#dr. robert m. webman

[drobertwebman]

The American Gastroenterological Association's Active Research Awards

A charitable organization with tax-exempt status, the American Gastroenterological Association's (AGA) Research Foundation allocates over $2 million annually as grants to upcoming researchers in gastroenterology and hepatology. The awards serve to equip upcoming researchers in these fields with ample resources to develop innovative healthcare solutions for patients.

For the 2022 edition of its grants, the AGA's Research Foundation awarded over $2.56 million to 61 recipients. Five award categories are currently open to interested applicants, with deadlines across August and September 2022.

Researchers across all experience levels, particularly those with little experience, may apply for the AGA Pilot Research Award. Under this award, the AGA Research Foundation disburses $30,000 to four awardees for a year. Awardees in the early phase of their career devote the funds to their career progression, while experienced awardees apply theirs to ongoing innovative projects. The AGA's Research Foundation requires that applicants must have obtained an MD, PhD, or a related degree. Applicants must be members of the AGA during the application period and hold a full-time faculty or similar position at a North American institution.

Applicants in the early phase of their career must have a mentor. Conversely, experienced applicants with an associate professor designation must provide a letter of recommendation from their department heads.

Three recipients across all experience levels equally receive $30,000 for a year under the AGA Pilot Research Award in Digestive Diseases Health Disparities annually. This category represents the collaborative efforts of the AGA and Amgen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, in promoting research efforts on health equity in digestive diseases. The AGA permits applications from applicants researching health disparities in pancreatology or endoscopy. Generally, the research scope may comprise the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, or patient outcomes of digestive disease or its socio-economic dimensions. In addition, the AGA welcomes applications from female applicants and applicants of an ethnic minority in biomedical research.

Independent researchers across all experience levels may also apply for the AGA-Pfizer Pilot Research Award in Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis. Under this category, the AGA awards $30,000 to three recipients with ongoing research efforts on innovations in the assessment and remediation of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Pfizer, Inc., a leading American pharmaceutical company, is the primary sponsor of this award. When determining recipients for this award, the AGA considers the relevance of the project, proof of institutional support, and the project's capability of attracting subsequent grants.

The AGA-Amgen Fellowship-to-Faculty Transition Award comprises an annual payment of $65,000 for two years to one recipient. In addition to an MD, PhD, or a related degree, applicants must occupy a clinical or postdoctoral fellow position at a North American institution. The AGA mandates that clinical fellows must either be in the final year of their training or the year after, while postdoctoral fellows must have accumulated research experience of at least four years but not exceeding six years.

Under the AGA-Bristol Myers Squibb Fellowship-to-Faculty Transition Award, the AGA disburses $65,000 per year for two years to clinical or postdoctoral fellows. For eligibility, the AGA excludes applicants solely engaged in basic research. Applicants must also strictly define their research as either clinical or translational.