Administration

Grants and Contracts Administration and Finance

Grants and Contracts Administration and Finance is comprised of four offices managed by Vice President of Finance and Academic Administration Carmen Mendez.

Our Offices

Grants Accounting Office

  • Overview

    Managed by Lovetta Montgomery, the objective of this office is to ensure that internal policies and procedures, as well as the cost accounting, revenue collection and financial reporting of the Children’s National Research Institute grants and contracts are in compliance with federal/state regulations—all while providing outstanding customer service.

  • Major Functions and Responsibilities

    • Subcontract and sponsor invoicing
    • Revenue collection
    • Prepare and submit financial status reports
    • Process effort and payroll distribution changes
    • Comply with federal accounting requirements
    • Oversee and support A-133 Audit
    • Manage grants and contracts accounting
    • Perform financial analysis of grants and contracts
    • Account set-up via BearResources

Business Office

  • Overview

    The objective of this office is to provide core business services to research faculty and staff with a focus on grant/contract administration, financial management and analysis while maintaining compliance with federal, state and institutional requirements. The office strives to provide outstanding support and customer service to all faculty and staff.

  • Major Functions and Responsibilities

    • Primary point-of-contact for inquiries and information
    • Coordinate with faculty to prepare grant applications (proposal budget, administrative documents and data entry into the approved proposal format)
    • Monitor collection and submission of scientific annual reports
    • Prepare Just-In-Time requests
    • Meet with the faculty and staff regularly to provide financial status, projections and guidance
    • Review and approve all costs to project, such as invoices for payment, travel vouchers, cost transfers, etc.
    • Ensure proper post-award fiscal management
    • Review employee effort allocations and ensure changes are submitted and reflected in the general ledger
    • Approve and review expenses to ensure that expenses are allowable, allocable and reasonable
    • Assist accounting in the close-out of old grants and avoid over-expenditure
    • Facilitate effort reporting
    • Maintain financial compliance with our sponsors

Office of Grants and Contracts

  • Overview

    Managed by Charles Maris, the objective of this office is to facilitate extramural and intramural funding for faculty projects with the highest quality support services, while ensuring compliance with federal, state and institutional policies.

  • Major Functions and Responsibilities

    • Authorized Organizational Representative and Signing Official for grants and contracts (federal, non-federal, state and local government)
    • Implement related policies and procedures
    • Distribute funding opportunity announcements
    • Provide educational training and development

    Grants and Contracts Specialist:


    • Designated liaison between Children’s National and the sponsor or prime organization
    • Official review and submission of grant and contract proposals on behalf of the faculty
    • Contract negotiation for terms and conditions (agreements such as grant awards, subcontracts, non-clinical services, vendor and equipment)
    • Award acceptance and request account set-up
    • Award close-out (non-financial)

Agreements Team

  • Overview

    The Agreements Team drafts and negotiates a variety of research agreements, ranging from various monetary & non-monetary ancillary agreements to Clinical Trials and outgoing Subawards/Subcontracts. Working closely with Legal, Compliance, Risk Management, Innovation Ventures, IT, and other key stakeholders as necessary, to ensure the most favorable and compliant terms are included in our contractual arrangements.

  • Major Functions and Responsibilities

    Manager:

    • Administers and provides oversight of team
    • Oversees all subrecipient monitoring activities and provides audit oversight
    • Triages incoming subawards and amendments
    • Point of contact for escalation, can push subawards and agreements through workflow(s) as needed

    Industry Partnerships Specialist (IPS):

    • Drafts, reviews, negotiates and executes research-related Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs)
    • Drafts, reviews, negotiates and executes Confidentiality Disclosure and Nondisclosure Agreements (CDAs and NDAs)
    • Drafts, reviews, negotiates and executes outbound Independent Consulting Agreements (ICAs)

    Subaward Specialist:

    • Drafts, negotiates and executes outbound subaward agreements, in addition to modifications and amendments for continuation years
    • Drafts, negotiates and executes outbound Billing/Philanthropy Letters and Business Consulting Agreements (BCAs)

    Subaward Accountant:

    • Performs subrecipient risk assessment prior to subaward issuance
    • Sets up PO for subaward payment
    • Receives subaward invoices, reviews for expenses for compliance and processes payment
    • Conducts subrecipient monitoring

  • Contact

    Priya Selvakumar

Clinical Trials

  • Overview

    The Clinical Trials Office provides dedicated clinical research support to clinical investigators providing them with the personnel necessary to conduct and facilitate pediatric human subject research. Services include, but are not limited to:

     

    • Coverage analysis development
    • Executing clinical trials agreement
    • Patient care costs budget review
    • Clinical trials revenue financial management
    • Clinical research billing compliance
    • PowerTrials management of protocols and subjects
    • Implementation of Oncore Clinical Research Management System

    Clinical Trials Office liaisons with Clinical Centers, OHPS, Revenue Cycle and other offices bring together operational workflows, strategic planning, policy development, training and education of principal investigators and research coordinators.

  • Mission

    Our mission at Grants and Contracts Administration and Finance (GACF) is to facilitate research and other sponsored activities at Children’s National Hospital by delivering knowledgeable, responsive and innovative solution-oriented service. We provide guidance and assistance to faculty and staff on the utilization of sponsored programs.

  • What We Do

    We serve as the main liaison between sponsor and faculty to ensure that sponsored program funds are utilized in a manner consistent with the policies of Children’s National, the sponsor, and state and federal governments. Through our activities, we protect and enhance the reputation of Children’s National as a major research organization in children’s health.

Our Team

Carmen Mendez

Carmen Mendez

  • Vice President, Finance & Academic Administration, Grants and Contracts
Bair Stephanie

Stephanie Bair

  • Director, Research Business Office
Cazares Efren

Efren Cazares, M.P.H.

  • Business Manager, Translational Research
Falconett Nellie

Nellie Falconett

  • Agreements Manager
Hohenlohe Conrad

Conrad Hohenlohe

  • Pre-Award Manager
Khan Mehzabin

Mehzabin Khan, M.D.

  • Manager, Clinical Trials Office
Montgomery Lovetta

Lovetta Montgomery

  • Director, Grants Accounting
Nguyen Sze

Sze Nguyen

  • Program Manager, Grants and Contracts Administration and Finance
Prentiss Lydia

Lydia Prentiss

  • Scientific Core Business Admin
Zia Hilah

Hilah Zia, M.P.A., C.R.A.

  • Sr. Research Business Manager