsible for working with PI's to clear overdrafts and to communicate requests for Personnel Action Form (PAF) changes to the appropriate academic and staff personnel analysts.

At the direction of the PI, post-award administrators prepare Payroll Expenditure Transfers (short form) and forward them to the Research Administrator, Christine Razler, for review and approval. Payroll Expenditure Transfers (long form) are prepared by the Business Office Research Analyst, Bob Gruner.

Post-award administrators prepare PeopleSoft budget, non-payroll cost transfers, and financial journals and then submit them to the Research Administrator for review and approval.

Post-award administrators submit invoice documentation for fee-for-service contracts to Extramural Funds. Extramural Funds then prepares and submits the invoice to the funding agency. Post-award administrators submit invoices directly to private clinical trial sponsors and follow-up to ensure that payments are received by the Controller's Office in a timely fashion and are credited as revenue to the appropriate fund.

The Business Office Research Analyst reminds PI's of upcoming deadlines for Progress Reports.

The Business Office Research Analyst monitors overdrafted funds and works with PI's and post-award administrators to clear overdrafts in a timely fashion.

The Effort Report Coordinator, Bob Gruner, alerts the post-award administrators as soon as Effort Reports become available for certification in the Peoplesoft system. Post-award administrators review the Effort Reports for accuracy, complete any needed Payroll Expenditure Transfers, and then coordinate with PI's and other self-certifiers to make sure that the Effort Reports are certified. The Effort Report Coordinator monitors to ensure that Effort Reports are certified in the time-frame established by university policy.

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Closing Out an Award

Financial reports are prepared by Extramural Funds and are reviewed and signed by the Research Administrator, Christine Razler, prior to submission to extramural funding agencies by Extramural Funds.

Final technical reports, invention statements, and other non-financial close-out documents are prepared by Principal Investigators and are submitted to funding agencies through the Office of Sponsored Research.