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Background: George P. Yang, MD, PhD was an excellent surgeon-scientist and educator. He was well published and extramurally funded. His final paper was recently accepted by Nature Communications just before he passed away. Numerous trainees can attest to the positive impact they experienced from George’s selfless commitment to teaching. However, his greatest impact will be his contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion. He was a man of extraordinary thoughtfulness, and an advocate for fairness and justice. As early as during residency, he raised awareness to inequities in academic surgery not just for underrepresented minorities in medicine but also for Asians in surgery who commonly hit a “bamboo ceiling” in the ascent to positions of leadership. Where most people acknowledge inequities, George acted upon his principles. Not only did he found the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons over a decade ago to promote the leadership development of the next generation of academic surgeons, but he worked behind the scenes to support and enhance the Society of Black Academic Surgeons and the Latino Surgical Society. His final act after 15 years of leadership within the Society of University Surgeons, was to initiate the development of this junior faculty award for underrepresented minor academic surgeons as President of the SUS Foundation. This award now bears his name.

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Eligibility

This award is intended for surgical faculty members in the United States or Canada in any of the surgical disciplines to support their research in the basic, clinical/outcomes, or translational surgical sciences. Applicants should be those that are identified as as underrepresented in the biomedical or clinical fields, defined by the National Institute of Health as

1. Individuals from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown by the National Science Foundation to be underrepresented in health-related sciences on a national basis;
2. Individuals with disabilities, who are defined as those with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities;
3. Individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, defined as those who meet two or more of the following criteria:
   1. Were or currently are homeless
   2. Were or currently are in the foster care system
   3. Were eligible for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program for two or more years
   4. Have/had no parents or legal guardians who completed a bachelor’s degree
   5. Were or currently are eligible for Federal Pell grants
   6. Received support from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) as a parent or child
   7. Grew up in one of the following areas:
      1. U.S. rural area
      2. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services designated Low Income and Health Professional Shortage Areas

Eligible applicants must also be within their first eight years of a full-time, permanent faculty appointment within a department of surgery at the assistant professor or equivalent level. Applicants should NOT be an instructor or hold another type of annual or temporary appointment.

SUS Executive Council and Scholarship Committee members are excluded from serving as the mentor for applicants. They are listed here:

Jayme Locke, MD, MPH (Chair)
Peter Angelos, MD
Adam Berger, MD
Genevieve Boland, MD
George Chang, MD
Danny Chu, MD
Dev Desai, MD
Timothy Donahue, MD
Cynthia Downard, MD
Danny Chu, MD
Timothy Donahue, MD
Cynthia Downard, MD
Sunil Geevarghese, MD
Allan Goldstein, MD
Ash Gosain, MD
O. Joe Hines, MD
Jussuf Kaifi, MD
Gregory Kennedy, MD
Sanjay Krishnaswami, MD
Clara Lee, MD
Melinda Maggard-Gibbons, MD
Melanie Morris, MD
Matthew Neal, MD
Benedict Nwomeh, MD
Ravi Radhakrishnan, MD
David Stewart, MD
Jennifer Tseng, MD
Allan Tsung, MD
Thomas Varghese, MD
Kasper Wang, MD
Tracy Wang, MD
Rebekah White, MD
Sandra Wong, MD, MS

Stipend

This is a one-year award of $30,000.  The funds can be used for either salary or expense support, but must be expended solely for the sponsored research project. No indirect costs will be covered. Generally, indirect costs would refer to costs such as electricity, water, internet services, and janitorial services, which would be paid to the institution at which the research is conducted. The stipend is expected to cover the cost of the awardee presentation requirement which is listed below (i.e. no additional travel funds will be provided). The purchase of any equipment greater than $1,000 must be adequately justified in the budget section.

Committee Review

Applications are due by Friday, December 16, 2022 by 12:00 PM PST. Applications will be reviewed by the SUS Scholarship Committee. The successful applicant winner and the SUS member research mentor will be notified by email in January 2023.

Awardee Presentations at ASC

The awardee will be expected to provide the SUS office with an interim written report on the status of their research by June 2, 2023. The awardee will then be required to appear at the 2024 Academic Surgical Congress and provide a final report on their research to the Scholarship and Executive Committees and at the AAS/SUS Research Awards Session. All travel and registration funds for presentation at the ASC should be covered by the grant.

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Application Procedure

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:

Applications must be submitted using the online submission site. All files must be uploaded by the applicant IN PDF FORMAT (REQUIRED). Grants which are incomplete or do not follow the page limits or formatting guidelines will not be reviewed.

Applicants are encouraged to begin by consulting with their institution’s contracts and grants office for information regarding the processing requirements for grant applications to ensure compliance with institutional policies and procedures. While each institution’s policies differ, many require notification of intent to submit a proposal at least one month prior to the application submission deadline. Familiarize yourself with any institutional deadlines you must meet, and allow plenty of time for the review and authorization process, as well as for any delays or unforeseen circumstances that may arise.

The application process consists of the following steps:

Applicants must create an application.

Step 1
Complete the General Information section, which includes your contact information as well as the Primary and Secondary (if applicable) Institution information.

Step 2
Applicants must complete the section for the SUS Member Sponsor, Research Mentor, and Department Chair Information. Please note: automatic emails from the SUS grant application system will be sent to both the Research Mentor and Department Chair requesting them to upload letters of recommendation directly to them upon submission of your application. You should contact your letter writers in advance so that they know to expect the email. Applications are not considered complete until the letters have been received; therefore, you should complete that section of the application well in advance of the deadline to allow your letter writers time to upload their letters.

LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

TWO letters of support must be included with your application for it to be considered complete. You may also include an OPTIONAL letter from a research mentor or collaborator:

1. SUS MEMBER SPONSOR: The letter(s) from the SUS member sponsor should cover the basics of recommendation, such as why they have chosen to be your sponsor, their thoughts on your proposal, research, honors, publications, etc. They should indicate the value they feel in your participation/application and may choose to include comments regarding your abilities and your potential contributions to the field. PLEASE NOTE:  In order to meet the eligibility requirements, the SUS Member Sponsor must be a member in good standing of the SUS. If your sponsor is not certain of their SUS Membership status, they must contact the SUS Membership Services Department at membership@susweb.org.
2. RESEARCH MENTOR/ COLLABORATOR (OPTIONAL): The research mentor’s letter(s) should provide details regarding the mentorship plan, including information on the research environment, salary, available laboratory space, plan for supervision, and other educational activities during the course of the award period. A collaborator familiar with your research may also submit a letter on your behalf describing his or her mentorship track record and the outcome of previous trainees
3. DEPARTMENT CHAIR: The letter from the Chair (whether or not an SUS member) should indicate the research capability of the applicant and the institutional support for the applicant in terms of protected time available for the pursuit of research. It should also provide confirmation that the institution will not subject the award to an indirect costs tax.

Step 3

RESEARCH APPLICATION

Applications may use either 11 pt. Arial or 12 pt. Times Roman font, with single spacing and standard 0.5-inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages, including continuation pages. No information, including the PD/PI’s name and page numbers, should appear in the margins. Applications that are incomplete or do not follow the page limits or formatting guidelines will not be reviewed.

The research application has a 5-page limit and should be structured as follows:

• Hypothesis and Specific Aims (1 page)
• Significance and Innovation (1 page)
• Approach (2.5 pages)
• Explanation of how the award funds would create longstanding diversity within your Institution (1/2 page)

Preliminary data may be included in the Approach Section; however, this section must not exceed 2.5 pages. A maximum of 10 references may be included and should be listed using no more than ½ of a separate page immediately following the application.

INSTITUTIONAL AUTHORIZATION FORM

Approvals must be submitted from the Chair of the Department and the administration (Dean or Fiscal Officer) of the institution in which the research will be performed verifying various institutional requirements and approvals (e.g. research, administration, human subjects and animal care committee, approvals etc.).

Applicants must download the Award Authorization Form (the form is available for download online) and must upload it to the application once the signatures and approval have been received. Animal or Human Subject Authorization: Approvals must be submitted for the use of animal or human subjects, if appropriate. The SUS would not fund a project which might not receive animal use committee approval.  IRB and IACUC can be stated as pending but would need to be approved and submitted prior to the start of the award funding (by January 2022). An approved IRB may be submitted as the “human rights” authorized officer. This information is included in the Authorization Form. Note: If you have already received IRB approval, you should upload the approval letter/notification with your authorization form.

Click here to download the authorization form.

BIOSKETCHES

All biosketches are required to follow the most recent published NIH format, and a sample can be found at:

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm

A Biosketch is required and must be uploaded for each of the following:

• Applicant Biosketch: Please include an additional section on previous research experience.
• SUS Member Sponsor Biosketch
• Research Mentor Biosketch (OPTIONAL): Please include a biosketch for all mentors/ collaborators significantly involved in the research project and who wrote a letter of support.

Each biosketch should include the items outlined below:

• Education and Training: Begin with baccalaureate or other initial professional training, and include postdoctoral training.
• Positions and Honors: List honors and previous positions, including your present position, in chronological order.
• Peer-reviewed Publications: Please list only peer-reviewed publications and manuscripts that have been accepted for publication. Do not list abstracts, manuscripts submitted or in preparation, invited commentaries, letters to editors, lectures, presentations, non-peer-reviewed articles, or book chapters.
• Research Experience: List both ongoing and completed research projects.

FACILITIES AND RESOURCES DESCRIPTION

Upload a description of the Facilities and Resources that will be available to the applicant during the time of the award.

Budget Document

Upload a proposed budget. There is no required template.

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SUS AWARD CONTACTS:

For questions regarding award eligibility or qualifications, authorizations and application content, please contact SUS Coordinator Catherine Sutherland in the SUS Office at: (310) 986-6442 ext. 107, or by email: info@susweb.org.

For questions regarding SUS Member status, please contact the SUS Membership Services Department at: (310) 986-6442 ext. 138, or by email: membership@susweb.org.