​ASA Mentoring Grant Program

Mission

The mission of Committee on Professional Diversity is to promote membership and support members of diverse backgrounds which include gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, etc. By doing so, the Committee not only strengthens the organization and the specialty, but more importantly, it helps to enhance patient care.

Duties

The duties of the Committee on Professional Diversity are:

• To facilitate more equitable participation and diverse leadership in ASA activities.
• To address issues that affect members’ professional development and career satisfaction.
• To promote an environment that encourages personal well-being and contentment as caring physicians, productive professionals and responsible family members.

Call for Proposals

Proposals for the ASA Committee on Professional Diversity Mentoring Grant Program open May 1, 2024. The goal of this grant is to foster diversity within ASA through mentorship. The program provides funding up to $5,000 to mentor/mentee pairs who submit a project that addresses the goals of the Committee on Professional Diversity. The project may be oriented to research, education, or a political advocacy initiative that clearly speaks to the mission and duties of the ASA Committee on Professional Diversity.

For questions or comments, please contact [email protected] to reach Lauren Keith, staff liaison for CPD.

The Mentoring Grant Program is funded in part by ASA Industry Supporters: Edwards Lifesciences, GE Healthcare, Heron Therapeutics, Masimo, Medtronic, Merck, and Pacira BioSciences.

Application

The matched mentee/mentor pair should submit their application form, individual curriculum vitae, and a 1-2 page description of their project to the ASA Committee on Professional Diversity via the secure web portal. The deadline for the 2024 grant is June 30, 2024.  

Mentors should be well-established clinicians, educators, or researchers. Mentors must be current ASA leaders. An ASA leader is defined as an individual who has the following experience:  

• Is currently an ASA member and has been so for at least 2 consecutive years,
• Has served on an ASA committee, editorial board, or House of Delegates (Board included), and
• Is a member of their state anesthesia component.   

The mentor will voluntarily provide guidance, direction and counsel to the mentee on a mutually agreed-upon project. The 1-year project must have the goal of enhancing the professional career, leadership potential, and active involvement of the mentee within ASA. 

Mentees should be ASA members of diverse racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, disability, or gender backgrounds who are interested in gaining experience in leadership, exposure to research, education, or political advocacy opportunities within ASA. Mentees may be medical students, anesthesiology residents/fellows, or early career members.

The submission should include: 

• A detailed description of the project’s objective and methods along with an explanation of how it will enhance the professional growth and leadership potential of the mentee. Include a description of the mentee's goals and how this project will allow or help with those goals.
• Description of how this project speaks to the mission and duties of the ASA Committee on Professional Diversity. Please note that mentoring a minority physician solely is not considered meeting the criteria for a project addressing the mission and vision of the CPD. The project itself, regardless of the mentee, must address the mission and vision of the committee.
• A list of potential barriers to the completion of the grant.  
• Note: Consider obtaining IRB approval prior to grant submission due to potential delays to the start time of your project (institution dependent). 
• Note: If your institution has a formal grant acceptance process, be sure to contact them about your application.
• A description of one-year timeline goals, required equipment/supplies, required travel time, and meetings.
• An itemized budget, not to exceed $5,000. The grant does not cover indirect costs, operational expenses, or institutional or grant administrative costs. The grant also notes that the budget will not include / support electronic equipment, such as computers or tablets, food or beverages.
• Note: If you plan to conduct a survey, attach sample survey questions.
• If applicable, include:
• Scientific rationale for the project, including what the significance is and what gaps the research intends to fill. 
• What statistical analysis will be used.

Both the mentor and mentee must be active members of ASA and their state component society at the time of submission of their application. If the mentee or mentor recently applied for membership, please attach a copy of the application receipt / proof of payment.

Please note that a mentor may only be awarded up to two grants in a given year; mentees may only be awarded one grant in a given year. 

2023 Recipients

Anne L. Donovan, MD & Joyce Chang, MD / Amreen Rahman, MD
Identifying Barriers to Career Advancement and Retention for Women in Critical Care Medicine

Caryl F Bailey, MD / Harini Indrakrishnan, BS & Abdullah Chandasir
Investigating racial and ethnic disparities in postoperative complications from cardiac surgery at a safety net hospital

John B. Sampson, MD / Oluremilekun Oyefolu
Impact assessment of increased oxygen access at Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in The Gambia.

Lee-lynn Chen, MD, FASA / Jeremy Juang, MD, PhD
Advancing Equity and Inclusion in Labor and Delivery: A Comprehensive Analysis of the MPOG Database

Lisa P. Solomon, DO, FASA / Kendrick Brown, MS4 & Aaran Varatharajan
Perioperative Protocol for Transgender & Nonbinary Patients during Gender Reassignment Surgery

Mary E. Arthur, MD, FASA / Megan Foster, MD
Social Determinants of Health in Patients Presenting for Emergency Stroke Intervention

Mary E. Arthur, MD, FASA / Teresa Cabrera Vera, DO & Bibiana Andrea Avella Molano, MD
Addressing Maternal Health Equity in Racial and Ethnic Minorities: A pilot project to integrate population health management into anesthesiology residency training.

Michael C. Banks, MD, Med / Imaobong Chinedozi, MD, MPH
Bridging the GAPP: Diversifying Health Education Champions

Michael P. Hofkamp, MD, FASA / Ivie Izekor, BS
Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on racial disparities in urine drug screening during pregnancy

Omonele O. Nwokolo, MD, FASA / D’Andrea Ceasar, MD & Osamudiamen Obanor, MD
The Diversity & Equity in Education (DEEd) program

Tanna J. Boyer, DO, FASA / Austin Blais, BS
Unlocking Potential: Empowering Diverse, Creative Minds from Community Colleges to Pursue Medicine

Uchenna O. Umeh, MD, FASA / Max Zhukovsky, MD
Healthcare Immersion Program with BLS Certification for Underrepresented Students

Vinita Singh, MD / Reema Martini, BBA
The Effect of Regional Anesthesia on Breast Cancer Recurrence

2022 Recipients

Mary E. Arthur, MD, FASA / Dhruti Diwan, MD & Krishna Naimish Shah
Sparking an Early Interest in Healthcare to Address the Racial and Ethnic Discordance between Patients and Healthcare Professionals

Odmara Barreto Chang, MD, PhD / Tina Vu, MD
Anesthetic Care Throughout (TACT) project

Yuriy Bronshteyn, MD / Blair Costin, MD
Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome and Its' Treatment in a System of Hospitals Across a Large Academic Medical System

Destiny F. Chau, MD / Matthew Green, DO
Implementing a curriculum to identify implicit biases and foster transparency and inclusivity in a diverse workplace.

Franklin Chiao, MD, MBA, MS, MSc, FASA / Yunghang Chan
Diversity Race Ethnicity Impact on Evaluation Language and Scores (DREIELS)

Elizabeth T. Drum, MD, FASA / Jose Sosa-Herrera, MD, DABA & Iman Soliman, MS4
Who Chooses Pediatric Anesthesia?

Paul S. Garcia, MD, PhD / Alice Daramola
Post-Anesthesia Care Unit Delirium at Columbia University Medical Center

Eric Heinz, MD, PhD / Sarah Birk, MPH
Effect of exogenous hormone therapy and other risk factors on postoperative nausea and vomiting in transgender patients

Antonio T. Hernandez Conte, MD, MBA, FASA & Cesar Padilla, MD / Lydiesther Martinez, MD
Creation and validation of in-person Spanish language obstetric anesthesiology education classes for non-English speaking Hispanic obstetric patients

Michael P. Hofkamp, MD / Michael Campos
A comparison of postoperative opioid consumption stratified by race before and after implementation of an enhanced recovery after cesarean delivery protocol: a retrospective observational study

Stephanie B. Jones, MD, FASA / Nyla Azam, MD
Building equity through a departmental community outreach program

Vilma A. Joseph, MD, MPH, FASA / Siyun Xie, MD
A National Medical Student Mentoring Program and Microaggression Leadership Program to Nurture and Empower the Next Generation of Underrepresented Anesthesiologists

Elizabeth B. Malinzak, MD, FASA / Reade E. Tillman, MD
Humanism in Anesthesiology: a novel curriculum to address health disparities, implicit bias and social justice education for anesthesiology residents

Jill M. Mhyre, MD / Breyanna Dulaney
Evaluation of an Anesthesia Tech Pipeline Program

Adam J. Milam, MD, PhD / Amelia Clarke
Racial Disparities in Cardiothoracic Surgery Candidacy: Utilization of Society of Thoracic Surgery Risk Score in Pre-Anesthesia Clinical Evaluation

Iyabo O. Muse, MD, FASA / Corrie A. Amos, MD & Karen T. Francois, MD
Improving the Retention and Professional Advancement of Anesthesiology Residents Underrepresented in Medicine Through Faculty and Peer Mentorship

Kristin Ondecko Ligda, MD, FASA & Grace Lim, MD, MSc / Andrea Ibarra, MD, MS
Diversity in the Anesthesia workforce: Where are we now and where are we going?

Leroy C. Phillips, MD, FASA / Jennifer Charles, MD
Anesthesia Based Simulation Center Curriculum for Underrepresented High School and College Students

Robert B. Schonberger, MD, MHS / Monica Arndt, MD
Understanding the effects access to Medicare promotes in care for ethnically diverse patients undergoing cardiac surgery - emergent and semi-deferable – around the age 65 in New Haven – CT

Lisa P. Solomon, DO, FASA / Ho Bin Kim, BA
Mentoring and Inspiring Future URiM Anesthesiologists from Public High Schools in Chicago

Yelena Spitzer, MD / Claudia M. Mort, BA
Building a Pipeline for Mentorship Amongst Female Anesthesiologists: From Medical School and Up

Trevor S. Sutton, MD, MBA / Ervin Ham, BS
Improving Utilization of Cardiovascular Procedures by African American and Hispanic Populations at Hartford Healthcare: A Health Equity Initiative at The Hartford Hospital Community Health Center

Richard D. Urman, MD, MBA, FASA / Kashmira Chawla, MD, MSc
Health Equity and Advocacy in the Perioperative Setting: A Single Institutional Study to Develop a Novel, Evidence-Based Curriculum for Anesthesiology Trainees