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ASTRO Minority Summer Fellowship Award

The ASTRO Minority Summer Fellowship Award introduces medical students from backgrounds that are under-represented in medicine to the discipline of radiation oncology early in their medical education. For the purposes of this program, races and ethnicities that have been identified as URM coincide with those in the ASTRO Workforce Working Group Diversity Strategic Plan, which “include but are not limited to American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander. Medical students in all years are encouraged to apply; preference will be given to first- and second-year students. In an effort to promote radiation oncology as a career choice, the fellowship will provide medical students with an experience designed to expose students to clinical, basic and translational research questions in radiation oncology.

Members of ASTRO’s Committee on Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (CHEDI) are responsible for reviewing applications and selecting awardees. CHEDI members will be assigned as liaisons to communicate with each awardee on a continual basis to provide informal mentorship, receive updates, and keep the awardee connected to ASTRO. To ensure the long-term success and sustainability of this fellowship program, it is the expectation of CHEDI that awardees stay in touch with their assigned liaisons and provide continual updates regarding their training, residency, abstracts, publications, etc. This process will help CHEDI evaluate the fellowship and justify funding for the program to the ASTRO Board of Directors.

Applications for the 2022 ASTRO Minority Summer Fellowship Award are currently being accepted.

View a list of current and past awardees.

Applicants should identify a mentor of their choosing as part of the application process. Should one need assistance in identifying a mentor, he or she can view a list of volunteer potential fellowship mentors.

Eligibility Requirements

The following requirements must be met for a trainee to be considered for the grant:

  • Applicant must be enrolled in a U.S. medical school and be in good standing at the time the application is submitted.
  • Applicant must identify a mentor with a successful record of research productivity (more information is available in the application guidelines).
  • The primary mentor (and co-mentor, if there is one) must be an ASTRO member.
  • Research must be initiated at a North American institution during the summer of 2021 (applicants should discuss the impacts of COVID-19 with their mentor and ensure that the project can take place even under any related constraints at the host medical school).
  • The selected institution must have an established research and clinical program and an ACGME-accredited radiation oncology residency program with clinical faculty available to serve as mentors.
  • Letters of commitment from both the mentor and the department chair at the selected institution must accompany the application. The letter of commitment from the mentor should confirm that the institution is able to fund the project.

Stipend and Payment Schedule

The ASTRO Minority Summer Fellowship Grant will offer four students a $5,000 package that includes a $3,000 stipend for the eight-week training program (exceptions can be made for a longer program but will need to be approved by CHEDI), $1,000 for the completion of a final report, and $1,000 toward the cost of attending the 2023 Annual Meeting.

May 2022

The awardee will receive a direct payment of $3,000 paid at the beginning of the fellowship upon receipt of a confirmation letter, project timeline and completed W-9 form (awardees will be given more detailed instructions in their notification letters). In the confirmation letter, the attendees will need to attest that the summer fellowship research project can take place during the summer break under the constraints of the ongoing pandemic at their host medical school. ASTRO does not pay indirect costs, overhead costs or salary support for the principal or co-principal investigator and has no responsibility for support beyond that stated in this application. This support is not for mentors.

January 2023

After CHEDI reviews and approves the awardee’s final report, the awardee will receive an additional $1,000. Final reports must be received by Friday, December 2, 2022 (more details are provided in the application guidelines). Awardees who submit reports later than the deadline (unless pre-approved by CHEDI) will not receive this additional $1,000.

The awardee must submit an abstract to the 2023 ASTRO Annual Meeting before the abstract submission site closes. Regardless of whether or not the abstract is accepted for presentation, the awardee is expected to attend the 2023 Annual Meeting; complimentary registration will be provided whether or not the abstract is accepted for presentation/inclusion. ASTRO does not cover the abstract submission fee; it is understood that the stipend will help offset that minor cost.

Fall 2023

An additional $1,000 will be granted to help offset travel expenses to and from the 2023 Annual Meeting. Specifically, the awardee will submit travel expenditures with a completed expense form and itemized receipts after attending the meeting and will be reimbursed for up to $1,000 (any additional costs are the responsibility of the awardee). ASTRO will waive the Annual Meeting registration fee for an awardee only if the awardee provides the name and control number of the abstract they submitted, regardless of whether or not the abstract is actually accepted for presentation/inclusion.

Application

  • Applications must be submitted in ProposalCentral. Emailed, faxed or mailed applications will not be considered.
  • A PDF overview of the application is provided for your reference.
  • If you need help creating a ProposalCentral account, please read the instructions.
  • Once you create a ProposalCentral account, log in and click on the "Grant Opportunities" tab, then filter by Grant Maker and select ASTRO from the dropdown menu. Finally, click on the link for the Minority Summer Fellowship Application, and begin submitting your information.
  • The deadline to apply is Friday, February 11, 2022.

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