Diversity and Inclusion in Surgery - Colorectal Opportunity in Research – DISCOveR

Purpose

The Diversity and Inclusion in Surgery - Colorectal Opportunity in Research — DISCOveR Program is a research-intensive summer training program for medical students interested in pursuing surgical careers, sponsored by the Research Foundation of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. The program is specifically designed to support students from diverse backgrounds and experiences including those who are members of groups historically underrepresented in the sciences, first in their families to achieve higher education, from inner city or rural communities, or economically underprivileged.

The program objectives are for the students to:

1. Receive didactic and experiential training in scholarship, career development, and clinical exposure.
2. Engage in a mentored research project culminating in a presentation at the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) Annual Scientific Meeting. 
3. Develop mentorship relationships in addition to networking opportunities.
4. Join a community of like-minded scholars.

Application and Review/Notification Dates

Call for applications: February 1, 2023           
Application due date: March 8, 2023 (11:59 p.m. ET)
Notification Date: March 15, 2023 

Program Description and Funding

The program will be four (4) weeks in length.  The program will include a mentored, pre-designed colorectal surgery research project. Each student will be assigned a research mentor who will oversee the student’s participation in a short-term research project. The projects will be identified based upon feasibility for completion during the fellowship.

Students should anticipate a 40 hour per week commitment which will largely be devoted to work on their project. Students will have time in a surgical skills lab and bio skills experience as available. There will be weekly didactic sessions covering topics on leadership, advocacy, career development, application strategies, and opportunities within academic surgery. These sessions will be virtual so that students at both sites may attend.

The program will run from Monday, June 19 - Friday, July 14, 2023.

A stipend of $5,000 will be provided for each student to cover transportation to the site, meal allowance and housing while at the assigned institution. In addition, travel expenses of up to $500 (i.e., coach airfare or, if less expensive, rail transportation or personal vehicle milage at the IRS mileage rate), and up to two (2) hotel nights (convention hotel) as well as complimentary registration will be provided for the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) Annual Scientific Meeting, Baltimore, MD, June 1 – 5, 2024. 

Eligibility and Criteria

1. Students from diverse backgrounds and experiences including those who are members of groups historically underrepresented in the sciences, first in their families to achieve higher education, from inner city or rural communities, or economically underprivileged.
2. Students in good standing who have completed the first year of either a US allopathic or osteopathic medical education.
3. Interest in surgery
4. Able to provide evidence of appropriate vaccinations.

Submissions

Preparing Application Materials

Important Information*

• Keep a record of Control ID number, which can be found on the top right corner on each page of the submission template. When communicating with the Research Foundation and the ScholarOne Customer Care Team, please include the Control ID as a reference.
• Note that some institutions have firewalls that make it difficult to receive communications from the submission site. To ensure uninterrupted email delivery, please whitelist amazonses.com and abstractcentral.com domains.
• Do not forget to click the submit button (at the bottom of Step 6: Review and Submit). If the system is exited without submitting, the submission will be saved and will appear in the “DRAFT” section of the system “View Submissions” page upon re-entering the system.
• Notifications and correspondence will be sent to the email address in the ASCRS account. Correspondence can be obtained by clicking on the Messages in the grey bar at the top right of the screen in the system.
• Applicants should receive a confirmation email after submission (please check spam/junk folders for this email). To prevent this, add [email protected] and [email protected] to address book. If an email confirmation is not received, please contact [email protected].
• Applicants should use Chrome to submit grant applications. Pop-up Blocker must be turned off for submission.

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