Issue Date: November 27, 2023
Submission Due Date: January 8, 2024 by 11:59 pm ET
Grant Selection Notification: By June 14, 2024
Period of Performance: 2 years
Amount of Grant: Up to $100,000 per grant

We are no longer accepting applications for the 2024 Physician Scientist Training Grant (Cycle 1). Cycle 2 will open in June 2024. Please check back for additional details or subscribe to the mailing list to receive updates on AASM Foundation programs. The application overview for this program can be viewed here for informational purposes only.

The AASM Foundation is committed to developing the careers of sleep and circadian investigators by increasing support for sleep researchers. To meet this goal, the AASM Foundation has established research career development grants to assist sleep researchers at various stages of their career.

The Physician Scientist Training Grant is an AASM Foundation career development grant that aims to increase the number of physician scientists who are committed to pursuing a research career in basic, translational, clinical or population sleep and circadian science. The Physician Scientist Training Grant is designed to provide outstanding early career physician scientists the opportunity of a protected research training experience for a mentored research project in sleep or circadian science. The Physician Scientist Training Grant provides funding for mentored research projects to protect the time of early career physician scientists to conduct mentored research, help establish a track record of funding, become competitive for larger grants and/or prepare for a larger study, and ultimately enable their transition to an independent and successful sleep and circadian research career.

This AASM Foundation research grant is supported by AASM Foundation general funds and by an endowment from the American Board of Sleep Medicine.

The Physician Scientist Training Grant is open to mentored projects that address one or more important unanswered scientific questions related to sleep and circadian science, sleep disorders and/or sleep health.

The Physician Scientist Training Grant provides funds for two years and can be for up to $100,000 per grant. There are no restrictions on the distribution of expenses, however, indirect costs are capped at 8%. The grant is a contract between the AASM Foundation and the grantee’s institution.  A sample contract is available here.

This AASM Foundation research grant is supported by AASM Foundation general funds and by an endowment from the American Board of Sleep Medicine.

The following individuals are eligible to apply:

  • Physicians (MD or DO) who are within 10 years of their post-doctoral or clinical training or within 10 years of beginning their first faculty appointment.
  • Individuals must identify a research mentor with the skills, knowledge and resources to provide mentorship to the applicant in sleep and circadian research.
  • Individuals may apply for multiple AASM Foundation grants however, the same proposal (i.e., projects with budgetary and scientific overlap) may not be submitted for multiple requests for applications in a given cycle. Additionally, if an individual submits more than one application in a given Career Development Grant cycle, the AASM Foundation will only approve funding one grant should multiple proposals submitted by the applicant receive a competitive score
  • Individuals who are the Principal Investigator on an open AASM Foundation research grant at the time of the application deadline are eligible to apply if they can demonstrate that there is no budgetary or scientific overlap between their open grant and the new project they are applying for funding. If there is budgetary and/or scientific overlap between projects, the applicant must indicate their plan to close their open grant in the event their new application is selected for funding (e.g., relinquish the current grant or complete the current grant to start the new grant).
  • International individuals who meet all the eligibility criteria are eligible to apply; however, payment of grant funds must be accepted by the institution in US dollars.

The following individuals are not eligible to apply:

  • Individuals who have received independent research funding of more than $250,000 are not eligible to apply. This does not apply to post-doctoral/ fellowship level training grants primarily covering the applicant’s salary (e.g., NRSAs).
  • Individuals who have a financial conflict of interest or have the potential to incur significant financial benefit from the proposed work and beyond the work itself are not eligible to apply.
  • Individuals who are seeking funding from AASM Foundation research grants to support ongoing projects that are currently funded by another granting body or supplement ongoing work (e.g., enrolling additional subjects into an ongoing trial) are not eligible to apply.
  • Current AASM and AASM Foundation Board of Directors members are not eligible to apply and cannot be listed as a PI, co-PI, key personnel, mentor (paid or unpaid) or paid consultant for one year after their term ends.

Note: In rare instances, AASM and AASM Foundation Board members may serve as unpaid consultants on an application, however, this requires Executive Committee approval prior to submitting the application

Applicants are allowed a single resubmission of an original and unfunded Physician Scientist Training Grant application within 12 months of receipt of the original application notification. If resubmitting an original and unfunded application, the applicant must still meet all eligibility criteria listed under the Eligibility section of this request for applications. The resubmission must include a response to the reviewers of the original application; resubmissions that do not include this response will not be reviewed.

Note: Resubmission of an original application for one grant program across another grant program is not permitted. The only exception made is for the American Board of Sleep Medicine Junior Faculty Grant, which can be resubmitted as a Physician Scientist Training Grant application.

A scientific grant review committee, appointed by the AASM Foundation Executive Committee, will evaluate and score all submitted applications. Factors that will be taken into consideration include:

  1. Significance: Significance of planned research in addressing important questions related to sleep, sleep disorders or sleep health.
  2. Experience and Appropriateness of Mentors: Plan for mentorship will facilitate applicant’s success and key personnel are well-suited for the project.
  3. Career Development Activities and Goals: Planned research and mentorship will fill gaps in applicant’s knowledge, skillset, and abilities.
  4. Approach: Planned research (overall strategy, methodology, and analyses) is scientifically sound, plan addresses protection of human subjects from research risks and inclusion/exclusion of individuals justified (if applicable).
  5. Environment: Institutional support and availability of equipment and other physical resources for the planned research.
  6. Appropriateness: What will be achieved with the Physician Scientist Training Grant funds and how it will enhance the applicant’s career trajectory.

Only materials submitted within the application will be used in the evaluation of applications. The AASM Foundation Executive Committee will submit funding recommendations to the AASM Foundation Board of Directors based on the scientific grant review committee scores. The AASM Foundation Board of Directors will make the final funding decisions.

Payment #1 – Upon execution of contract 90%
Payment #2 – Upon receipt and approval of Final Report 10%

If unique circumstances are explained in the budget justification of the applicant’s proposal, the Board of Directors will consider requests for an alternate payment schedule, with a maximum variance of 10%.

 

Note: Once a contract is executed for the grant, reallocation of funds of <10% do not require approval.

The AASM Foundation intends the Physician Scientist Training Grant to assist in the growth of physician scientists in the field of sleep and circadian research and provide protected time to conduct a mentored research project.  Since the Physician Scientist Training Grant is granted to promising physician scientists who are conducting sleep or circadian research, the AASM Foundation is supportive of transferring the grant in situations where the grant recipient is moving to a new institution, in effort to ensure that the proposed research training and mentored project is completed by the grant recipient.

Applicants are expected to address the specific aims as described in the application. Major modification of the proposed aims requires AASM Foundation Board of Directors or Executive Committee approval.

During the project period, or shortly after project completion, the principal investigator will submit an abstract to the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) for presentation at the SLEEP annual meeting. The AASM Foundation also anticipates that projects funded by this grant will lead to the publication of original research in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

The expected results and deliverables should be clearly stated in the application. The applicant must submit progress and final reports during the project period, describing project activities and results, as outlined below. Failure to meet the deliverables or submit progress or final reports may result in termination of project funding.

Progress Reports Annually
Final Report Within 90 days of award completion

Outcomes evaluation is an essential component of this grant. All proposals must identify the goals and appropriate outcomes measures of the research. The outcomes should align with the goals and objectives stated in the applicant’s proposal for this grant. The AASM Foundation intends that the research funded by this grant will lead to the publication of original research in peer-reviewed journals.

If using human or animal subjects, the applicant will be responsible for obtaining Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Institutional Animal Care and use Committee (IACUC) approval. The IRB or IACUC letter of approval for the specified project must be on file with the AASM Foundation office prior to the execution of the contract. No funds will be released for the project without receipt of written approval by an IRB or IACUC. Failure to obtain IRB or IACUC approval will result in retraction of the grant.

We encourage potential applicants to contact us early in the application process with questions. Eligibility questions may need to be reviewed by a member of the AASM Foundation Executive Committee, so please allow for at least a 1-week response time for eligibility questions. For all other inquiries, please allow a minimum of two business days for a response. Please note that questions received within 48 hours of an application deadline may not be answered before the deadline.