CARLTON K. ERICKSON CLINICIAN SCHOLAR FELLOWSHIP
Specifications: The Carlton K. Erickson Clinician Scholar Fellowship provides a medical student or resident with funds to complete a research project on alcohol or other substance use disorders that will encourage the pursuit of a research-oriented career in this field.
Amount of Grant: A maximum of $5,000 is available for the award. The applicant must provide a detailed budget outlining the expenses necessary to complete the project within a 12-month time frame. The grant award may be used for study-specific expenses including, but not limited to, supplies, travel expenses, support staff salaries, or small pieces of equipment required for the research. Funds may not be used to supplement other University salary stipends and no indirect costs or overhead charges to TRSA are permitted.
Eligibility: Only current undergraduate students or post-graduate year (PGY) residents in training for a clinical license at a Texas medical/osteopathic/dental/nursing institution are eligible for this award. Applicants enrolled in doctoral-level PhD graduate training programs are not eligible. Applicants must prepare their proposal under the sponsorship of a mentor who is a TRSA member at the time of submission and is currently involved in alcohol or other substance use disorder research. Proposed work may broadly include clinical or preclinical research of a biomedical or psychosocial nature.
Presentation of Results: By accepting the grant, the student agrees to present the results of the study at the TRSA annual scientific meeting in the year after the grant is awarded. The applicant’s mentor must also agree to attend this meeting. The applicant’s TRSA meeting registration fee will be waived, and limited amounts of travel expenses such as airfare, gas, or hotel expenses can be reimbursed with prior TRSA board approval. Other expenses beyond those approved will be at the awardee’s expense.
With prior TRSA Board approval, the applicant may present at a national scientific meeting as an alternative to the annual TRSA meeting, but no travel expenses will be reimbursed for such an alternative meeting.
A written summary report of progress, not to exceed two pages, is expected at the end of the funding period and before the presentation of study results at a meeting.
Form of Grant Application: The body of the research proposal should not exceed four pages, single spaced, using Ariel or Times Roman (11-point print or larger) and must include (1) an abstract (limited to 500 words) that contains a statement of the study hypothesis, (2) significance and background, (3) preliminary results (if any), (4) specific aims and methodology, and (5) budget justification. No more than one page of reference citations should be listed as an additional fifth page. Grant Proposal submission must include cover letters from both the applicant and the TRSA member sponsor describing the project’s relevance to TRSA’s mission and their commitment to fulfill the project’s goals.
Evaluation of Proposal: The proposal will be evaluated using the following criteria: (1) the study’s importance and significance, (2) originality of the study, (3) quality of the research plan (4) clarity and presentation of the proposal, (5) reasonableness of the budget, and (5) the study’s relevance to the TRSA mission (see below).
Research Mission of TRSA: The research mission of TRSA is to help find the fundamental causes, effective prevention, intervention, and treatment of addictive diseases. The purpose of the Society is to serve as a meeting ground for research scientists who are interested in alcohol and other substance related problems; to extend knowledge in this field; to promote the acquisition and dissemination of that knowledge; to give voice to the protection of rights for researchers and human subjects; to point out and assess research goals and needs; to enlighten and direct public opinion in regard to these problems; and to promote the methodological quality of research in these fields by awarding grants to qualified scientists in Texas.
Review of Applications: Fellowship application reviews will be performed by out-of-state, senior scientists with expertise in alcohol or other substance use disorder research. There will be at least two reviewers.
Timelines: Funding opportunities, when available, will be announced by TRSA in July of the year of proposal submission. All application materials must be submitted online at the TRSA website by September 30 of that year. Grant reviews and award decisions will be completed by December 20 of that year and funding from TRSA will be available on January 15 of the following year. All research-related expenses must be incurred within 14 months of the award (i.e., by March 15 of the year following initial award).
All questions or inquiries regarding this funding opportunity announcement should be addressed to John D. Roache (roache@uthscsa.edu) or the TRSA Executive Director (at TRSAdirector@gmail.com).