Candidate must be a member of both ASGE and NYSGE, be an MD, DO or have equivalent clinical doctorate degree, and be currently engaged in a gastroenterology- related endoscopic practice at an academic institution or private practice.

Applications for ASGE Endoscopic Research Awards (ERA) may also be considered for the NYSGE Award for Collaborative Endoscopy Research. The ERA application must meet eligibility requirements for both awards. If an eligible ERA applicant is selected as the recipient of the ACER Award, the $50,000 grant will be considered a portion of the total grant provided by ASGE.

1. ACER in Honor of Florence Lefcourt is a two-year award with total funding of $100,000. No indirect funds will be provided. The initial Year 1 award will be $50,000. The Research Committees of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and NYSGE will review progress after 12 months. Further funding is contingent upon meeting pre-defined milestones.
2. Requests to fund pilot studies that will generate preliminary data to justify a larger study will be considered.
3. The budget request should be detailed and all items should be clearly related to the research proposal. In order to maximize the funds available for research, budgets may not include indirect costs or travel expenses. Budgets will be carefully scrutinized and will be considered in the scoring of the grant. Inappropriate or poorly justified budgets will jeopardize the application. Additionally, the Research Committees retains the right to adjust the award to an amount it feels appropriate for the project or per budget restrictions.
4. Funding requests may include:
• Personnel (e.g., research assistant and/or faculty salary support; this should include a percentage of effort for the proposed study with appropriate justification).
• Study supplies
• Equipment essential for the study
5. Funding will not be provided for:
• Salary support for trainees
• Computer purchases (unless a unique application is proposed)
• Standard equipment and supplies needed for usual patient care (for example, polypectomy snares)
• Travel to meetings
• Indirect costs
6. Duration, progress and reporting responsibilities
• Duration of funding: up to two years. The second year of continued funding is contingent on satisfactory study progress as determined by the Research Committees and based on mandatory annual progress reports.
• Awardees will be expected to present a report at an NYSGE event within one year of the Award.
• Studies that include more than one center will require institutional review board (IRB) approval from each center and a Clinical Trials number from www.clincaltrials.gov, if involving patients. The participating institutions and investigators should be specified in the application. Letters of support should be provided from each institution.
• Progress reports must be submitted to the Research Committees via the ASGE and NYSGE administrative offices every 12 months for the duration of the project (ideally in advance of the 1-year mark for 2-year studies so that the second year’s funding is not delayed). Progress reports must include a financial statement from the institutional grants or accounting office. Failure to submit a progress report by the stated deadline may affect future funding.
• Requests for no-cost extensions must be submitted in writing to the Research Committees via the ASGE and NYSGE administrative offices. This request should include:
• i) a detailed summary regarding how grant money has been spent (or forecasted to be spent) up to the original award end date, and
• a proposed budget describing in reasonable detail how the remaining funds will be spent in the upcoming year.
• Although the mentor should be involved in any No-Cost Extension and Progress Report, the report should be drafted by and signed by the mentee rather than the mentor. Change in PI for the upcoming award period should be proposed by and justified by the original PI, including changes of the PI- ship to the mentor.
• Upon completion of the award, NYSGE and ASGE require that a final scientific and financial report from the grants or accounting office be submitted. All publications and abstracts must acknowledge support from both NYSGE and ASGE.

Grants are awarded based on the scientific merit of the proposal and assessment of the investigator’s ability to complete the project (supportive environment, experience, training, availability of patients and other resources needed). The proposed research project must be approved by the Research Committees and should also be of such quality as to lead to presentation at Digestive Disease Week® and subsequent full publication. One objective of these awards is to promote definitive studies that advance the field of endoscopy. Therefore, proposals with such potential (or which are likely to lead to federal or other extramural funding for large scale studies) will be given priority.

The NYSGE and ASGE Research Committees will review the proposals and recommend awardees. The final approval of the award is made by the ASGE Governing Council.

Each application must have page numbers, be in Arial 11-point font, with >0.75” margins, and contain:

1. Abstract – Include name, institution, project title, mentor name if applicable, and a onepage summary of the proposal including hypothesis and goals. Suggested headings include: Background; Aims/Hypothesis; Methods; Analysis and Sample Size Calculation; Timeline and Feasibility; Future Study. Limit to one page.
2. Grant Proposal – Prepare according to NIH-form SF 424 (R&R) guidelines. (Excluding References) Limit to five pages and include each of the following headers:
   • Title and Introduction
   • Hypothesis & Specific Aims: This should be a clear statement of the problem, the related hypothesis/question and a brief description of the proposed scientific plan. Provide a concise explanation in a few sentences.
   • Background and Significance to Endoscopic Practice: Justification regarding scope of the problem, and relevance to NYSGE/ASGE membership and the endoscopy community.
   • Innovation: describe how this proposal challenges existing paradigms, or employs novel technologies, approaches, tools or methodologies.
   • Preliminary Data: Outline prior studies or your pilot work already completed in this area. If prior studies have not been done by your group, give brief details of work done by others.
   • Approach: Describe the methods of collection and analysis of the data. A statistical data analysis plan, including sample size calculations, is required, even for retrospective studies. Be as specific as possible.
   • Pitfalls, Alternatives and Future Directions: Describe potential weaknesses in the study design and approaches used to mitigate these limitations.
   • Conflict of Interest: A statement regarding conflict of interest and/or financial ownership, patent rights, etc. of technique/devices being studied in the grant proposal must be included in each grant application, along with a plan for resolution of these conflicts. If conflicts are significant and do not appear to be able to be resolved, the application may be denied.
3. Budget and Budget Justification – Please justify all items (including % effort) with a separate budget justification page. Budgets will be carefully scrutinized by the Research Committees and will be considered in the scoring of the grant. Inappropriate or poorly justified budgets will jeopardize the likelihood of the application receiving an award. Additionally, the committee retains the right to adjust the award to an amount it feels appropriate for the project. Travel and indirect costs are not permitted. Limit to one page for budget, and one additional page for justification.
• The maximum request should be $50,000. Grant support for this amount may be spread over one or two years. A second year of continued funding is contingent on satisfactory progress demonstrated in mandatory yearly progress reports.
• The budget request should be detailed and all items should be clearly related to the research proposal. The budget should not include costs for routine or usual patient care items.
• Funding requests (see “Awards and Requirements” section numbers 3-5). iv) Submitted projects for additional funding should include a copy of the previous year’s budget and Progress Report Form.
4. Resources and Environment – List facilities, equipment, and available personnel required to complete this project. Be aware that reviewers of the grant may not be aware of the resources and/or patient volumes of your center. Letters of collaboration should be included, if applicable, especially if from other institutions. Limit resources statement and collaborator letters to one page each.
5. References – Limit to two pages.
6. Institutional Review Board - Attach IRB approval or proof of exempt status, if available (this may help if ability to obtain IRB approval is called into question by the Committee). If not available at time of application, and the application is funded, no funds will be released until IRB approval is received by the ASGE Research office. If this is a clinical trial, a clincialtrials. gov number must be included.
7. Supporting Letters – Required from key collaborators, especially if from other institutions. Trainees require both a letter from the Division Chief and from their research mentor, as described above under “Eligibility”.)
8. Biosketch– Provide NIH-style biosketch for candidate, mentor and co- investigators that includes all relevant publications and current funding. (see example at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm.) Limit to five pages.