Now Accepting Young Investigator Fellowship Proposals

The Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices is launching its first-ever Fischell Institute
Young Investigator Fellowship Program. The purpose of this program is to foster collaborations
amongst Fischell Institute faculty and enable high impact, translational and/or exploratory research in medical devices. Proposals are solicited from Fischell Institute affiliated faculty whose teams are pursuing innovative and collaborative work. Three teams will be selected to receive funds for recruiting FY21 REFI Young Investigators. The deadline to submit a proposal is February 24, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Download the program flyer and application info (PDF).

The University of Maryland, Baltimore and College Park campuses have several programs to facilitate teaming. A Fischell Fellow faculty appointment is one such program wherein faculty are provided with financial support in recognition of teaming efforts that cross disciplinary boundaries. There are few programs, however, that provide internal support to groups that are already successful, with the goal of enabling further success. The funds to be allocated in this program are meant to provide additional support to interdisciplinary groups that have demonstrated success and that can strategically leverage the additional support to expand their impact. As these funds are short term, they should be used at the postdoctoral or research assistant professor level, or equivalent. Up to three awards of $50K each will be made available to such teams. Funded teams are expected to leverage results arising from the awarded project to generate a proposal for a major funding opportunity (at least at the level of a multi-PI NIH R01 or equivalent) and/or pursue a commercialization path based on the project.

All proposals must be multi-disciplinary. PIs must be tenured, tenure-track, or research faculty members of the Fischell Institute. Only the lead PI need be affiliated with the Fischell Institute; this mechanism can be used to reach out to colleagues, irrespective of affiliation, campus, or institution, to foster multi-PI collaborations. Each PI can participate as lead on only one proposal. The lead PI must be lead on an active externally funded multidisciplinary program with three or more investigators, have submitted two or more invention disclosures in the last 12 months, and at least through this program, engage with the Fischell Foundry regarding the translation of their efforts.

More information – including application criteria and instructions – is available online (PDF). Please email fischellinstitute@umd.edu with any questions.

Published February 4, 2021