The Association for Academic Surgery Foundation Endowment Research Fund
The Association for Academic Surgery Foundation (AASF) Research Endowment Fund provides critical financial support that is distributed to the areas of greatest need, including patient care, education, disease prevention, life-saving research, and technological advances. We invite you to support these vital initiatives through your gift to our AASF Endowment Fund.
Endowment assets are invested, and each year, a portion of the value of the fund is paid out to support the fund’s purpose, and any earnings in excess of this distribution are used to build the fund’s market value. In this way, an endowment fund can grow and provide support for its designated purpose in perpetuity.
Create a permanent legacy of support for the AASF and contribute to one of the Named Fund Initiative Endowments for Academic Research today:
Special Purpose Endowment Fund
Do you want to invest in a specific cause or initiative? One may create an endowment during one’s lifetime to witness firsthand the benefits of giving. Alternatively, one may establish an endowment that goes into effect after one’s lifetime to ensure that the causes they hold most dear continue to be supported. Creation of a special purpose endowment allows one to directly impact surgical research and surgical research education in a unique way.
These funds will be used to support research in a specific area or field as specified by the donor and agreed upon by the AASF.
A contribution to AASF Special Purpose Endowment Fund may support a specific research topic of interest to your company. The purpose of this fund is to support both clinical and basic research in a topic of your choosing. Topics may include but are not limited to:
- Cancer (or a specific cancer, e.g., Breast Cancer)
- Vascular Disease
- Hernia
- Chronic disease (diabetes, atherosclerosis, pancreatitis)
- Patient Safety and Outcomes
- Infectious Disease
A minimum initial contribution valued at $10,000 is necessary to establish a Special Purpose Endowment Fund Gift.
AASF Diversity Research Fund
The AASF Diversity Research Fund was created to provide support for enhancing the strategic growth initiatives of the Association for Academic Surgery aimed at increasing and retaining individuals from groups under-represented in the field of academic surgery. The initiatives may include, but will not be limited to: (1) Scholarships for medical students to attend the Annual Fundamentals of Surgical Research & Career Development Courses; (2) Scholarships for international students to attend the Academic Surgical Congress; (3) Funding for under-represented minorities; and (4) Funding to support The Association for Academic Surgery’s West African Courses Program.
A minimum initial contribution valued at $5,000 is necessary to establish a Diversity Research Fund Gift.
Named Gifts at Association for Academic Surgery Foundation
Behind every named research grant is a unique family or individual with a desire to make a difference and a vision to reach into the future. Endowed funds and named gifts enable you to honor a loved one, advance the study of an important field and demonstrate your support for The Association for Academic Surgery Foundation in perpetuity. Possibilities for named endowments include a wide range of areas of clinical research.
A minimum initial contribution valued at $10,000 is necessary to establish a Named Gift. (For example, The Charles Smith Clinical Scientist Award)
The Association for Academic Surgery Foundation Research Fellowship Award
The AAS began giving Research Fellowship Awards in 1988 with the goal of providing the necessary support to enable residents and fellows to spend two years in full-time basic or clinical research under the mentorship of an AAS member. The award is given to the surgical resident or fellow whose research proposal is judged to be the most outstanding by the AAS Executive Council.
In the past, the awards were made possible through the generous support of several corporate sponsors, including Astra Zeneca, Bayer Pharmaceutical, Inc., Ethicon, Inc., Karl Storz Endoscopy, and United States Surgical Corporation. In 2008, the AAS Foundation committed to supporting future Research Fellowship Awards; the Foundation gave its first award at the Academic Surgical Congress in 2009. Currently the AAS and the AAS Foundation give two separate awards for $20,000 each for one year. One award is for basic science and translational research, the other for clinical outcomes, health services, and education research.
The purpose of this fund is to foster the development and productivity of clinical scientists whose work investigates drug therapy issues, genomics, proteonomics, drug discovery, drug targeting, and delivery. This fund will support research that explores fundamental scientific questions and translation of this resulting knowledge in patient care.
AAS Foundation Research Fellowship Award is intended for surgical residents in any of the surgical disciplines who have completed two years of surgical residency training in the United States and agree to spend one or two years in full-time research in the laboratory of an AAS member. The award to be used for salary support and/or direct-cost expenditures incurred in the conduct of the proposed research project. An award certificate is presented to the recipient at the AAS Awards Session during the Academic Surgical Congress. The recipient’s name is published in the AAS newsletter and on the website for the AAS.
Previous AASF Research Fellowship Award Winners include:
1988 Michael Grosso, MD University of Colorado+
1989 Harold Brem, MD Harvard University+
1990 Sherry Wren, MD University of Pittsburgh+
1991 Claude Roland, MD Washington University+
1992 Richard Battafarano, MD University of Minnesota+
1993 Bryan M. Clary, MD Duke University+
1994 Mary Emily Klingensmith, MD Brigham & Women’s Hospital+
1995 John F. Renz, MD University of California, San Francisco+
1996 Maureen Chung, MD Roger Williams Medical College*
1996 Bradley S. Taylor, MD University of Pittsburgh+
1997 Heung Bae Kim, MD The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia+
1998 Maggie C. Lee, MD UCLA*
1998 Daniel Kreisel, MD Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania+
1999 Shimul A. Shah, MD University of Massachusetts+
2000 Kathleen van Leeuwen, MD University of Michigan Hospital*
2001 Andrew W. Knott, MD University of Cincinnati+
2002 Scott Hollenbeck, MD Cornell University**
2003 Flavio G. Rocha, MD Brigham and Women’s Hospital++
2004 Christopher Jones, MD Vanderbilt University**
2005 David Greenblatt, MD University of Wisconsin-Madison++
2006 Daniel A. Popowich, MD Northwestern University
2007 Scott N. Pinchot, MD University of Wisconsin-Madison
2008 Sung W. Cho, MD University of Pittsburgh
2009 Seth B. Krantz, MD, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
2010 Gary Nace, MD University Of Pittsburgh
2011 Igor V. Voskresensky, MD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
2011 Kevin Southerland, MD, Duke University
2012 Raphael Sun, MD, University of Iowa
+Award supported by United States Surgical
*Award supported by Astra Zeneca
++Award supported by Karl Storz Endoscopy
**Award supported by Ethicon, Inc.
A minimum initial contribution valued at $20,000 is necessary to establish a Research Fellowship Gift.
ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT OPPORTUNITIES
AAS Student Research Awards
The intent of this award is to recognize outstanding research efforts by medical students and to encourage student interest in pursuing careers in academic surgery. Applicants must submit a summary of their research project along with a letter from their mentor describing the student’s contributions to the project. Awardees will receive an award certificate, free medical student membership in the AAS for one year, and recognition in the program of the Annual Meeting. The winners with the top six projects will be invited to attend the 2012 Academic Surgical Congress, for which they will receive complimentary registration; the top two awardees will also receive a $500 travel stipend to defray the costs of attending the meeting.
A minimum initial contribution valued at $2000 is necessary to establish an AAS Student Research Award Gift. The contribution should be made in one lump sum.
Congratulations to the 2012 AAS Student Research Award Winners:
2012 John W. Evankovich, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Department of Surgery
2012 Shaun P. Patel, University of Michigan
2012 Brandi B. Scully, Baylor College of Medicine
2012 Swaroop Bommareddi, National Cancer Institute, NIH
2012 Matthew R. Naunheim, Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
2012 J. Trent Magruder, Johns Hopkins Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
AAS Student Travel Grant
As part of the AASF’s mission to increase diversity in our membership, we are pleased to offer the 7th annual AAS Student Travel Grant. This award is presented to a medical student from an under-represented minority. This award will include a $500 stipend, hotel accommodations, and registration for the Academic Surgical Congress.
A minimum initial contribution valued at $2000 is necessary to establish an AAS Student Travel Grant Gift. This contribution should be made in one lump sum.
Previous Award Winners:
2007 Babafemi “Wande” Pratt, Harvard School of Public Health
2008 Juliet A. Emamaulle, University of Alberta, Canada
2009 Kerry-Ann C.A. Stewart, University of Rochester
2010 Ashanti L. Franklin, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
2011 Andrew Ibrahim, Case Western Reserve University and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
2012 Dani O. Gonzalez, Howard University College of Medicine
Education in Surgical Research Gift
Members of the AAS and course participants populate every leading institution in the country. Many have risen to chair surgery departments in specialties including cardiac, critical care, general, pediatric, plastic, transplant, trauma, and transplant. The Association for Academic Surgery and its members are integral to the overall success of academic surgery.
The AAS Fall Courses Program focuses on career development in junior surgical faculty. It has a specific focus on providing the tools for young surgeons to develop programs to integrate into the field of surgical research, whether it is basic science, clinical/translational, outcomes, or educational research. We also hope to teach junior faculty the critically important skills necessary to identify good senior mentors, and the methods to achieve balance between clinical practices, academic pursuits and personal commitments.