Research: FLEX Fund Scholar Application

Friends of FSH Research is pleased to announce the FSH Scholar Fellowship Program. The goal of the Scholar Fellowship is to provide funding to enable promising investigators to extend their research training and/or begin careers as independent FSH researchers. The FSH Scholar Fellowship will award two years of support at $50,000 per fellowship, per year.

This program is intended to facilitate innovative research opportunities and supports basic, as well as translational and/or clinical investigators provided the research is relevant to our understanding and possible treatment of Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy.

Award Requirements:

  1. This award is to support post-doctoral fellows, instructors and assistant professors. Applicants must have received a PhD, MD, or DO degree from an accredited domestic or foreign institution.
  2. Applicant must have on-site mentor or senior collaborator who is an established FSH investigator. Research supported by this award must be carried out in the United States. U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or foreign nationals with appropriate visa are eligible for this fellowship.
  3. The fellowship is for a two-year period, with the second year dependent on successful completion of the first year’s stated objectives.
  4. The amount is $50,000 per year for salary, benefits & research support. Payment will be made one week prior to activation date of the first year and assuming the first year’s final report is satisfactory $50,000 will be paid at the beginning of the second program year. The first year’s final report is required eleven months after the award is activated.
  5. Friends of FSH Research Scholar fellowship funds are not to be used to fund institutional overhead or other indirect costs.
  6. If an awardee receives a career development award or other comparable research funding from the NIH, the Muscular Dystrophy Association or similar organization, he/she must choose between it and the Friends Research Scholar Award.

Award Application and Deadlines:

Applications must be submitted to the Friends of FSH Research as one combined document and include the following:

  1. Contact — The applicant's name and contact information
  2. References and Career Resume — Brief summary of education, work background and previous research experience.
  3. Graduate Degree — Proof of applicant’s successful completion of PhD, MD, or DO.
  4. One letter of recommendation — This letter should not be mailed to the applicant, but should be mailed separately to Friends of FSH Research office. (address noted below in “Submission”)
  5. Research Training/Career Plans — Brief description of present or just completed research training, applicant’s future career plans including a statement of how their previous experience and research expertise will be useful to Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy research.
  6. Proposal — A statement from the applicant outlining project goals that will be accomplished within the fellowship period. One representative project should be described in sufficient detail to elucidate the work that will be done while being an FSH Scholar and how that work will benefit the field of FSH research.
  7. Mentor/Sponsor Letter — A letter from an on-site FSH researcher stating how the award will enhance applicant's training and/or facilitate the training of a future independent FSH investigator. This letter should include a commitment by the sponsor of the training and opportunities they will provide the FSH Scholar during the fellowship period.
  8. Sponsor Biosketch — Summary no longer than 2 pages, may refer to National Institutes of Health form PHS 398 as a guide.
  9. Budget — Specific assurance that receipt of this award will not result in duplication of funding.
  10. Abstract — A brief description of the research project on which they will work in terms understandable to lay people and how their involvement will help accelerate the work being done in their mentor’s laboratory.
  11. Institutional Assurance — Which includes the applicant's institutional signature (i.e., Grants & Contracts/Sponsored Research Office), signifying the institution's acceptance of these conditions.

Progress Reports and Publications:

  1. The FSH Scholar must submit three reports to Friends of FSH Research during the course of the two-year fellowship and submit/or co-author one scientific paper for publication. These include: a progress report prior to the completion of their first Scholar year; an eighteen-month one-page progress report; and a final report (including an abstract in lay language) at the completion of the second year.
  2. All publications must carry a credit line to Friends of FSH Research.
  3. All papers and reports shall be able to be published on the Friends website, in newsletters and reports as deemed appropriate by Friends of FSH Research.

Submission:

All application materials should be sent in one package to Friends of FSH Research and received no later than May 30, 2011.

Friends of FSH Research
217 19th Place
Kirkland, WA 98033

Please submit an electronic copy of the entire application package to with the subject line "FSH Scholar Fellowship Application."

If you have specific questions about completing the application you may contact Friends of FSH Research.

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