USF Health Graduate Medical Education Research Grant Program
2024-2025

Mission

Encourage residents and fellows to conduct research, engage in quality improvement initiatives, and promote scholarly activity.

Support those who have curricular research requirements associated with their program.

Proposals

Proposals are being accepted from a wide-range of disciplines. The following are priority projects and will receive favorable consideration during this grant period:

• Health Disparities (For 2024-25 at least 1 award will be reserved specifically to fund a Health Disparities project)
• Quality Improvement
• Patient Safety

Awards

• The Program has been allocated up to $50,000 to fund approved research projects.
• The maximum amount awarded for each project is $6,000.
• Awardees will be notified via email within four weeks of application deadline (by Wednesday, August 14, 2024).

Jagdish U. Kothari Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Research

The Kothari Aware is an additional monetary award in addition to the GME grant for $1,000 for excellence in cardiovascular research. If you would like for your proposal to be considered for this additional award, please provide a paragraph summarizing your cardiovascular research and its impact, or potential impact, on society. One proposal will be selected to be awarded this award for 2024-25.

Robert A. Good Honor Society

The mission of the Robert A. Good Honor Society (RGHS) is to recognize and honor Residents and Fellows who have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to improving health outcomes through research, innovation, and scholarship. Residents and Fellows at the PGY-2 level or above, who are in good standing, are eligible to self-nominate by submitting a personal statement, a current curriculum vitae, and a letter of support from a research mentor. The selection process is highly competitive, with no more than 1% of Residents and no more than 1% of Fellows being selected each year. The call for self-nominations goes out annually in early spring.

For information on the awardees for both the Jagdish U. Kothari and Robert A. Good Society, please click here.

USF Center for Families Impacted by Substance Use (USF CFISU) - Research Support

The USF Health GME Grant program is partnering with the USF Center for Families Impacted by Substance Use where any grant that involves substance use will receive 20% of the funding from USF CFISU with the remainder of the funds being provided by USF Health GME. In addition, this will provide access to the Center and resources within that center for assistance with the project.

Receiving official designation from the Florida Board of Governors in 2022, the USF CFISU aims to organize a platform for faculty and learners to promote research, innovation, and high-quality clinical care for families impacted by substance use. The Center is a recognized entity to increase collaborations across all USF Health clinical departments, colleges, and community partners with unrecognized potential due to their previously siloed structure.

Eligibility

• Current USF residents and fellows
• Grantees are required to be supervised by a mentor
• Research projects receiving funding from an internal or external entity are NOT eligible to apply

Submission Deadline

Completed applications must be received by Friday, July 12, 2024.

How to apply

A completed application includes the following required components:

1. Completed application form (Qualtrics link)
2. A 1500-word (max.) project proposal addressing the following key areas:
   • Specific aims
   • Purpose
   • Narrative (including references)
   • Methods
   • Anticipated Outcomes and Impact
3. Budget justification - Please see the section below "Budgets" for important information related to non-allowed expenses.
4. Letter of support from program director (summarizing the trainee's qualifications and research prospects in a brief statement of recommendation)
5. CV for Mentor(s)

Budgets

NOTE: All applications must include a detailed budget. The budget must show line-item expenses. Budget funds cannot be used for travel, publication costs, or food. Funds cannot be used for personnel where the funds go to a specific person. Funds can be used to pay facility fees or fees for service where the funds are paying an invoice and not going directly to an individual. (Please reach out with questions if you need clarification.) Clinical biostats cannot be funded using grant funds. Please consult with the RISE Office regarding clinical biostats support. For biostats that cannot be supported through RISE or are related to bioinformatics or genomics, grant funds can be used (e.g. Moffitt core). The usage of gift cards will like need to be coordinated through the Office of Clinical Research (OCR) and will incur additional fees. Under no circumstance can gift cards be awarded to USF or UMSA employees to include residents and fellows.

Award Funding Period

All allocated funds must be used fully during the current academic year unless you apply for and receive a 1-year extension. If you will be leaving your training program prior to the award period end date, funds will not be transferred to another awardee and must be used by your program termination date.

IRB Approval

For projects that require IRB approval, funds will not be released until there is final IRB approval or an appropriate IRB waiver.

Review Process

The GMEC Research Sub-Committee will review proposals and award funding each academic year. Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. The conceptual and methodological quality of the research
2. The potential impact of the research program
3. The feasibility of the research project
4. The educational value anticipated for the resident/fellow or residency program

Requirements

All awardees are required to present their findings at a local conference (e.g., USF Health Research Day, Moffitt Scientific Symposium, etc.). In addition, it is strongly encouraged to submit the research for publication.

Six-month and final progress reports must be submitted to the GMEC Research Sub-Committee. The final progress report must summarize research findings and detail how the funds were used. The progress reports must come from the awardee and signed by their mentor.

All research-related protocols and policies established by the site where the research will be conducted must be followed.

Publications

Should include: "This project was supported by a grant made possible through the USF GME Research Grant Program."

SAMPLE Project proposal and budget (FOR REFERENCE ONLY)

The sample project proposal and budget document is from a previous year's GME research grant program. These documents should be used for reference only.

GME Grant Workshop

To view the 2022 GME Grant Workshop, please click here.

Contacts

If you should have questions about the GME Research Grant program, contact Brad Clark bradclark@usf.edu or Sonya Bhaskar sonyabhaskar@usf.edu.

Funding Period

All allocated funds must be used fully during the academic year in which they are dispersed and may not be carried over into the next academic year.