Mass General Brigham Pain Research Fellowship
T90/R90 Training Grant
An opportunity to train as clinical pain researchers under the direct interdisciplinary supervision of multiple mentors across multiple departments and diverse backgrounds.
Introduction
The purpose of this Mass General Brigham Pain Research Fellowship is to offer a group of fellows from a variety of backgrounds the opportunity to train as clinical pain researchers under the direct interdisciplinary supervision of multiple mentors across multiple departments and diverse backgrounds. We hope to develop broadly-educated scholars in the biopsychosocial science of pain who have the motivation, knowledge, skills, and experience to build productive academic careers in clinical research, addressing problems of importance to the field of clinical pain science.
Mass General Brigham’s Pain Research Fellowship training program will be individualized to meet each trainee’s needs, as dictated by their interests, chosen field, past experience and education. Fellowships are typically 1-2 years with the option for a 3rd year based on productivity and availability of funding.
The Fellowship Application Process
Step 1.
Applicants express interest by filling out our Preliminary Interest Application Form.
Step 2.
The applicant, in collaboration with the Program Directors, will identify a suitable primary mentor from our core of 12 mentors.
Step 3.
The mentor and any additional co-mentors will help the applicant with the Grant Proposal Application, briefly describing the scientific and training goals.
Applications will initially be considered on a rolling basis, with the plan to begin a cohort of fellows together in summer 2025 (due date 1/15/25).
Contact Us
For general questions about the T90/R90 Training Grant, please contact: mcornelius@bwh.harvard.edu
Grant Proposal Application Format
Proposal application for the Mass General Brigham IMPACT (Interdisciplinary Mentorship Program Advising Clinical Trainees) Pain Research Fellowship
Description: The Mass General Brigham Pain Research Fellowship application will ideally present both a career development plan and a research project. Strong career development plans include specific goals (skills, knowledge, experience, and career milestones) and mechanisms to reach them, beyond the performance of research. Research plans may include work on a mentor’s ongoing project, but also should identify a pathway to eventually diverge on an independent path and a project led by the trainee.
In addition to their career and research plans, applicants will be evaluated based on their communication skills, academic accomplishments, dedication, resilience, and letters of support and recommendation from mentors, all of which influence likelihood of success in academia.
Applicants for the Mass General Brigham Pain Research Fellowship will be systematically evaluated by the Executive Committee (Director of the Assessment and Evaluation Team Lasic, program directors Edwards and Schreiber, and several representative mentors).
Research Training Proposal Format
PAGE LIMIT = 4 (excluding cover sheet, references, and supporting materials)
1. Cover Sheet
- Title of project
- Name
- Cell phone #
- Departmental affiliation
- Proposed start date
- Primary research supervisor’s name/address/department/institution/telephone/e-mail address
- Co-primary and other mentors’ names and departmental affiliations
2. Executive Summary (word count: 700 or less)
Provide an overview of your background (relevant experience to date), long and short-term goals, and how the training grant support will advance these goals.
- Candidate background: prior clinical, research, and academic experience
- Long-term career goals: kind of research and clinical work envisioned 5-10 years out
- Research goals for training period
3. Training Plan (word count: 700 or less)
- Skills and techniques to be learned through mentored research and other career-development activities
- Formal course work, training certificates that will be pursued
- Other research mentors and what they will add
4. Research Project Description (word count: 1000 or less)
- Overall goal of research
- Significance: Why project is important (background & rationale)
- Specific aims of the work or hypothesis to be tested
- Research strategy: main outcomes and analytic plan
- Brief description of primary and secondary mentor roles on the project
5. Unique perspectives (word count: 250 or less)
If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity not addressed elsewhere in the application that may illuminate how you could contribute to our research community and that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Examples might include significant challenges in access to education, unusual socioeconomic factors, or other aspects of your personal or family background to place your prior academic achievements in context or provide further information about your motivation for a career in research or the perspectives you might bring to the research community. Many applicants will not need to answer this question.
6. Supporting Materials
- Letters of support from one previous research supervisor/mentor, and proposed primary mentor. Mentor letters should specify what role they will play in training, collaborative research, and career development, and any time limitations that apply.
- Candidate CV
Send all application materials in pdf files to: mcornelius@bwh.harvard.edu
