Last February, the Department of Medicine convened a Research Retreat with the department's research faculty and School of Medicine and health system leaders. This was an opportunity to review the Department's research strengths, opportunities and strategic plans.
Many members of the faculty participated in these discussions, and shared ideas about potential signature areas of research, existing and needed core resources, incentives for research collaborations inside and outside the Department, and new mechanisms for identifying and retaining young, promising faculty.
In the months since the retreat, the Chair's Office has rolled out a number of initiatives in response to those good suggestions.
[toggle title_open="Close Me" title_closed="View a list of research initiatives" hide="yes" border="yes" style="default" excerpt_length="0" read_more_text="Read More" read_less_text="Read Less" include_excerpt_html="no"]Faculty Research Award
This award, which reflected the recent suspension of the KL-2 award normally given through the CTSA grant, is a way for the Chair to support promising research by young faculty who, given department support, will be competitive for new or renewed NIH funding. The award provides support for a faculty member for up to $100,000 for one year, with a renewal option for a second year of support.
Integrated Research Award
This is a new funding opportunity for DOM faculty with proposals for interdepartmental or interdivisional research. More than 40 proposals were submitted, and the Chair will award up to 10 with funding ranging from $25,000-$50,000.
Research Incentive Program
This incentive plan will recognize specific achievements and levels of activity in the Department's research programs. Under the plan, each incentive recipient will receive payment in his/her University payroll up to a maximum of $26,000. Complete terms and conditions are detailed in the attached chart.
Biostatistics support
In a continuing effort to provide faculy with opportunities to engage in research and improve our research infrastructure, the Department is now collaborating with the Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics to provide additional biostatistics services to DOM investigators.
DOM Study Section
The Study Section is a group of 40 faculty nominated by division chiefs to assist in review of proposals for grant/departmental support as well as internal funding RFAs. Study Section reviewers will provide feedback on proposal mechanics and descriptions of the science.
DoM Faculty Development Academy
The Academy, launched in October 2011 by Vice Chair for Faculty Development Laura Svetkey, is designed to address individual faculty development needs, supplement ongoing mentorship, and develop faculty in four high priority career tracks, including basic/translational researchers and clinical/health services researchers. Cathleen Colon-Emeric, associate vice chair for women's initiatives, also spearheaded the launch of five peer mentoring groups that have been meeting periodically to share career development tools and strategies, provide advice on scientific writing, practice presentations, and sound out problems and ideas.
Other activities
Other efforts to publicize and promote the research activities and opportunities have included the monthly Medicine Research Conference with DOM investigators sharing their current research, and the new-and-improved MedicineNews blog that should be your regular source of information about funding opportunities, new publications and presentations, and other features related to research in the department.[/toggle]