Strategies for Crafting a Compelling First Grant Proposal (Grants Committee-Sponsored)
Description: There is limited grant funding to support health professions education research, as most grant agencies prioritize clinical research, making education-based proposals highly competitive. This funding gap impacts the quality of research, often resulting in studies that fail to demonstrate clinical outcomes. National and international grant approval rates reflect this challenge, with the National Institutes of Health’s approval rate at nearly 22% and the National Science Foundation funding less than 30% of proposals. As a result, researchers in health professions education must craft compelling, persuasive proposals to overcome these barriers. This workshop will help researchers, educators, and junior and mid-career faculty explore common pitfalls in grant proposals and the reasons for rejection. It will feature a didactic presentation with essential tips, a small group exercise where attendees critique a sample proposal, and a large group discussion to share experiences. By the end, participants will gain the tools to prepare competitive grant proposals for funding.
Learning Objectives:
- Summarize the important sections of a health professions education research grant proposal.
- Explain the do's and don'ts and five essential rules of writing a health professions education research grant proposal.
- Critique common reasons for rejection of a research grant proposal.
Presenters:
- Asit Misra, MD
- Diana Yan, MD, MEd
- Michael Cassara, DO, MSEd
- Ivette Motola, MD, MPH
- Elizabeth R. E Burner, MD, MPH, PhD
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Asit Misra, MD
University of Miami Gordon Center
Dr. Misra is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine/Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Assistant Director of the Prehospital & Emergency Training Division of the Gordon Center for Simulation and Innovation in Medical Education.
He has a Master’s in Medical Education from LECOM, Erie, PA. He has completed an ACS -AEI accredited surgical simulation fellowship at the Riverside Methodist Hospital - Columbus-Ohio (2019) and a Teaching Fellowship from the American College of Emergency Physicians, Dallas-TX (2018).
Dr. Misra serves as an editorial board member, associate editor, section editor, and peer reviewer for numerous academic journals. He is also an advisory board member of the Core Curriculum & Education Committee for the International Federation of Emergency Medicine and a consultant/member of the international committee of the American College of Surgeons Accredited Education Institutes program.
His areas of interest are healthcare simulation, disaster medicine, resuscitation, faculty development, and medical education research. His research focuses on demonstrating the outcomes and the impact of experiential learning, assessment, and program evaluation in simulation-based medical education. -
Diana Yan, MD, MEd
Icahn School of Medicine
Diana Yan, MD MEd is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics and Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine and an attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Morningside. Dr. Yan earned her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and completed her pediatric residency and chief year at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, OH. After her time in Cleveland, she moved to Chicago and was at the University of Chicago / Comer Children's Hospital as a Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellow and faculty member. She earned her Masters in Medical Education through the University of Cinnicinati. Her passion is in medical education and teaching the next generation of doctors.
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Michael Cassara, DO, MSEd
Northwell Health | Zucker School of Medicine
Dr. Cassara is Vice President for Northwell Health’s Interprofessional Education, Research and Practice and Medical Director for the Center for Learning and Innovation’s Patient Safety Institute and Emergency Medical Institute. He is also Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Science Education at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and Associate Professor (Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies) at the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. His clinical appointment is in the Department of Emergency Medicine at North Shore University Hospital and serves as Emergency Medicine Residency Program as Core Faculty. From July 2003 through July 2014, he served as Assistant/Associate Program Director. In 2017, he was named Founding Director of the Northwell Health Emergency Medicine Service Line’s (EMSL) Healthcare Simulation Fellowship and in 2021 became the fellowship’s Director of Simulation Research and Scholarship. He also serves the EMSL as Co-Director for the EMSL’s Oral Certification Examination Review Course and faculty for the simulation-based EMSL Attending Physician Resuscitation Course.
Dr. Cassara completed his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry (Minor in English) at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and graduated from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1997. Following his Residency in Emergency Medicine at North Shore University Hospital in 2000, Dr. Cassara completed the EMF/ACEP Teaching Fellowship and finished the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Mini-Fellowship: Geriatrics for Non-Geriatricians sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. In 2014, Dr. Cassara finished the AAMC’s Medical Education Research Certificate program, earned the Society for Simulation in Healthcare’s Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator credential, and completed his Masters in Medical Education at the University of Pennsylvania/Perelman School of Medicine. In 2022, he completed the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Basic Certificate in Safety and Quality. In 2023, he completed Cornell University’s certificate in Executive Insight; in 2024 completed ASPE’s Foundations of Standardized Patient Methodology and Advanced SP Methodology certificate programs.
Dr. Cassara is active member in the major academic organizations in Emergency Medicine (CORD, SAEM, and ACEP), Simulation (SSH, SAEM Simulation Academy), and Health Professions Education. From 2018-2021, he served as President-elect, President, and Immediate Past President of the SAEM Simulation Academy. He serves as a reviewer for the Academic Medicine, MedEd PORTAL, MedEdPublish, Simulation in Healthcare, Academic Emergency Medicine Education and Training, Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, BMJ Medical Education, Journal of Physician Assistant Education, Journal of Nursing Education, Journal of Emergency Medicine Training and Education, and other journals in health professions education.
Dr. Cassara has received multiple awards for the quality of his editorial work and teaching across the health professions. His career interests include educational research and scholarship focuses on psychomotor skill development and assessment, evaluation of interprofessional teams, simulation-centered curriculum development and evaluation, and educational theory. -
Ivette Motola, MD, MPH
University of Miami Gordon Center
Dr. Motola is Professor of Surgery, Division of Emergency Medicine and Professor of Medical Education at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Associate Director of the Gordon Center for Simulation and Innovation in Medical Education and has served as its Director of the Prehospital and Emergency Training Division for the past 18 years.
Dr. Motola has a special interest and expertise in developing and implementing curricula for prehospital and hospital‐based healthcare professionals and the application of simulation and other technologies to emergency medical education. She has led quality improvement initiatives at the health system level in response to emergencies by implementing rapid response team training and in‐situ simulation. She also has expertise in interprofessional education and team training. Dr. Motola has served as PI or Co‐PI on multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the Florida Department of Health, and several foundations. Her research interests include effective use of simulation and technology for skills acquisition and retention, team training, interprofessional education, medical decision‐making in crisis situations, program evaluation, and assessment.
Dr. Motola received her undergraduate degree from Columbia University and received her medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in 2000. She completed her residency training in Emergency Medicine at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency (Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital) in 2004. She received an M.P.H. in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2005 as a Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellow in Health Policy and Health Disparities.
Dr. Motola is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. -
Elizabeth Burner, MD, MPH, PhD
Associate Professor, Clinical Emergency Medicine
University of Southern California / Los Angeles General Medical Center
Elizabeth Burner, MD, MPH, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Research Director for the Department of Emergency Medicine, and a Faculty Instructor with the SC-CTSI Workforce Development core. In 2013, Dr. Burner joined the faculty at the Keck School and has worked clinically in the emergency department at the LAC+USC hospital, the Jail Urgent Care based in the LA County Twin Towers Correctional Facility, as well as several community hospitals in the Los Angeles area. Dr. Burner's research interests center on investigating emergent health communication tools to reach health disparity groups, and directing patients to chronic care and medical homes as appropriate. She is committed to engaging patients in healthier lifestyles. She conducts mixed methods research to better understand the viewpoints of marginalized populations, particularly urban Latino immigrants. Her work has been supported by several NIH, institutional, and local grants. -
Diana Yan, MD, MEd
Icahn School of Medicine
Diana Yan, MD MEd is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics and Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine and an attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Morningside. Dr. Yan earned her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and completed her pediatric residency and chief year at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, OH. After her time in Cleveland, she moved to Chicago and was at the University of Chicago / Comer Children's Hospital as a Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellow and faculty member. She earned her Masters in Medical Education through the University of Cinnicinati. Her passion is in medical education and teaching the next generation of doctors.