Medical Student Research Award Details

This is a summer research project for medical students, performed under the mentorship of an ACG member.

Grant Overview

The ACG Institute for Clinical Research and Education and the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) are proud to support short-term summer research experiences in gastroenterology and hepatology, for our junior colleagues in schools of medicine or osteopathy, and invite eligible applicants to apply. The project is to be completed under the mentorship of an ACG member, funded during the summer of 2021.

All applications must be submitted online. The grant site will open to submissions in early September 2020, and close on
Friday, December 4, 2020, at 11:59pm (Eastern time).

The goal of the Medical Student Research Award is to promote interest in gastroenterology or hepatology in promising students, by funding a mentored research experience. Projects may include case series, quality improvement projects, retrospective cohort studies, meta-analysis, etc. The purpose of these awards is to defray living expenses associated with the research. Successful applicants are also eligible for reimbursement for travel expenses for attending the ACG Annual Scientific meeting.

Since its inception in 1994, the ACG Institute has provided over $22 Million in funding for Clinical Research Awards to over 660
recipients. This is the second year this grant category is being offered.

A key mission of the ACG and its Institute for Clinical Research and Education is to fund innovative patient-oriented research awards. For the purposes of these awards, patient-oriented research is defined as:

1. Research conducted with human subjects
2. Research on new diagnostic and therapeutic interventions
3. Research on material of human origin, such as tissues and specimens While research that explores mechanisms of human disease is highly encouraged, the research projects should be translational in nature; i.e., have direct applicability to clinical care.
   Note: Studies involving animals will not be considered unless the work cannot be done in humans.

	The ACG Clinical Research Awards are a project of the ACG Institute and are supported by charitable contributions to the G.U.T. Fund.

Eligibility

Applicants must meet all the following criteria:

• U.S. or Canadian medical student
• 1st, 2nd, or 3rd year students at a U.S. or Canadian Medical School or School of Osteopathy
• Mentor must be an ACG Member* (at time of submission)
• Availability to complete a short-term (6-10 week) mentored research experience in GI and Hepatology

*Important! Please note your mentor must be an ACG member to apply for this grant. All member applications must be submitted by September 25, 2020 in order to be eligible for review at the October Credentials Committee meeting, which is the last opportunity to be approved for full membership prior to the grant application deadline. To Join ACG, click here. For questions on ACG membership, please email membership@gi.org or call 301-263-9000.

Preparing the Research Proposal

A complete application consists of two separate components:

1. A single Adobe PDF document comprising (but not limited to) the following: research proposal (limited to 3 pages), mentor letter of support, mentor biosketch, applicant CV, IRB forms (if available), and COI statement (if applicable).
2. Completion of required tasks via the online grant system: upload the completed research proposal PDF; provide confirmation of mentor’s ACG membership; provide full contact information for all investigators; submit a 350-word abstract of the proposed research; indicate IRB approval status; list all investigators and any potential conflicts of interest. See “Submitting the Application” below for instructions and requirements.

Required elements for the full research proposal document (i.e., the PDF that will be uploaded to the online grant system):

A. FORMATTING—Format all pages with ½" margins and use a font no smaller than 11 point. All pages must include a page number in the left header. All pages must include the PI name and grant type in the right header, in the following format:

Last name, First name
Award Type

B. RE-SUBMISSIONS—The Committee requires applicants who have applied previously to provide additional information and resubmit the application. For re-submissions, in addition to selecting “Yes” in the resubmission field of the online system, you must provide a cover letter responding to the reviewer’s critiques/outlining how you have updated your application. This should be included as the first section of your Research Proposal, as part of the PDF upload to the grant system. Limit to 1 page.

C. RESEARCH PROPOSAL—Limit to 3 pages (excluding references). Outline the proposed research. This should include the following sections:

• Specific Aims— Provide a clear description of the specific objectives for the research you propose to conduct. Consider the following questions: What is the hypothesis to be addressed? What are the immediate objectives? What are the ultimate objectives? How does the proposed research fit into an overall research program?
• Background/Significance—State how the proposed work bears on prior work and indicate how it will extend the boundaries of current knowledge.
• Pilot Data/Previous Work—No preliminary data are required. However, if either the mentor or the mentee have prior data pertinent to the present application, it should be briefly presented here. References to published work are preferred to detailed descriptions of published manuscripts.
• Research Plan—Provide the details of the research plan, including the inclusion/exclusion criteria for enrollment, methods to be used, the kinds of data that are to be collected, and how these data will be analyzed. Provide detailed sample size estimates. Grants without a statistical analysis section or sample size justification are unlikely to be successful. Please provide a timeline for the project, which should be completed prior to the applicant’s graduation from the residency program. Include a 6-10 week timeline identifying anticipated key points in the progress of your research.

D. REFERENCES—List citations numerically in the order in which they appear in the application. Be judicious in the use of references.

E. BUDGET—Include a separate section for the budget amount requested. Indicate the time period of the award, and how much is being requested for the medical student’s living expenses. Do not include research expenses or travel to the ACG Annual Scientific Meeting as part of your budget. The College will reimburse travel costs separately for those who are selected for funding.

F. INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB) STATUS—Include the IRB approval letter, or indicate if IRB approval is pending. If IRB approval is pending at the time of submission and the grant proposal is subsequently approved for funding, funds will not be released until the IRB approval letter is received by the ACG.

G. CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT—Include, if applicable.

H. MENTORSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES AND LETTER OF SUPPORT—Required for PDF upload:

• Responsibilities: The mentor responsibilities include: a statement of support for the applicant, certification the project can be completed in 6-10 weeks, agreement to oversee the IRB approval to ensure it is ready for the start of the project, and that proper HIPAA training is implemented. The mentor must also agree to oversee the student’s required reporting for project. The mentor’s responsibilities should be acknowledged in the letter of support.
• Letter of Support: A letter of support from the mentor, no more than 2 pages in length, should accompany the grant. Include an assessment of the academic potential of the trainee, an acknowledgment of the mentor’s responsibility for the successful completion of the project and the educational experience of the student, and the plan for mentoring the student through successful completion of the project. The letter of support should emphasize those aspects of the applicant’s interest and preparedness that relate to his/her suitability to undertake and complete this project in 6-10 weeks. The mentor should describe past experiences that qualifies him/her as an appropriate mentor for this award.

I. BIOSKETCHES—Provide this for the mentor (required), and for any other investigators involved in the research project. Use the NIH format and adhere to the NIH 5-page limit. (For sample format see the NIH webpage at grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm

J. APPLICANT CURRICULUM VITAE—Applicant should include his or her current Curriculum Vitae (C.V.) or NIH Biosketch. For sample NIH format see the NIH Web page: grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm.

K. APPENDICES—May be included (if needed) for data collection forms. Do not use to expand Research Proposal.

Submitting the Application

All applications must be submitted online. The online grant application site will open in early September; a link to the site will be available at gi.org/acg-institute/research-awards. The submission deadline is Friday, December 4, 2020 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time. This deadline will be strictly enforced, and no exceptions will be made.

Once you begin the online application process, you will be able to save your work and return to complete it until the submission deadline. As part of the online application process, applicants are required to provide information about others, such as institutional addresses and potential conflicts of interest for co-investigators, the responsible mentor, etc. We encourage applicants to gather all the necessary information early, and to not wait until the last minute.

The following tasks must be completed via the online grant system in order to successfully submit an application for grant consideration:

A. INDICATE PROPOSAL TITLE AND SELECT GRANT TYPE—The title should be concise and clearly reflect the proposed research. Select the “Medical Student Research Award” grant type.

B. ACG MEMBERSHIP VERIFICATION—You must provide an ACG member ID for your mentor. The mentor can look up the ID number by logging into gi.org/membership/my-acg-login, then clicking “My Contact Information” from the menu on the left. Member ID is listed below Date of Birth.

C. ADD INVESTIGATORS—List the Medical Student, Co-Investigators, and Responsible Mentor. Enter their names, ACG member status (and year joined if available), titles, email address, role (PI, CO-investigator, Responsible Mentor), and institution names and addresses.

D. INVESTIGATOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION—Provide academic position of Medical Student. Add the responsible mentor’s name, email.

E. RESEARCH PROPOSAL ABSTRACT—Provide an abstract of no more than 350 words that summarizes the proposed research.

F. RE-SUBMISSIONS—For re-submissions, select “Yes” in the re-submission field of the online system.

G. IRB STATUS—Verify current IRB status.

H. RESEARCH GRANT PROPOSAL PDF UPLOAD—Format the file as required in the “Preparing the Research Proposal” section, including all required elements, and upload the file as directed. The file name should include the medical student’s first and last name.

I. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RESPONSIBLE INVESTIGATOR—Indicate agreement to abide by the grant requirements, if awarded grant funding. This must be signed by the Responsible Mentor. The grant system will prompt you to select a responsible mentor, who will then receive an email to complete this form.

J. CONFLICT OF INTEREST—A potential conflict of interest (COI) exists when research involves a device from which any investigator(s) or a company may benefit. It also exists when research involves a pharmaceutical agent that is not FDA-approved for any indication. A conflict of interest exists if any investigator holds or has submitted a patent on a device or pharmaceutical agent or is a major shareholder in a company involved in the research. If applicable, select “Yes” and include a detailed explanation within the grant system, including names of each investigator and their potential COIs.

Application Review Process

Immediately following the application submission period, all applications are reviewed and scored by the ACG Research Committee, following its standardized process.

Reviewers consider the following when scoring applications: scientific merit, clinical significance of the research proposal, methods, as well as merits of the applicant and the mentoring team in providing support. The Committee will consider the following:

• Project’s Scientific Merit (50%)—composed of the following:
  • Clinical Significance (25%)
  • Feasibility (including availability of adequate resources, personnel, and facilities) (25%)
  • Methods (50%)
  • clear study design, adequate power and sample size to address the question, and plan for statistical analysis of data
• Merit of the Applicant (25%) – previous academic achievements, excellent training, and previous evidence of intellectual rigor
• Mentor (25%) – previous mentoring record, publishing record, and evidence of ability to support a new investigator
  

The same project should not be submitted for multiple grant types, and will not be considered if this occurs.

Award Notification and Grant Requirements

Notification of Awards will be completed by March 31, 2021. Please do not contact ACG prior to this date to inquire about the status of your application.

• Funding: Awards consist of up to $5,000 ($500 per week stipend). Funds are to be used to defray living expenses associated with the short-term research experience for students enrolled in medical or doctor of osteopathy degree programs. Funds received by the student are not to be used for supplies or other costs associated with the research. Separate from the funds received for this award, successful applicants are also eligible for reimbursement for travel expenses to attend the ACG Annual Scientific Meeting in the year of their award.
• Travel to ACG Annual Scientific Meeting: The ACG considers attendance at our national meeting a seminal experience for medical students with an interest in gastroenterology and hepatology. For that reason, awardees will be supported to attend this meeting in the year of their award (ACG 2021 will be held in Las Vegas, October 22-27). For those selected for funding this support will include: free registration at the ACG Annual Scientific Meeting (you must still pre-register), travel costs of up to $1,500, consistent with the policies of the College, will be reimbursed (e.g., hotel, coach airfare or train, mileage, parking, and/or taxi) after submission of receipts to the ACG Institute. For those selected for funding, further details on travel reimbursement and meeting registration will be provided in the award letter.
• Required Progress Reports: Awardees must file a final progress report that includes a financial statement by September 30, 2022, on completion of the project. Progress reports will be submitted online through the ACG website gi.org/reporting-form-for-past-acg-grant-recipients, and financial statements will be emailed to research@gi.org.
• Abstract Presentation at an ACG Annual Scientific Meeting: ACG encourages the selected awardee to submit any abstracts to the ACG Annual Scientific Meeting for presentation (see ACG abstract submission details for requirements).
• Publication: All publications arising from work funded by this award must acknowledge support of an ACG Clinical Research Award.

Questions or Assistance

For any questions about grant requirements, please refer to the FAQs.

Prior grant application submitters must create a new login for the grant system each year, even if you have applied for an ACG grant previously.

Technical support questions about the online submission system: Contact CadmiumCD Technical Support using the Technical Support link on the upper right corner of the submission site’s screen, via email at Help@ConferenceAbstracts.com, or via phone at (877) 426-6323.

For any questions not answered in the RFA or FAQs, or reporting questions, contact us via email at research@gi.org.

Important Dates