MMSAP Yearlong Research Option

The ASH Minority Medical Student Award Program (MMSAP) has a yearlong research option, which requires students to take a year off from medical school during what would otherwise be their second, third, or fourth year of medical school

The total amount of the award is $42,000, which includes:

$32,000 stipend
$4,000 for research supplies (provided to the research mentor)
$4,000 for insurance and educational expenses
$2,000 for ASH annual meeting attendance, which includes:
- $1,000 travel allowance
- $1,000 after the meeting for making a short presentation about the research project at a special reception

Program participants also receive the guidance of a research mentor and a career-development mentor, complimentary ASH membership throughout medical school and residency, and free registration for the ASH annual meeting during the year of the award.

View key dates and deadlines for the MMSAP.

Eligibility Requirements

At the time of application, the applicant must:

Identify as a minority; applicants are asked to self-identify, and participants for the MMSAP are drawn from this pool. For the purposes of this program, minority is defined as a group of people from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown to be underrepresented in health-related sciences in the United States and Canada. This includes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders, African Canadians, Inuit, and First Nation Peoples.
Be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or Canada, and plan to conduct his/her research project in the contiguous United States or Canada.
Be a first-, second-, or third-year medical student actively enrolled in an MD, DO, or MD-PhD medical school program in an LCME or AOA COCA (or its equivalent) accredited medical school in the United States or Canada, and be in good standing relative to his/her course work.
Plan to be between his/her first and second, second and third, or third and fourth year of medical school at the start of the research experience.
Have a research mentor who is an ASH member in good standing. To request assistance in identifying a research mentor, please submit a Request a Mentor form in the online awards system by the November 15 deadline.
Be planning an investigative career in laboratory, translational, or clinical hematology research.
Propose a project that may take place at the institution where the applicant is in medical school or at another institution with sufficient activity in hematology research and education as judged by the award study section.
Propose a research project in hematology which will be exclusive to the applicant and will be conducted within the mentor’s lab.
Not have any other concurrent funding for a similar experience.
Agree to spend more than 80 percent of his/her time conducting research during the one-year experience. Some clinical shadowing of hematologists or related providers during the year is allowed.

No more than one award will be made to a student working with one mentor.

Program Mentorship

ASH believes a multiple mentorship model is important for researchers regardless of their career stage. Each MMSAP applicant must have a research mentor. Additionally, once accepted in the program, participants are paired with a career-development mentor by the ASH Committee on Promoting Diversity.

View detailed MMSAP mentor requirements.

Application Process

Please use the following resources to help guide you through the application process.

The MMSAP application, as well as all supporting documents outlined below, must be submitted through ASH’s online awards portal. Please indicate “Yearlong” as the MMSAP experience for which you are applying once you are in the application.

All applications must include the following:

Applicant NIH Biographical Sketch
Applicant Research proposal (maximum three pages; one additional page of references optional)
Applicant Personal Statement
Mentor NIH Biographical Sketch
Letters of recommendation on official letterhead and in PDF format, including:
- One (1) letter from an advisor or medical school instructor, articulating how participation in MMSAP would benefit the applicant’s career development
- One (1) letter of endorsement from the applicant’s research mentor, which should state the support the applicant will receive from the mentor and the mentor's institution
Required only if applying for a second year of MMSAP support: letter of recommendation from the applicant’s career-development mentor

Evaluation, Selection, and Notification

Applications submitted by the deadline will be reviewed by the Committee on Promoting Diversity and will be evaluated on the following criteria:

Applicant: qualifications and experiences, potential for future independent investigation, commitment to a career in hematology research, and strength of the institutional letter of support as it pertains to the quality and level of support the applicant is to receive from the institution
Mentor: prior mentoring experience in hematology and the ability to lead the medical student to a successful end-product of a submitted manuscript within the year of research work
Research project: significance and originality of the proposed study and hypothesis; appropriateness, feasibility, and adequacy of the proposed experiment and methodology; and focus on basic, translational, clinical, or health sciences research in hematology

Terms and Conditions

This award is for a one-year period, generally July 1 through June 30 (off cycle exceptions can be allowed with explanation). Payments will be made, in two equal installments (on July 1 and January 1), to the institution at which the recipient will conduct his/her research. Award funds cannot be deferred and are non-transferable.

As a condition of acceptance of the ASH MMSAP, it is required that:

All funds must be used to provide the award recipient with a stipend and any supplies for the purposes of conducting the research submitted in the application. Indirect costs (e.g., facilities and administration costs) are not allowed. Violation will result in the revocation of the award funds.
The recipient conduct research at an institution that will allow for continued enrollment in medical school and/or alternative mechanism for the student to maintain health, dental, and vision insurance during the award time period (up to $4,000 in funding is provided for insurance premiums and educational expenses). Depending upon curriculum requirements, it is the decision of each medical school as to whether the award recipient continues to be enrolled in medical school during the award period.
The recipient arrange for his/her own health insurance either through his/her institution or independently.
The recipient cite support from the American Society of Hematology in any publication or poster describing research conducted during the award period.
The recipient respond to all requests from the Society for information about his/her career progress following the award period.

Final Report

MMSAP yearlong recipients are required to submit a final written report (not to exceed four pages), which should include a summary of research, manuscript submissions during the award period related to the funded research, presentations (locally and nationally) of the funded research during the award period, educational goals met, and a summary of the usage of funds. Members of the ASH Committee on Promoting Diversity will evaluate final reports.

The final report must be sent to [email protected]. Failure to submit the final report, or an interim progress report, will render the applicant ineligible for future ASH funding.

Extensions

A no-cost extension may be requested, if needed. To request an extension, the award recipient’s mentor should submit a letter to the ASH Awards and Diversity Department at [email protected]. It will be at the discretion of the Committee on Promoting Diversity and the study section chair to approve the request.

Unused Funds

Any funding not spent by the end of the award term must be returned to the Society within ninety (90) days of submitting the final report. A check made out to “American Society of Hematology” must be sent to the address listed below:

American Society of Hematology-ASH Development
P.O. Box 37577
Baltimore, MD 21297-3577

Please be sure to include the name of the ASH MRI award recipient on the check.

Questions?

For questions about the ASH Minority Medical Student Award Program, contact [email protected].