APA Research Scholars Program
New! The APA Research Scholars Program
The APA Board of Directors is proud to announce a new faculty development program, the APA Research Scholars Program, which is designed to help APA members interested in enhancing their academic credentials to develop research skills and to plan, implement, and write-up a research project. The mission of the APA Research Scholars Program is to assist pediatric clinician-educators and clinician-researchers in developing themselves as fulfilled faculty members engaged in important and exciting research and to increase the quality and breadth of child health research.
- Who should apply?
Fellows, junior faculty, and mid-career faculty in general pediatrics, pediatric hospital medicine, child abuse pediatrics, developmental-behavioral pediatrics, pediatric emergency medicine, and other related disciplines who want to increase their research skills, experience a mentored research project, and/or who are trying to define an academic focus in their careers. APA membership is a requirement. - What happens?
The APA Research Scholars Program is a 3-year program modeled on the very successful APA Educational Scholars Program and includes:- National research mentors, who will be chosen from senior researchers in the US and assigned to each APA Research Scholar. Each scholar will also choose a local mentor, with our help if needed.
- Monthly webinars and wiki-based interactive sessions that will cover coursework in research design and statistics as well as faculty-facilitated and peer-mentored research-in-progress sessions. Peer-mentoring groups will be constituted based on commonality of research content and/or research methods.
- PAS full day session that will focus on advanced topics (e.g., using statistics software, use of large datasets) and research-in-progress review; attendance at selected PAS workshops (such qualitative research, manuscript writing, grant writing, reviewing abstracts and manuscripts).
- Over the 3 years, the scholar will refine her/his research protocol, implement the research project, and end with a completed project submitted for presentation and/or publication.
- Scholars are expected to complete the full curriculum, including projects, over 3-4 years. Successful scholars will receive a Certificate in Research Scholarship.
- What are the requirements for completion of the APA Research Scholars Program?
To complete the program and receive a Certificate of Excellence in Research Scholarship, participants will be required to:- Enlist the support of your department for the program: Scholars will be expected to commit 10% FTE to the program in order to complete the full curriculum, including projects, over 3 years. A tuition fee of $5,000 will be charged to all scholars for their three years in the program, due at time of enrollment. An additional application fee of $50 is charged at the time of submission of the application. Departmental support will also need to include access to statistical software used in the Program (SPSS), and purchase of statistical and research design textbooks. Talk to your Division Director and Chair about this program early on in the application process.
- Make a commitment to:
- Attend monthly wiki-based webinars and prepare by doing required assignments
- Attend PAS each year, including participating in full day session during an extra day at the meeting and attend recommended workshops
- Conduct a mentored research project: develop the aims and hypotheses, implement it, and present/publish it. Applications to the program must include a project proposal. Program faculty are available for discussion of project ideas prior to application submission, if needed. Projects may be modified after enrollment in the program after discussion with the project mentor and the project monitor and approval of the new topic by the ESP director
- Scholars are responsible for finding their own local mentors before they apply. If you are unable to do so, program leadership will facilitate connection with a mentor. For assistance in identifying a mentor, contact the APA Office at least one month prior to the application deadline.
- What is the timeline for the application and when does the program start?
- Applications will be online on the APA website by late May 2012.
- Applications will be due October 2012
- Accepted scholars will be notified November 2012
- Program starts January 2012
- Who is leading this program?
The APA Research Scholars Program is sponsored by the Academic Pediatric Association, and is managed by the Academic Pediatric Association's Research Scholars Program Executive Committee, directed by Benard Dreyer (benard.dreyer@nyumc.org)
December 2012 Newsletter Article
The APA Research Scholars Program Launches: the Class of 2013 is Chosen!
"Imagination is more important than knowledge…" Albert Einstein
To paraphrase Thomas Edison's comment on genius, research is "part perspiration and part inspiration" and I would add also, importantly "part motivation". I am delighted to introduce you to the APA Research Scholars Class of 2013. These are highly motivated, very creative young professionals in our organization. We hope to inspire them, impart knowledge and skills to them, and most importantly nurture their creativity and imagination. I am privileged to lead this effort for the APA.
The mission of the APA Research Scholars Program is to assist pediatric clinician-educators and clinician-researchers in developing themselves as fulfilled faculty members engaged in important and exciting research and to increase the quality and breadth of child health research. The APA Research Scholars Program is a 3-year program modeled on the very successful APA Educational Scholars Program and includes assignment of national mentors, monthly webinars and wiki-based interactive sessions that will cover coursework in research design and statistics as well as faculty-facilitated and peer-mentored research-in-progress sessions, and a PAS full day session each year that will focus on advanced topics and research-in-progress review. Over the 3 years, each scholar will refine her/his research protocol, implement the research project, and end with a completed project or projects submitted for presentation and/or publication.
We had planned to select between 10 and 15 scholars in this first year of the program, and we ended up selecting 13 scholars. Eight of the 13 are pediatric hospitalists, three are academic generalists, one is a child abuse pediatrician, and one is in pediatric emergency medicine. One of the scholars has a previous MPH, one a JD, and two are enrolled in Masters of Science programs in Clinical Investigation. Among the scholars there is one fellow in pediatric hospital medicine, one instructor, and 11 assistant professors. Two scholars have completed residencies in medicine-pediatrics, and the others in pediatrics.
The research projects proposed by the APA Research Scholars are exciting and diverse. They include randomized controlled trials, observational studies, qualitative and mixed methods studies, and secondary analyses of large national datasets and data from multicenter trials. Content areas include obesity, community acquired pneumonia, transitions of care, health disparities, care of medically complex and technology dependent children, use of information technology and social media to improve health care, pain management, quality improvement, and children in foster care.
So please let us welcome the APA Research Scholars, Class of 2013. Here they are with their academic affiliations, in alphabetical order:
| Sarah C Armstrong | Duke University School of Medicine |
| Eric A Biondi | University of Rochester School of Medicine |
| Jeffrey D Colvin | Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine |
| J. Michael Connors | University of Connecticut Health Center-Connecticut Children's Medical Center |
| Lauren Destino | Stanford University School of Medicine-Lucille Packard Children's Hospital |
| Keely E Dwyer-Matzky | University of Rochester School of Medicine |
| Mary Greiner | University of Cincinnati School of Medicine-Cincinnati Children's Hospital |
| Gabrielle Z Hester | University of Utah School of Medicine |
| Brian D Knox | University of South Florida College of Medicine |
| JoAnna K Leyenaar | Tufts University School of Medicine |
| Rebecca E Rosenberg | NYU School of Medicine |
| Christopher J Russell | Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Children's Hospital Los Angeles |
Benard P. Dreyer
Program Director
Immediate Past President, Academic Pediatric Association
bpd1@nyumc.org
