CIS Foundation Scholar Grants
The CIS Foundation Committee is pleased to award up to five CIS Foundation Scholar Grants to support education that promotes excellence in research and/or patient care, innovation in immunology, and the advancement of advocacy efforts.
About
The grants are intended to support the development of the clinical immunology community and advance the goals of CIS. The grants will provide financial support for trainee or early/transitioning career CIS members with a strong interest in clinical and translational immunology. The grants will allow for participation in a mentored learning experience, which could be a distinct time frame (e.g. 2 week visiting mentorship) or could be extended over the course of the grant year (e.g. 3 short visitations at one program). Mentorship experiences could include obtaining specific clinical exposure to IEI patients, immersion in an active IEI bone marrow transplant program, learning a particular laboratory technique to take back to one’s own lab, exposure to a diagnostic or genetics laboratory, exposure to the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to study IEI, etc. While the number of grants awarded each year may vary (maximum 5 a year), the total amount of all grants awarded annually will not exceed $25,000.
Goals
These awards are meant to secure an ongoing pipeline of individuals interested in the field, would formally establish additional mentorship of these individuals, and would ultimately improve the clinical care for IEI patients.
To Apply
- Applicants must be a CIS member in good standing
- Applicants may be trainees, early career level (<5 years from fellowship), or individuals transitioning in their career roles (<2 years from career transition)
- Completed application form
- Proposal should be structured as follows:
- Personal statement (maximum 1 page, single spaced, 11pt font) that addresses:
- Why is the proposed mentored learning experience of interest and how it will benefit your career
- Mentored learning experience proposal (maximum 2 pages, single spaced, 11pt font). Should include the following:
- Description of mentoring activities to be conducted during the grant period
- Brief description of why/how the mentor was selected and the unique resources available at the mentor host program to support the awardee’s mentored activities
- Goals and projected outcomes of mentored learning experience
- Timeline for achieving goals and proposed outcomes during grant period
- Budget for use of fellowship funds
- Letter of Support from the applicant’s primary Department/Division Chair that must address the approval of leave to pursue the mentored learning experience
- Letter from mentor confirming his/her interest and ability to host and mentor the applicant, as well as assist with the stated goals of the mentee
- Curriculum vitae for the applicant
- Curriculum vitae for the mentor
- If mentor’s CV does not include a detailed mentoring section, the applicant must also submit a statement of mentoring activities/record for the mentor
All uploaded documents should be submitted in PDF format.
Timeline & Announcement of Grant Recipients
All applications are due no later than Wednesday, Februrary 26, 2025 at 5:00pm CST
Scholar Award Grant Period: June 1, 2025 - May 31, 2026
Application Status Notification: April 11, 2025
The CIS Foundation Committee will review all applications and select awardees with input from additional ad hoc advisors as needed. The first class of CIS Foundation Scholars will be announced at the 2025 CIS Annual Meeting.
If you have questions about the CIS Foundation Scholars Grant program, please contact Dr. Kelli Williams (kelliwong@gmail.com), Chair of the CIS Foundation Committee. If you have technical questions about the application submission process, please contact Madeleine Hanan (mhanan@clinimmsoc.org), CIS Executive Director.
