VCU selects seven national scholars for family medicine research

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Family Medicine has selected seven scholars from around the country to participate in the Grant Generating Project Fellowship, a yearlong program based at VCU designed to equip and mentor family medicine researchers with grant writing skills.

The goal of the initiative is to increase research capacity in securing competitive funding for grants and contracts in the discipline of family medicine.

This is the 14th year of the project at VCU. The program brings seven established health professionals to VCU for two semesters of study and related professional experiences.

According to Daniel Longo, director of the Grant Generating Project and director of research for the VCU Department of Family Medicine, the program is structured to be a “fellowship without walls.”

Fellows meet together in several venues throughout the year, including an on-campus meeting. Each of these two-day sessions focuses on different aspects of grant development, including developing a concept paper, the anatomy of a full proposal, research design and methods and funding strategies.

The fellows are also matched with a mentor. All work done by the fellow is reviewed first by the mentor. Longo, himself, has mentored many of the fellows. 

“The mentoring has been the most rewarding activity of my professional life. I love the opportunity to watch these young faculty learn and succeed in their academic careers,” Longo said.

The fellowship is open to all faculty of family medicine programs at university and community-based institutions who are interested in pursuing investigator-generated independent research on topics of interest to family medicine such as studying and improving quality in primary care settings, influencing patient behaviors, or evaluating efficacy of current treatment protocols.
To date, alumni of the Grant Generating Project have reported more than $208.5 million in funded grants as either principal investigators, co-investigators or in other significant roles. Sources of funding include the National Institutes of Health, various state and local government entities, pharmaceutical companies, charitable organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the United Way.

The seven fellows for 2009-2010 are:

•    Ping-Hsin Chen, Ph.D., from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School

•    Angela M. Jo., M.D., from the University of California, Los Angeles

•    Marcia O. Miller, M.D., from the University of Florida

•    Patti Pagels, M.P.A.S., P.A.C, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

•    Carlos F. Rios-Beoya, Sc.D., from Michigan State University

•    Eric K. Shaw, Ph.D., from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

•    Harry A. Taylor, M.D., from Oregon Health Sciences University

For more information on the Grant Generating Project visit http://www.familymedicine.vcu.edu/research/ggp/index.html.