Bolsas Benjamin Kean para o pesquisa e experiência clinica em Medicina Tropical

Who:                Medical students interested in tropical medicine

What:               Financial support for clinical and research electives in tropical medicine

When:              Application deadline: March 2, 2010

How:                Submit the materials listed below

Background 
Dr. Benjamin H. Kean was a renowned teacher, researcher and practitioner of tropical medicine whose mentorship and support helped many medical students and physicians-in-training begin and sustain careers in tropical medicine. He believed that early hands-on experience in the tropics was the best way to stimulate such careers, and he was instrumental in helping many medical students obtain these experiences.

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene has established a fellowship in Dr. Kean's name, administered by the ASTMH Clinical Group (American Committee on Clinical Tropical Medicine and Traveler's Health - ACCTMTH), that will provide travel expenses for medical students who arrange clinical tropical medicine or tropical medicine research electives in areas afflicted by tropical diseases. Round-trip airfare (best-price ticketing) and up to $1000 toward living expenses will be provided. Kean Fellows will be required to prepare and present reports describing their activities.

Eligibility 
Applicant must:

·       Be a full-time student in a North American accredited school of medicine at the time of the application and at the time of the elective.

·       Propose an elective in tropical medicine research or training in clinical tropical medicine, including at least one month at a site endemic for tropical communicable diseases, starting after June 1, 2010.

Important notes:

1.       The fellowship does not support electives in non-tropical areas or participation in organized didactic courses. 

2.       Applications indicating a start date earlier than June 1, 2010 will be automatically declined.

3.       Applications indicating less than one month at the tropical site will be automatically declined.

·       Not have done previous electives/rotations in the same country. Prior travel to the country for vacations or other non-medical reasons is acceptable.  If applicant has previously completed an elective/rotation in the same country as site proposed for Kean fellowship, application will be automatically declined.

Preference will be given to:

·       Applicants sponsored by a member of the ASTMH Clinical Group (American Committee on Clinical Tropical Medicine and Travelers' Health - ACCTMTH)

·       Applicants proposing electives lasting longer than one month

·       Applicants who have not had previous extensive overseas experience

·       Applicants who propose to study tropical communicable diseases other than HIV/AIDS

Selection Criteria 
Applicants will be selected by a committee based on their academic and/or research credentials, recommendations, quality of their proposal and the potential for the fellowship to increase the likelihood of a career in tropical medicine

Benjamin H. Kean Fellowship Application Process and Requirements: 
Deadline for submission:  March 2, 2010

Submit your application on line via link posted at http://www.astmh.org/funding/index.cfm beginning February 3, 2010.

Collect all application materials prior to submitting them to the online awards system.  Although you will be able to edit your award submission prior to the March 2 deadline, the submission process will be much easier if you collect all application materials prior to submission.

Application materials include:

1.       Career Interests:  Narrative sections describing:

• Why you are interested in tropical medicine (not to exceed 2000 characters)
• Prior overseas experience (not to exceed 2000 characters)
• Short and long-term career objectives (not to exceed 2000 characters)

2.       Curriculum Vitae

Information from your curriculum vitae regarding education, training, work experience, prior research experience, any publications or abstracts, honors and awards. You will be asked to include institutional affiliation, year of medical school, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers and e-mail address.

3.       Letters of Recommendation:  Three letters of recommendation (to be submitted as pdf or Microsoft Word files) from:

• The supervising faculty mentor from your school
• Your dean of student affairs or equivalent
• A current or former teacher or supervisor who can attest to your academic, clinical, and/or research abilities and potential

Very important...These three individuals will be able to upload their letters directly to your application site.  The submission site will ask you to provide the name, mailing address, phone, fax and e-mail for each of these individuals.  The submission program will then generate an e-mail to these individuals with instructions to upload their letters to your application site.  It is very important that you gather the contact information for these individuals prior to beginning your online submission.  It is then your responsibility to communicate with these three individuals to ensure that they have received the e-mail generated by the submission site and have uploaded their documents by the March 2 deadline.  After March 2, any applications that do not include all three letters of recommendation will be considered incomplete and will not be forwarded to the review committee.

4.       Overseas Mentor Approval

Written approval (submitted as a pdf or Microsoft Word file) from a mentor who will be present at the overseas site during the elective (this person may be the same as the home medical school mentor if he/she will be on site for the elective).

Very important...You are responsible for uploading the overseas mentor approval letter as a pdf file to your application site.  Please obtain this document from your overseas mentor before you begin your online application.

5.       Elective Proposal:  A proposal describing the following:

• Dates and duration of elective
• Description of overseas site (not to exceed 2000 characters)
• Specific objectives of elective (not to exceed 2000 characters)
• For research projects, rationale and significance, methods and anticipated problems (not to exceed 2500 characters)
• For clinical projects, description of clinical activities and responsibilities (not to exceed 2000 characters)
• Description of applicant's role in the project (not to exceed 2000 characters)
• Anticipated costs for travel, including best-price round-trip airfare and living expenses

Finalizing your application...After entering all information into your online application and after all document uploads have been made, go to the REVIEW SUBMISSION page and scroll down to the bottom.  If all information has been entered correctly, you will see a drop-down menu at the bottom of the page.  Select the response of COMPLETE in the drop-down menu and press SAVE.  Your application will then be complete and ready for review.

For information about application content: Chandy John, c/o Kristi Campbell +1-612-626-2884 E-mail: campb776@umn.edu

For information about online application process: Judy DeAcetis +1-847-480-9592; Fax +1-847-480-9282 E-mail: j.deacetis@astmh.org