January 19, 2012

AHA Professional Membership or Application Fee Requirement

Effective with the winter 2012 deadlines, the American Heart Association (AHA) has instituted a new Membership/Application Fee requirement for submission of grant applications. The Membership/Application Fee requirement is in effect for the upcoming January 27 deadline for Midwest Affiliate programs, including Clinical Research Program, Grant-in-Aid, Pre- and Post-doctoral Fellowships, and Scientist Development Grant. Only applicants to the Undergraduate Student Research Program are exempt.

The AHA application form in Grants@Heart now includes a new Membership/Application Fee page prompting the applicant to:

-       Enter an active AHA Professional Membership number
-       Join/renew AHA Professional Membership (membership tiers start at $75)

-       Enter credit card information to pay a $100 application fee (per application)   
















MU OSPA confirmed with AHA that individual membership is required; there is no institutional membership option for the University to pursue.

As in the past, all applications are submitted to the institutional Grants Officer (Sr. Grants and Contracts Administrator, OSPA) for review, approval, and submission on behalf of the applicant and institution. Until the Membership/Application Fee requirement is fulfilled, Grants@Heart will not allow submission to the institutional Grants Officer.

Note that while joining for new membership or paying the application fee allows instant access to submit an application to the Grants Officer, retrieving a forgotten membership number from AHA could take a few days. Please plan ahead to fulfill the new AHA requirement and comply with the OSPA Five Day Submission Policy for a thorough review and on-time submission.

Refer here to review the full AHA announcement and FAQs. Feel free to contact me should you have any other questions or concerns.