Scholarly Activities Council

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Scholarly Activities Council Continuum of Services

The Department of Medicine (DOM) is committed to the generation of new knowledge. Scholarly activity is a core tenet and ensures that our faculty, staff, and learners provide state-of-the-art patient care, are trained in the most current clinical practices and research methods and produce rigorous and reproducible science. The Department maintains a long-standing expectation that all members will engage in scholarly activity, and provides structured activities led by the Scholarly Activities Council (SAC). The SAC provides services and trainings to strengthen the Department’s academic enterprise.

Council Services Heading link

Grant Peer Review

The Department of Medicine Scholarly Activities Council (SAC) offers an exceptional opportunity to enhance your grant applications. We provide a comprehensive peer review service for all grant proposals before you submit to funding agencies.

For full proposals, we anticipate a 2-week turnaround from the date the application is sent to SAC. For specific aims, we anticipate a one-week turnaround time. Please note that the actual turnaround times may vary depending on the number of applications received for peer review.

To seize this valuable opportunity, please send your request to Irena Levitan at levitan@uic.edu and Krystle Stewart at krystle2@uic.edu via email.

Please include the following details to help us identify the most appropriate reviewers for your proposal:

Name of the Principal Investigator
PI division
Type of document submitted for review (full application or specific aims)
A brief description of the research (1-2 sentences)
Planned grant mechanism (e.g., R01, R34)

Research Training Opportunities

The DOM Division of Academic Internal Medicine with support of the chief residents hosts the Project and Investigative Research (PAIR) database. PAIR lists opportunities for resident and medical student research involvement and includes over 35 active projects, and innovative tools and resources to enhance research productivity. PAIR has increased resident and medical student research engagement and faculty to resident mentorship.

Grant boot Camp

Grant Boot Camp is offered 1 time per year during March and April. Applications will be accepted in the fall of 2024 for 2025.

The Scholarly Activities Council is planning the seventh annual grant boot camp to occur in March or April.

The boot camp has demonstrated tremendous success since its inception; 75% of participants have secured federal funding!

The grant boot camp consists of eight sessions designed for 4-6 faculty, fellows and post-doctoral fellows with projects/proposals that have high potential for successful external funding. The boot camp includes three components: (a) Mini-presentations led by experienced NIH-funded researchers; (b) cohort/peer mentoring; and (c) individualized review of proposals by senior faculty with successful grant funding. The boot camp is targeting individuals with existing proposals, proposal drafts, or applications in preparation for resubmission that would benefit from additional feedback, development, and guidance and be ready for submission within three months following the end of the boot camp. All research-type grant mechanisms are invited to participate.

Dates
The eight-session boot camp will take place over 4 weeks in March or April. Each session will last 3 hours. Participants must attend at least six of the eight sessions to ensure adequate peer/cohort mentoring.

Session Format
Each session will begin with a mini lecture on one component of a grant proposal (e.g., significance/impact) followed by a brief discussion including questions and answers (approx. 40 minutes). Next, each participant will present a draft of their proposal section and receive comprehensive feedback from the group (approx. 20 minutes per person).

Curriculum Topics

Week 1 (Sessions 1-2): Significance/Impact (scientific premise, major drivers in overall impact)
Week 2 (Sessions 3-4): Specific Aims/Innovation (primary goals of the study and novelty)
Week 3 (Sessions 5-6): Methods (communicating rigor and transparency, addressing reviewers’ expectations). This session will be co-led by two biomedical and social/behavioral researchers.
Week 4 (Session 7): Other grant documents: Human subjects, data safety and monitoring, resource sharing, letters of support.
Week 4 (Session 8): NIH mock peer review with mentors.

If you are interested, please contact Krystle Stewart (krystle2@uic.edu)

Grant Boot Camp Application 2025

Specific Aims, Summary Statement Consultations

The DOM offers quarterly consultation sessions to improve specific aims sections and strategize how to respond to summary statements. Led by at least two experienced NIH-investigators, topics covered basic science, translational research, and behavioral study designs. DOM also provided monthly implementation science consultations through the Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science. Together, over 25 faculty and students took advantage of these sessions.

Funding Opportunities Heading link

Department of Medicine Seed Funding Program

The Department of Medicine (DOM) provides seed funding to support small pilot projects with high potential for future external awards from the NIH or other federal funding agencies. Successful applicants will have demonstrated research productivity via active studies, publications, and/or conference presentations. Collaborative applications are encouraged, with preference given to multi-disciplinary projects across the DOM divisions.

Eligibility Criteria

The PI must have a primary appointment with at least 51% effort in the DOM.
The PI can be on any track (tenure, non-tenure, research, or clinical).
The PI must be below Associate Professor level or within 2 years of their Associate Professor appointment.
New faculty must begin their appointment by the start date of the seed funding project.
The project should not have substantial scientific or budgetary overlap with another funding mechanism (internal or external).

Faculty with R01-level or equivalent funding as PI are not eligible.

Most recent awards were provided January 2024. The application period will reopen in June 2024.

UIC Funding Opportunities

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: Ideas on Tap

The DOM sponsors a quarterly research mixer, “Ideas on Tap” (IOT), to strengthen collaborations and increase awareness of departmental scientific discoveries. The IOT is an informal social experience where faculty and students present their research and enjoy refreshments.

January – Institution Training Grants
June – TBD.
September – Resident Research
: Scholarly Activities Day

Scholarly Activities Day is held annually in March.

The Department of Medicine Scholarly Activities Day was held on March 7, 2024. The theme for the day was AI in Medicine. The entire day was well received with over 150 attendees. Five oral presentations kicked off the day with a keynote presentation from Dr. Judy Gichoya, titled “Can we build a fair model that works for everyone ? What do we know about bias in 2024?”. The poster session and competition highlighted fifty-four posters.

Congratulations to the 2024 winners of the Scientific Excellence Awards in the following categories:

Staff – Ken Lizama “Carbon Nanotube Fibers Reduce Scar-Based Reentrant Arrhythmias” Division of Cardiology

Student – Raj Patel “Natural Language Processing in EMR Systems: A Tool to Reduce Inappropriate Radiology Imaging and Expenditures” Division of Academic Internal Medicine

Resident – Jacqueline Jansz “Prescribing Patterns in Lupus Nephritis: Analyzing Time from Proteinuria to Prescription of ACE/ARB” Division of Academic Internal Medicine

Fellow/Postdoc – Vipin Rawat “Drug screening in human physiologic medium identifies uric acid as an inhibitor of rigosertib efficacy” Department of Physiology and Biophysics (Overall Winner)

Fellow/Postdoc – Ahmed Mahgoub “Clinical Characteristics of Sarcoidosis Patients with Elevated Serum Chitotriosidase Levels” Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy (DOM Winner)

Junior Faculty – Romesa Hassan “Osteoporosis in Sarcoidosis: A Nationwide Registry Study”Division of Rheumatology

The next Scholarly Activities Day will be March 6, 2025.