Minority Hematology Fellow Award Frequently Asked Questions

Applicants may submit applications to both the ASH-Minority Hematology Fellow Award (ASH-MHFA) and the ASH-Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Award (ASH-AMFDP) if they deem themselves eligible for both awards.

If an applicant is offered both awards, he/she can complete their first year of research with the ASH-MHFA program (ex. June 2020 – June 2021) and begin research under the ASH-AMFDP program beginning in July 2021.

You should consider applying for ASH-AMFDP if:

• You already have a significant amount of research experience and preliminary data, and can benefit from 4 years of mentored research training
• You will have completed the clinical portion of your fellowship before the start of the award
• You are an Assistant Professor

You should consider applying for the ASH-MHFA if:

• You are still in fellowship training
• You have limited to no research experience
• You still have the clinical portion of your fellowship to complete

Should you have questions about determining eligibility for these programs, please contact [email protected] and [email protected].

Generally, applications are due in mid- January. Please check the awards portal for the official date.

No. Your application must be complete as of the submission deadline or it will not be reviewed.

Please follow NIH guidelines.

ASH maintains strict guidelines for the MHFA applications. The applicant’s career development plan may not exceed one page with NIH formatting. The applicant’s project proposal may not exceed 4 pages with NIH formatting, including references. References should be uploaded with the project proposal document. If the project proposal and/or the career development plan are longer than what is permitted, your application will not be eligible for review.

Please contact [email protected] as soon as you are aware of these circumstances.

No. Applicants must use the NIH’s biosketch format.

While there is not restriction on who can be a mentor, ASH strongly discourages mentors with familial relationships to the applicant to avoid conflicts of interest, and any type of familial relationship must be disclosed in your application. If your relationship with your mentor could appear to cause a conflict of interest, you must submit a justification as to why the mentor is appropriate for your project and submit a letter from your institution describing how it will manage the conflict.

No. You do not need to have a primary AND secondary mentor. However, in order to be eligible to receive a MHFA, you must have one mentor that is an ASH member. The mentor's role is to provide oversight and supervision. They must be available throughout the year.

No. Only one of the two needs to be an ASH member.

One option is asking the individual. Another option would be to check ASH's online Member Directory; however, you must be an ASH member to log into this feature. A last resort would be to e-mail [email protected] with your list of potential mentors.

Ideally, yes, your primary mentor should be at your institution. However, in some cases, we understand that your mentor may be at another institution. In this case, it is strongly encouraged that if your primary mentor is not from your institution, then your secondary mentor should be.

Yes, the primary mentor must provide an NIH biosketch.

No. For the purposes of the application, you will need to declare one primary mentor. We recommend you choose one to be your primary mentor and have the other act as your secondary mentor.

Please contact [email protected] for appropriate steps.

Letters should include details regarding; applicant’s appointment, institution’s commitment for protected time, and resources to perform studies.

The letter should be signed by someone who is authorized to make the commitment on behalf of the institution.

If your primary mentor is the Chair/Head of your department, he or she is allowed to write your Institutional Commitment letter. However, the primary mentor’s letter of support needs to be separate from the Institutional Commitment letter, so he or she will need to write two letters.

Applicants are required to follow the downloadable budget form for allowable items.

No. Indirect costs, which include any institutional costs, are not allowed with any MHFA. Acceptable items to be figured into your budget include salary (PI or lab staff), fringe benefits (medical insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, retirement funds), and direct costs (supplies, equipment).

Awardees are expected to travel to the ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition, as part of the program. Travel expenses are allowed for no more than one meeting per year.

Applicants may only allocate up to 15 percent of their annual MHFA budget towards fringe benefits.

Applicants should include patient care expenses under the supplies for research category.

There is no grant number associated with your MHFA. In the acknowledgement section, please state “Support provided by the American Society of Hematology Minority Hematology Fellow Award.”

You can have shares or an interest, but your institutional support letter must disclose this interest and state how your institution will manage the conflict of interest.