Intuitive Surgical Fellowship Grants
Intuitive Surgical Inc. is pleased to announce the availability of grants to support Clinical Robotic Fellowships and Research Robotic Fellowships.
Purpose
The purpose of these grants is to support clinical work and research in the field of robotics. The Clinical Robotic Fellowship grant is open to any institution that has a sufficiently busy clinical robotic program to train a fellow in clinical robotic work. Awards are conferred on a competitive basis by submission of a grant application.
Available Grants
The grant amount for each fellowship is $75,000 for the 2011-2012 academic year. The grant monies are to be used to support fellow salary, benefits and travel. A total of three (3) to five (5) fellowships will be awarded.
Grant Guidelines
Institutions with programs which meet the following guidelines are eligible to apply for the Clinical Robotic Fellowship program:
- Applicant institutions should have adequate clinical robotic volume to support training a fellow.
- Fellows are expected to spend a minimum of 10-15% of their time in research activities.
- Applicant institutions must provide a clinical curriculum with clearly defined goals and objectives and evaluation methods.
In addition to evaluating the clinical quality of the proposed fellowship, priority will be given to emerging specialties or procedures. Towards this end, institutions outside of the United States are encouraged to apply, and ISI strongly encourages institutions who have not previously received funding from the company to apply. A fellowship in any specialty will be considered, but priority will be given to specialties without a large established procedure base. Multiple grants will not be funded simultaneously to any fellowship director. Multiple grants to the same institution in different specialties will be considered.
Selection Process
Applicants must first submit a Letter of Intent to Propose (see expected content below). Letters of Intent to Propose for grants will be reviewed by the ISI Clinical Robotic Fellowship Grant Committee. Those proposal holders meeting a predetermined scoring threshold will be invited to submit a full Fellowship grant application.
Letter of Intent to Propose Guidelines
A two page letter of intent to propose should be submitted by all grant applicants in 12 pt. type face. Submissions should consist of a brief description of each of the following 6 aspects of the proposed program:
- Goal(s) of the fellowship
- Overview of the strengths of the fellowship
- A list of surgeons with whom fellow will work
- Robotic clinical volume at institution for the past 12 months
- Total number and types of surgical procedures you anticipate the fellow will perform during the fellowship
- Brief description of the research opportunities for the fellow
The fellowship director should submit a curriculum vitae with the Letter of Intent to Propose.
All initial Letters of Intent to propose, as well as invited full grant applications will be reviewed by the ISI Clinical Robotic Fellowship Grant Committee and scored on the following criteria:
- Sufficient clinical robotic work to support a Clinical Robotic Fellowship
- Sufficient opportunity and resources for research (fellows are expected to spend a minimum of 10-15% of their time in research activities)
- Sufficient mentoring to enable the fellow to meet his/her clinical and research goals
- Strength of Goals and Objectives
- Adequate Evaluation methods
- Strength of Curriculum
Priority weighting will be given to emerging specialties or procedures, not to surgical specialties where there are already significant established numbers of procedures. Areas of particular interest include, but are not limited to: Sacrocolpopexy and other pelvic floor repairs, Thyroidectomy, Transoral surgery for benign or malignant disease, Head and neck surgery, Myomectomy, Benign gynecology, Reproductive gynecology and General surgery
Deadlines
The deadline for Letters of Intent to Propose is August 1, 2010. Invitations to submit full grant applications will be sent by September 1, 2010. The deadline for submission for the full grant application is November 1, 2010. Only complete application packets will be considered. Awardees will be notified by December 1, 2010. Grant monies must be used to support fellow salary expenses during the 2011-2012 academic year.
