AGA: Research Scholar Award Grant

AGA: Research Scholar Award Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: American Gastroenterological Association
Amount: US $300,000
Last Updated: August 11, 2025

Summary

The AGA Research Scholar Award offers $100,000 per year for three years to early-career faculty in digestive disease research. Applicants must hold an MD or PhD and be in a full-time faculty position in North America. The award fosters scientific independence by requiring a minimum of 50% research effort. AGA membership is mandatory, and applicants are encouraged to self-assign their proposals to specific research categories. This award aims to support promising junior researchers in their pursuit of independent research careers.

Overview

NOTE: Exemption requests must be submitted to AGA via email at least three weeks prior to the application deadline and be clearly indicated in the submitted application documents. This is represented by the Pre-Proposal deadline. Research Scholar Award This award provides $100,000 per year for three years (totaling $300,000) to early-career faculty (i.e., investigator, instructor, research associate or equivalent) working toward an independent career in digestive disease research. Objective The objective of the AGA Research Foundation Research Scholar Award (RSA) is to support early-career investigators working toward independent and productive research careers in digestive diseases by ensuring that a major proportion of their time is protected for research (i.e., a minimum of 50 percent effort dedicated to the proposed project). The award will support junior faculty (not fellows) who have demonstrated exceptional promise and have some record of accomplishment in research.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Applicants for this award must hold an MD, PhD and/or equivalent degree (e.g., MBChB, MBBS, DO), and a full-time faculty or equivalent position at an institution in North America (U.S., Canada or Mexico) by the start date. Applicants must classify as “early career” according to the following criteria:MD (or equivalent) applicants are considered “early career” if no more than seven years have elapsed following the completion of clinical training (GI fellowship or its equivalent) and the start date of this award.PhD (or equivalent) applicants are considered “early career” if no more than seven years have elapsed following the conferment of the PhD degree and the start date of this award.An appropriately documented leave of absence, such as parental or medical leave, will not be counted toward the above seven-year eligibility criteria. Exceptional circumstances may also be considered. Applicants performing any type of research (basic, translational, clinical) relevant to digestive disorders are eligible to apply.AGA membership is required at the time of application submission.AGA membership must be maintained throughout the three-year duration of the award.Applicants will be asked to self-assign their proposal to one of the following categories:Clinical: Research involving direct contact with human subjects or using clinical data to address problems related to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment or outcome of human diseases (e.g., clinical epidemiology). This category also includes research related to health care delivery (e.g., health services, health IT). Basic/translational: Research with a primary goal of understanding basic biology or disease mechanisms. This category can involve animal subjects, cell culture, human biospecimens or human data as resources for laboratory- or informatics-based investigation.Resources allocated through this award are intended to support the career development of the applicant. The applicant must allocate a minimum of 50 percent effort to the proposed project.Applicants are required to have a sponsor and mentor for the award; one individual may serve in the capacity of both positions. A sponsor (typically a division chief or department chair) is an individual who takes responsibility for the quality assessment of the proposed research project, the quality of the research environment within which the project will be undertaken, and the experience and expertise of the principal investigator and other key researchers involved. A mentor will supervise the principal investigator’s research activities ensuring timelines and deliverables and will work with the applicant to create a research career development plan.The intent of this award is to foster the scientific independence of junior investigators. Applicants whose research activities become incorporated into a grant application from a senior mentor will need to clearly delineate the scientific and experimental distinctions between their respective programs. This requirement applies both to pending applications submitted prior to review of this award and to applications submitted during the term of the RSA. It must also be clearly stated how the work submitted by the applicant is that of the applicant and not of the senior mentor(s).The following expenses are allowable:Salary and benefits of the principal investigator. Salary and benefits of research assistants, laboratory technicians and/or other key personnel. Biostatistics support. Supplies, animals, equipment or other materials necessary for the proposed research. Equipment, not to exceed $5,000 per year. Travel, not to exceed $1,500 per year. You must be a member of this organization to apply for this award - become a member.

Ineligibility

Research Scholar Award applicants are ineligible for AGA fellowship-to-faculty transition awards in the same awards cycle.The following expenses are not allowable:Salary, benefits or other support for the mentor. Indirect costs.