Funding Opportunities

Request for Application – 2013 Research Awards

Funding Opportunity Description –
The ASE Education and Research Foundation invites applications for innovative and meritorious echocardiographic research activities that demonstrate the relevance of echocardiography in the changing healthcare environment, and that promote new and innovative applications of the technology. Of particular interest are proposals that
  • Demonstrate echocardiography’s relevance by showing it as a link/key to specific clinical outcomes.
  • Provide comparative evidence of the key role echocardiography plays in managing patients (e.g., appropriateness, outcomes, cost effectiveness, comparative benefit).
  • Demonstrate new and innovative applications of cardiovascular ultrasound technology and/or therapeutic applications.
Two Types of Awards Available –
Cardiovascular Sonographer Research Award – supports the growth and development of basic and clinical sonographer research.
Career Development Award – supports a physician/scientist just beginning his/her career in academic echocardiography.
Application Period –
Friday, November 30, 2012 through Sunday, March 3, 2013 at 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Notification to Applicants of Funding Status –
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Funding Period –
Funding is available for use for one year, June 2013 through June 2014.
Application Instructions –
Eligibility Requirements –
Cardiovascular Sonographer Research Award Up to $25,000 is available for a qualified sonographer holding echocardiography certification from ARDMS or CCI.
Applicant: The spirit of this Award is to support the growth and development of sonographer research. Applicants must be a current ASE sonographer member holding echocardiography certification from ARDMS or CCI, and must hold a valid appointment at the institution where the research will be conducted. It is expected that the applicant will be integrally involved in the concept initiation, and will hold primary responsibility for the development of the written proposal.

Senior Mentor/Project Sponsor and Administrative Supervisor: Applicants are to identify an ASE physician or scientist member as a senior mentor/project sponsor and provide a letter of support from that individual defining their respective roles in the proposed project. The senior mentor/project sponsor must hold a valid appointment at the institution where the research will be conducted and have a track record of high quality clinical investigation.A letter of support is also required from the applicant’s administrative supervisor stating that, if funding is awarded, the applicant will be given protected time and appropriately excused from clinical and administrative duties to an extent that the research funding is proportional to their existing salary.

Recipient: The Award recipient is expected to have scientific responsibility for the conduct of the proposed research if funding is awarded, and to participate in future ASE/ASEF educational meetings and events to present the final results of his/her work if so invited. Ongoing submission of abstracts of the research work in progress to ASE for presentation consideration is strongly encouraged.

In accepting funding from the ASE Foundation, the recipient and his/her research team agree to include acknowledgement of this funding in all future publications, press releases, other documents, and presentations that cite results from the ASE Foundation-supported research.

Career Development AwardUp to $35,000 is available for a qualified physician or scientist beginning his/her career in academic echocardiography. Applicants may be no more than ten years past their most recent doctoral degree.
Applicant: Applicants must be a current ASE member with a research or health-professional doctoral degree of MD, PhD or the equivalent and as of June 1, 2013 may be no more than ten years past their most recent doctoral degree. Applicants must hold a valid appointment (e.g., resident, fellow) at the institution where the research will be conducted. Applicants who are on the faculty of an institution or who have held faculty appointments in the past are not eligible.

Senior Mentor/Project Sponsor: Applicants are to identify an ASE physician or scientist member as their senior mentor/project sponsor and provide a letter of support from that individual. The senior mentor/project sponsor must hold a valid appointment at the institution where the research will be conducted and have a track record of high quality clinical investigation.

Recipient: The Award recipient is expected to have scientific responsibility for the conduct of the proposed research if funding is awarded, and to participate in future ASE/ASEF educational meetings and events to present the final results of his/her work if so invited. Ongoing submission of abstracts of the research work in progress to ASE for presentation consideration is strongly encouraged.In accepting funding from the ASE Foundation, the recipient and his/her research team agree to include acknowledgement of this funding in all future publications, press releases, other documents, and presentations that cite results from the ASE Foundation-supported research.

Selection Criteria –
Applications will be selected for funding based upon the following criteria: half of the score will be based on the scientific excellence of the proposal, and half on the qualifications of the primary investigator, senior mentor/project sponsor, and the institution.
Scientific Excellence of the Proposal
– Scientific merit (originality, scientific impact, soundness of approach, ability of proposed aims to address the hypothesis, logical organization, preliminary data, experimental design, methodology, statistical analysis).
– Extent to which the proposal meets the request for application.
– Probability of achieving meaningful results in one year.
Primary Investigator, Senior Mentor/Project Sponsor, and Institution
  Qualifications of the applicant (evidence of potential for a career in echo research, familiarity with pertinent literature and work of other investigators, quality of letters of support).
  Qualifications of the senior mentor/project sponsor (publications and funding history, mentoring history, commitment to applicant’s training).
– Qualifications of the institution (facilities and resources).
 
Policy on Identification and Resolution of Potential Conflicts of Interest in the Selection Process –
The ASE Foundation’s research awards program is supported by its general operating funds in large part through member donations, and are not sponsored by any corporate interest.
 
The ASE Research Awards Committee is comprised of 21 recognized experts in the field of cardiovascular ultrasound. When reviewing applications for research awards, steps are taken to ensure that potential conflicts of interest, such as a reviewer working at the same institution as an application’s investigators, are avoided. Committee members with a potential conflict of interest in relation to a particular application are excluded from the review and/or all discussions regarding that application, and are not allowed to comment on the application’s merits or eligibility for funding.
 
Members of the ASE Research Awards Committee are not excluded from applying for funding if they meet an award’s eligibility requirements. In the event that a member of the committee does apply for an award, they are not allowed to participate in the review of any applications in that same category, and are excluded from all discussions regarding the eligible applications received and funding selection for that award.

 

ASE Foundation Research Awards

Together, ASE and the ASE Education and Research Foundation have expended over $5 million to support echocardiographic research activities since 1996. Fostering and promoting research on advances in cardiovascular ultrasound continues to remain one of the Society’s fundamental goals moving forward.
Through the annual research award program, the ASE Foundation provides support for innovative and meritorious cardiovascular research activities that demonstrate echo’s relevance in the changing healthcare environment, and that promote new and innovative applications of the technology. The types of grants and amount of funding available varies by year. Award types previously available from the ASE Foundation include:
Career Development Award – supports a physician/scientist just beginning his/her career in academic echocardiography. Funding has ranged from $25,000 to $35,000 each.
Cardiovascular Sonographer Research Award – supports the growth and development of basic and clinical sonographer research. Funding has ranged from $20,000 to $25,000 each.
Echo Investigator Award – supports an experienced physician/scientist performing meritorious and innovative, advanced research. Funding has ranged from $33,000 to $50,000 each.
Contact Andrea Van Hoever for more information on ASE Foundation research funding opportunities.