Minority Hematology Graduate Award Frequently Asked Questions

Applicants must have already entered graduate school, be working towards a PhD degree and within their first, second, or third year of at the time of application. Applications are made available in August of each year for funding to start in summer of the following year.

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 MHGA applications. The applicant’s career development plan document may not exceed one page with NIH formatting. The applicant’s project proposal may not exceed four 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.

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 MHGA, 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.

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

All letters of support must be included with your application packet. All applications must be submitted through the online awards system. ASH will not accept letters sent by mail. For those who want to include an address on the letters, please address the letters to:

Committee on Promoting Diversity
American Society of Hematology
Attn: MHGA
2021 L Street NW, Suite 900
Washington, DC 20036

Ask your mentor. The Society encourages you to build a relationship with your research mentor, and this is a great way to begin that relationship. 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] to ask.

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.

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 including:

• Applicant’s appointment
• Institution’s commitment for protected time
• Resources available 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.

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 additional meeting per year.

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

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

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