Opportunities for Educators: Lead, Learn, Disseminate

The Special Projects Program provides financial support for projects that further the APPD’s mission and strategic plan. Through the process described below, the APPD may grant up to $10,000 per selected project. The Board of Directors will determine the funds available for this program annually. The number of awards will be dependent on the funds available, and the size of the grant requests of the selected projects. Proposals are due each January 7, 2025. Click here for more information.

The Large Research Grants on Education Program supports education research projects that will contribute to the improvement of education, broadly conceived, with budgets ranging from $125,000 to $500,000 for projects ranging from one to five years. We anticipate awarding grants with budgets across each of the following funding tiers -- $125,000 to 250,000; $250,001 to $375,000; and $375,001 to $500,000. Within each of our funding tiers, we evaluate projects within tier and strongly encourage applicants to submit for funding that best fits their project rather than applying for the highest amount. We accept Intent to Apply forms twice a year.

This program is “field-initiated” in that proposal submissions are not in response to a specific request for a particular research topic, discipline, design, method, or location. Our goal for this program is to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious and technically sound research that is relevant to the most pressing questions and compelling opportunities in education.

Applications Open: December 2024

Intent to Apply: January 14, 2025, 12:00 pm Noon (Central/Chicago Time)

Full Proposal Deadline: February 11, 2025, 12:00 p.m. Noon (Central/Chicago Time)

Program contact: Maricelle Garcia largegrants@spencer.org

Download more details here.

The Small Research Grants on Education Program supports education research projects that will contribute to the improvement of education, broadly conceived, with budgets up to $50,000 for projects ranging from one to five years. We accept applications three times per year.

This program is “field-initiated” in that proposal submissions are not in response to a specific request for a particular research topic, discipline, design, method, or location. Our goal for this program is to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious and technically sound research that is relevant to the most pressing questions and compelling opportunities in education.

Applications Open Mid-February, 2025

Full Proposal Deadline Mid-April 2025

Program contact: smallgrants@spencer.org

See additional info and guidelines here.

The Racial Equity Research Grants program supports education research projects that will contribute to understanding and ameliorating racial inequality in education. We are interested in funding studies that aim to understand and disrupt the reproduction and deepening of inequality in education, and which seek to (re)imagine and make new forms of equitable education. Thus, we are interested in research projects that seek to envision educational opportunities in a multiplicity of education systems, levels, settings, and developmental ranges and that reach beyond documenting conditions and paradigms that contribute to persistent racial inequalities.

Applications open in March 2025. Learn more here.

The GEA seeks to fund research projects that address important problems or questions in medical education. High-quality research proposals on the following topics are strongly encouraged, but proposals in other areas are also welcome: professional identify formation; learner well-being and mistreatment; learning environment; faculty development; interprofessional education; competency-based medical education, entrustable professional activities, and milestones; self-directed/self-regulated learning; and virtual learning and COVID-related educational changes.

The GEA may fund multiple projects each year up to $10,000 each. This is a two-year grant. The pre-proposal application process opens in the fall, and the full proposal application process opens in the spring.

Now Open! The deadline for Pre-proposal submissions is Friday, January 17, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Submit here.

The AAMC Award for Excellence in Medical Education honors an individual or a team of two individuals whose contributions have had a demonstrable impact on advancing medical education. As the AAMC’s most prestigious honor, the AAMC Award for Excellence in Medical Education recognizes the highest standards in medical education.

The awardee receives the AAMC Award for Excellence and a prize of $10,000. Nominations are due Jan. 24, 2025. Learn more about our decision to rename the award and find the frequently asked questions.

Suggest Someone for This Award: NOMINATE

Accepting nominations beginning January 2, 2025.

This award recognizes an outstanding assistant-level faculty member who demonstrates leadership potential in addressing inequity in medical education and health care; demonstrates efforts in addressing educational, societal, and health care needs of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States; and is committed to a career in academic medicine.

The recipient receives a $25,000 grant to support a project performed in the United States to support racial and ethnic minorities. Recipients are required to accept the award at Learn Serve Lead 2024: The AAMC Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA.

Funding for the fellowship begins in November of the year the fellowship is awarded and must be used for direct costs. The recipient will be required to submit a final narrative and financial report by November 2026.

A medical school may nominate one current faculty member per year for this award. A candidate must:

• Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
• Hold the rank of full-time assistant professor in a LCME-accredited U.S. medical school department.
• Have held the assistant professor position appointment beginning no earlier than July 1, 2021.
• Have received only one appointment as assistant professor.
• Hold a MD, PhD, or have earned another doctoral degree.

Learn about Dr. Herbert W. Nickens’ contributions to academic medicine in Reflections on Diversity and Inclusion in Academic Medicine commemorating the 15th anniversary of the Nickens Awards.

Award Program Book: Download pdf

The Carol Berkowitz Award for Advocacy and Leadership in Pediatric Medical Education honors a Program Coordinator for extraordinary or innovative contribution(s) of advocacy and leadership in pediatric medical education at a national level through APPD.

This award is given to a current or former Pediatric Residency or Fellowship Program Coordinator who is or has been a member of the APPD. Current/sitting members of the deliberating body, however, are not eligible for nomination. Nominations may come from any member of the APPD.

The person nominating this coordinator must obtain at least three letters of support from other members of the APPD. The maximum number of support letters is five. Support letters must define (in 500 words or less) why the coordinator should receive this award and list all attributes describing the coordinator's accomplishments, leadership/mentoring qualities, and advocacy as a member of the APPD and as a pediatric residency or fellowship program coordinator.

Submission Deadline: February 12, 2025

Learn more here.

The Robert S. Holm, MD Leadership Award honors an APPD member (past or present) for extraordinary contribution in leadership and support of other program leaders as a mentor, advisor or role model at a national level through APPD.

In 500 words or less, please include the following in your nomination letter:

• Name, title and program of nominee.
• State their length of time in educational leadership.
• Provide example(s) of extraordinary leadership contributions.
• Provide example(s) of mentoring, advising and/or being a role model to others.
• Provide additional considerations for the selection committee's review.
• Name and title of person nominating and professional exposure to nominee (areas or domains from which you gathered data to make the nomination).
• Name and title of second to nomination.
• Include CV or educational biosketch of nominee, if available to you.

This is open to all current and former APPD members. However, a current, sitting member of the deliberating body is not eligible for nomination.

Submission Deadline: February 12, 2025

The Walter W. Tunnessen, Jr. MD Award for the Advancement of Pediatric Resident Education honors an APPD member (past or present) for extraordinary or innovative contribution(s) in pediatric graduate medical education at a national level through APPD.

In 500 words or less, include the following in your nomination letter:

• Name, title and program of nominee.
• State their length of time in educational leadership.
• Provide example(s) of innovation or innovative techniques used in their program.
• Include link(s) or visual example(s) to show why this person is innovative.
• Provide additional considerations for the selection committee's review.
• Name and title of person nominating and professional exposure to nominee (areas or domains from which you gathered data to make the nomination).
• Name and title of second to nomination.
• Include CV or educational biosketch of nominee, if available to you.

This is open to all current and former APPD members. However, a current, sitting member of the deliberating body is not eligible for nomination.

Submission Deadline: February 12, 2025

Learn more here.

The Herbert W. Nickens Award is given to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to promoting justice in medical education and health care equity in the United States. Dr. Herbert W. Nickens was the founding vice president of the AAMC Division of Community and Minority Programs, now Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion. Dr. Nickens’ passionate leadership contributed greatly to focusing national attention on the need to support underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities in medicine.

The awardee receives the Nickens Award and a $10,000 prize. The awardee will also present the Nickens Lecture at Learn Serve Lead 2025: The AAMC Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX.

Deadline: Monday, March 10, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET

Learn more here.

Please join us for our next installment of our virtual lunch and learn...from each other meeting: Thursday, January 16 from 12-1 m. EST. Please register here. After registering, you will receive a Zoom link to join the virtual cafe on 1/16.

Please reach out to Lisa DelSignore directly (lisa.delsignore@yale.edu) if you have any specific topics you'd like to propose for discussion. We are thinking of one discussion topic as follow-up from our fall retreat on implementing new ACGME recommendations. We'd love to hear from all of you (program administrators, residency PD/APDs, chief residents, fellowship PD/APDs, vice chairs)!

• February 5, 2025
• 1:00-4:00 p.m. Eastern

The annual forum is a virtual, half-day intensive session geared toward Pediatric Fellowship Directors, Associate Fellowship Directors, Superfellowship Directors, Fellowship Coordinators and Vice Chairs of Education.

Our vibrant fellowship education leaders consisting of fellowship directors, associate fellowship directors, fellowship coordinators will have the opportunity to spend 4 hours together learning and networking.

The forum is a virtual learning experience to allow easy engagement for our fellowship education leadership communities.

Registration is now open: Register here

The ACGME is pleased to invite the graduate medical education (GME) community to the 2025 ACGME Annual Educational Conference, being held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, February 20-22, 2025. The Annual Educational Conference brings together the largest GME community in the world and features a wide selection of curated experiences and content that apply to both seasoned and first-time attendees. In addition to educational content, #ACGME2025 gives participants the opportunity to network with thousands of GME professionals and changemakers who are shaping the future of academic medicine.

• March 25-28, 2025, in Atlanta, GA
• Click here to register

The APPD is pleased to announce a call for one education specialist to help direct APPD LEAPES. The new member will join the APPD LEAPES Council which oversees LEAPES, a nationally recognized program in which pediatric GME education specialists engage and learn from seasoned educators. Council members are responsible for developing, implementing, and evaluating the APPD LEAPES program, as well as choosing participants.

If you are interested in becoming a candidate for a position on the Council, please see the criteria and details of the selection process on the APPD LEAPES Council application site. Completion of LEAPES is not a prerequisite.

All materials must be submitted by February 3, 2025

What We Offer:

The opportunity to make a meaningful impact in the community.

A platform to enhance your leadership skills and expand your professional network, while bringing back innovative strategies and best practices to strengthen your home program and institution.

Collaboration with a diverse group of dedicated individuals who share a common goal, fostering a national network that enriches your departmental influence.

Recognition for your contributions and the chance to shape the future of your program, reinforcing your department’s commitment to excellence in graduate medical education.

Apply here!

APPD is proud to announce the call for mentors for the SMERFS (Supporting Medical Education Fellow Scholars) program.

The APPD Supporting Medical Education Research Fellow Scholars (SMERFS) is a program that provides pediatric subspecialty fellows with instruction about scholarship with mentoring of a medical education research project. This program supports project development, collection of data, data analysis, presentation of the project and publication. The goal is for this research project to meet the American Board of Pediatrics' Fellowship Scholarly Work requirement.

Goal: To provide mentoring and support for medical education research for pediatric subspecialty fellows.

Objectives: By the end of the APPD SMERFS Program, fellows will:

• Describe foundational concepts in medical education research
• Develop a mentoring relationship with a medical education research expert
• Design and carry out a medical educational scholarly project with assistance of a mentor
• Present their medical education research at the APPD Spring Meeting during their last year in the program
• Draft a medical education research manuscript in preparation for publication

Travel support for mentors will be provided. The deadline to apply is January 31.

For more information and the application, please visit: APPD Supporting Medical Education Fellow Scholars (SMERFS) - Association of Pediatric Program Directors

SMERFS will provide pediatric subspecialty fellows with direct mentoring of a medical education research project as well as instruction about conducting scholarly activities through a monthly virtual core curriculum. We are looking for educators to give one-hour interactive learning sessions beginning July 2025 for the following topics:

• Introduction to medical education scholarship
• Survey development
• Curriculum development
• IRB in medical education
• Program evaluation
• Qualitative research
• Quantitative research
• Assessment
• Conceptual frameworks
• Dissemination
• Pursuing a medical education career
• DEI in medical education research

If you are interested, please send your name, contact information, topic of interest and any experience in presenting this topic to Richard Mink at rmink@ucla.edu.

Participants will be chosen via a thorough peer-review process.

The applicant must be committed to attending two consecutive conferences. For more information on the timing and location of the conferences refer to the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Conference website and the Pediatric Academic Societies Conference website.

The applicant must also be prepared to participate in both independent and online instruction during the months between the conferences. The applicant must identify a local mentor, or request assistance in finding one. Upon acceptance to the program, the applicant is expected to meet with the identified mentor on a quarterly basis, either in person or via phone/web-conference, to discuss progress towards meeting teaching goals. In addition, the mentor will observe and provide feedback for at least two of the applicant's teaching sessions. If necessary, teaching sessions can be video-recorded and shared with mentor at a later date.

To learn more about the APEX Teaching Program, check out this informational webinar.

The application period for the APEX Teaching Program anchored at the Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) Conference runs from November 15 through January 15. This track is restricted to pediatric hospitalists or advanced practice providers who specialize in hospital care. Deadline for PHM Track is January 15.

The mission of APPD LEARN is to conduct meaningful educational research that advances the training of future Pediatricians by developing and promoting participation and collaboration in research by Program Directors (PD) for the purpose of improving the health and well-being of children. APPD LEARN advances its mission through activities which include managing a collaborative research network of Pediatric Programs working together to conduct multi-site studies of educational methods and instruments and maintaining an online repository of educational research study materials, raw data and findings for dissemination to APPD members and collaborators. This Call for Proposals invites APPD programs to submit educational research projects involving primary data collection from APPD LEARN member sites. A separate “APPD LEARN Data Request” process is also available for investigators seeking to obtain existing APPD LEARN data sets for new analyses.

Next proposal deadline is January 31, 2025. You may access the submission portal here: APPD Research Submission Portal

The call for abstracts for oral presentations and workshops for Medical Education Day at Yale (Med Ed Day) is now open.

Med Ed Day, which will be held on Thursday, June 5, from noon to 7 p.m. on the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) campus, is an annual conference to share best practices, celebrate trainees and educators, and spotlight Yale's excellence and innovation in medical education. We encourage abstract submissions from Yale faculty, residents, fellows, students, and staff in the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Public Health, and across the university. Topics may include, but are not limited to: teaching, curriculum, assessment, mentoring, and/or educational leadership. The deadline for submitting an oral presentation or workshop abstract is Friday, Jan. 10, 2025.

Please note that a separate call for poster abstracts will open on Feb. 1, 2025. Med Ed Day registration will open in April. Attendance is free and continuing medical education (CME) credit will be available. Please send any questions to centerformeded@yale.edu.

• Abstract submissions open until January 24, 2025
• https://regionabstract.academicpeds.org/