Grants and Awards

Studentship Award October 2011 Competition Results

Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions received 181 studentship, 80 fellowship, and 19 clinical fellowship applications for the October 2011 trainee award competition. These awards provide support for trainees in the following categories: full-time biomedical and health studentships, full-time biomedical and health fellowships, clinical fellowships, and clinical health fellowships.

Expert Committees reviewed the Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions trainee applications and recommended awards only after the candidates have passed rigorous standards of excellence. For the past 10 years, the organization has used the ProGrid™ system as a tool to assist our Trainee Advisory Committees in evaluating and rating the applications, and to provide standardized feedback to all applicants. However, the committees and research community have expressed the desire for face-to-face meetings to discuss the applications. To address this request, the organization revised the review to a two-stage process for the October 2008, March 2009, October 2009, March 2010, October 2010, March 2011 and October 2011 competitions. The applications are still assessed based on the candidate's track record, the training environment, and the project proposal.

The ProGrid™ system was used to provide an initial rank order of all applicants in the competitions. The top 50% of applications were then selected for discussion at the Trainee Advisory Committee meetings held in December 2011. Approximately fifty percent was selected as the cut-off for two reasons. First, the organization traditionally funds an average of 20 to 30% of the applications in a competition. Cutting off at approximately 50% meant that all applications within the fundable range would be included for discussion. Second, the cut-off limits the number of applications to a feasible number for a one-day meeting.

The committee reviewed each application on a scale of 0 to 5, while considering the organization’s philosophy of placing value on the candidate, the training environment, and the proposed research. The internal reviewers were asked to announce their independent, initial rating and to provide a summary and review of the application. Following an open discussion, a consensus rating was determined and individual ratings were subsequently provided by each committee member (within + or - 0.5 range around the consensus). The Committee ratings at the meetings determined the rank order of applicants for funding.

Formal result letters will be sent to all applicants in January 2012. The offer of award letters will include the terms and conditions of the award and the applicants' modified Pro-Grid results along with any comments made by the review committee. The list of successful applicants is provided below for information only. The formal letters will serve as Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions official decision should there be any discrepancy with the material on the web site.

For the October 2011 competition, there were 28 successful applicants (16%) for the Studentship competition. There were 14 successful applicants (18%) for the Fellowship awards and 3 successful applicants (16%) for the Clinical Fellowship awards. The names of the successful candidates for the Studentship and Fellowship awards are listed below.

Dr. Jacques Magnan, CEO of Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions, and the Board of Directors sincerely congratulate the successful applicants and acknowledge and thank all applicants for their substantial efforts. The organization also wishes to acknowledge the tremendous assistance provided by its Committee members in the evaluation of the trainee applications and their important contribution to the organizations mission.

Studentships

Fellowships

Clinical Fellowships

*MD/PhD Student