Resources

Innovation Grants

AAIM fosters educational innovations in academic internal medicine through our grant program.

The Letter of Intent (LOI) submission period is now over. Please contact innovationgrants@im.org with any questions about the application or grant process.

Past Innovation Grant Recipients

Grants Results & Outcomes

2019 Innovation Grant Recipients

AAIM fosters educational innovations in academic internal medicine through our grant program. The Innovation Grants Subcommittee selected the following eight projects to receive grants totaling $30,000. The Alliance congratulates the 2019 Innovation Grants recipients:

Andrew J. Varney, MD
Southern Illinois University
Quality improvement project to create a safer workplace for residents and staff

Nicole Grogan, MD
University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine
Framework to improve the quality of written and verbal feedback in UME and GME

Pramil Cheriyath, MD, MS, FACP
Ocean Medical Center
Improving emotional intelligence among internal medicine residents using evidence -based medicine workshop

Catherine Gao, MD
Yale New Haven Hospital
Automated scheduling tool to improve scheduling quality and resident satisfaction

Jessica Murphy, MD, MS
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Developing residents’ critical consciousness through social determinants of health curriculum

Abby Spencer, MD, MS, FACP
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Key steps for women trainees to advance through leadership development

Julia Close, MD
University of Florida
Integrated implicit bias curriculum for house staff addressing health care disparities in patients with sickle cell disease

Gretchen Diemer, MD
Thomas Jefferson University
Creation of a self-contained pedagogical tool for the problem of opiate addiction

AAIM appreciates the hard work and outstanding applications of the FY 2019 Innovation Grant Finalists:

Cory Chevalier, MD
Ashley Jenkins, MD
Alisha Peet, MD
Kathleen Finn, MD
Kevin O’Brien, MD, FACP
Steven Fox, MD
Justin Chen, MD
Reeni Abraham, MD
Edwin Rosas, MD
John Moriarty, MD, FACP
Lekshmi Santhosh, MD
Manasa Ayyala, MD
Christiana Renner, MD, MS
Ethan Cumbler, MD, FHM, FACP
Benjamin Pflederer, MD

2018 Innovation Grant Recipients

Following a highly competitive grant application season, the Alliance congratulates the 2018 Innovation Grant recipients, as well as commend the efforts of grant finalists who submitted outstanding applications.

Cinnamon Bradley, MD
Morehouse School of Medicine (SOM)
Curriculum to build trainee resilience using structured reflection

Leigh Eck, MD, FACP
University of Kansas SOM
A prospective study of emotional intelligence (EI) coaching v self-directed learning on EI changes

Patricia F. Kao, MD
Washington Univ. St. Louis SOM
Curriculum for clinical educator career track for UME and GME

Patricia Ng, MD
Stony Brook University Hospital
A quasi-experimential study to develop a structured women’s health curriculum based on program needs assessment

Anjali Niyogi, MD
Tulane University SOM
Global health curriculum to address real-life ethical scenarios

Shira Sachs, MD
Baylor College of Medicine
Expansion of prospective study to improve educational scholarship and research skills

Christopher Schott, MD
VA Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh/UPMC
Validated tool to teach use of ultrasonography in residency

Lauren Shapiro, MD
Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine (COM)
A prospective cohort study assessing whether wellness half-days and EAP service expsoure impacts burnout among PGY1s.

Melissa Swee, MD
University of Iowa Carver COM
Standardized tool to acquire community advocacy and leadership skills

AAIM appreciates the hard work and outstanding applications of FY18 Innovation Grant Finalists

Catherine Apaloo, MD
Bhavin Dalal, MD
Yohana De Jesus. MD
Zachary Epstein-Peterson, MD
Brian Garibaldi, MD
Brian Hilliard, MD
Angela Jackson, MD
Regina Makdissi, MD
Adewunmi Nuga, MD
Kehinde Odedosu, MD
Ellen Parker, MD
Brianna Rossiter, MD
Lekshmi Santhosh, MD
Laxmi Suthar, MD
Galina Tan, MD

Download the 2018 Innovation Grants Report

2017 Innovation Grant Recipients

AAIM fosters educational innovations in academic internal medicine through a grant program. The Innovation Grants Subcommittee selected the following 13 projects to receive grants totaling $50,000. The FY 2017 AAIM Innovation Grants is co-sponsored by MedU.

Teaching and Learning

Emotional intelligence in resident physicians
Pramil Cheriyath, MD, Ocala Regional Medical Center

Enhancing resident scholarly productivity by facilitating web based access to publicly accessible datasets
Harley Friedman, MD, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

PITCH: Perspective-inspired transition curriculum for housestaff
Avutu Viswatej, MD, and Niraj Sharma, MD, Harvard Medical School Brigham and Women's Hospital

Are your learners ready to hold the admission pager?—Building a resident curriculum for triage and disposition decision-making
Emily S. Wang, MD, University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio

High Value Care/Quality Care

Consulting Wisely—Applying the principles of high value care to the practice of requesting a consult
Shannon K. Martin, MD, University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences, Pritzker School of Medicine

The LOOP project - Closing feedback loops about trainees' decision-making
Andrew Olson, MD, University of Minnesota Medical School

Resilience and Wellness

Residency training: What is the physical impact?
Amber Deptola, MD, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine

Teaching resilience skills to students during clinical training
Amber Pincavage, MD, University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences, Pritzker School of Medicine

Enhancing trainee resilience, connectedness, humanism, and teamwork via skilled reflective facilitation
Abby L. Spencer, MD, Cleveland Clinic Foundation

Impact of meditation on sleep quality in internal medicine residents during outpatient rotation
Jayaram Thimmapuram, MD, York Hospital

Health Care Disparities

R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Resident education in social determinants through promotion, enrichment, community, and teaching
Christopher Bruti, MD, Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center

Impact of stigma on quality of care of obese and overweight patients by internal medicine residents
Eric P. Hsieh, MD, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California

Perceptions of social determinants of health among international medical graduates: A qualitative study
Raman Singhal, MD, Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Wakefield Campus)

2016 Innovation Grant Recipients

AAIM fosters educational innovations in academic internal medicine through a grant program. For the FY 2016 grant cycle, 72 applications were received from various member organizations (APDIM, CDIM, ASP, and AIM). The Innovation Grants Subcommittee selected the following 21 projects to receive grants totaling $73,100.

Jane L. Andrews, MD: Putting the Action Back In Advocacy Training: Skills-Focused Training in Advocacy and Leadership For Graduate Medical Residents. Tulane University School of Medicine. Audience: Residents/fellows

Patrick Brine, MD and David Sweet, MD: Enhancing Transitions of Care: Simulation to Application. St. Elizabeth Health Center (Mercy) with Summa Health Systems- Akron City Hospital. Audience: Residents/fellows

John Joseph Gough, Nancy Jenkins, Janet M. Reagan, Jennifer Felten, Mary Freer, Sheri L. Lawrence, and Monica Fawthrop: Leveraging AIM Expertise – Creating and Maintaining a Research Administration Best Practices Toolkit Repository. Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine with Emory University School of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University, and University of Michigan Medical School. Audience: Faculty and staff

Brett Hendel-Paterson, MD: Development of Online Interactive Tropical, Travel, and Refugee Health Clinical Cases. University of Minnesota Medical School with the Clinical Group of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Audience: Medical students, residents/fellows, faculty, and staff

Wade T. Iams, MD: Reducing Unnecessary Chest X-Rays: A Housestaff-led Initiative to Implement Choosing Wisely Recommendations in Intensive Care Units. Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Audience: Residents/fellows and faculty

Rebecca C. Jaffe, MD: Safer Together: An Novel Interprofessional Near-Miss Root Cause Analysis Curriculum. Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. Audience: Medical students, residents/fellows, and staff

Maria S. Kokas, PhD: Unequal Care: What Are We Not Seeing When Treating Our Patients? Henry Ford Hospital/Wayne State University. Audience: Residents/fellows

Kristy Y. Kosub, MD: I-PROMISES: Innovative Program to Recruit and Outreach Medical and other Inter-professional Students into Service of the Terminally Ill. University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio. Audience: Medical students

William J. Leland, MD and Claudia Kroker-Bode, MD, PhD: Using Video-Guided Training as a Faculty Development Tool for Creating a Shared Mental Model of Safety for Resident Assessment: A Pilot Study. Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University with Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. Audience: Faculty

Anjuli Luthra, MD: Advancing Resident Financial Wellness and HealthCare Resource Awareness: a Curriculum to Decrease Resident Burnout and Improve Patient Care. Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Audience: Residents/fellows

Elizabeth A. Lyons, MD: Improving efficiency of resident handoffs through video role modeling and direct feedback. University of Virginia School of Medicine. Audience: Residents/fellows

Diana B. McNeill, MD, Debra Bynum, MD, Cristin M. Colford, MD, Michael R. Contarino, MD, Nancy R. Denizard-Thompson, MD, Rachel Harris, MD, Suzanne Kraemer, MD, Aimee Zaas, MD, and Kristin Dickserson: After the Match: Cultivating a Community of Support, Retention & Mentoring to Enhance Diversity. Duke University School of Medicine with University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and Morehouse University School of Medicine. Audience: Medical students, residents/fellows, and faculty

Brian K. Muthyala, MD: Multi-faceted Resident Training for Wellbeing Promotion and Burnout Prevention. University of Minnesota Medical School. Audience: Residents/fellows

Vandana Nagpal, MD: Teaching Effective Goals-of-Care Conversations: An Initiative to Enhance End-of-Life Communication for Residents and Faculty. University of Massachusetts Medical School. Audience: Residents/fellows and faculty

Kevin E. O'Brien, MD, D. Michael Elnicki, MD, and Cynthia H. Ledford, MD: Medical Student Abuse – Analysis from a Multi-Specialty Perspective. University of South Florida Health Morsani College of Medicine with University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Ohio State University College of Medicine. Audience: Medical students, residents/fellows, faculty, and staff

Amit K. Pahwa, MD: "Show Me the Money!” A Web Based App for High Value Care. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with University of Minnesota School of Medicine, APDIM, and CDIM. Audience: Medical students, residents/fellows, and faculty

Kristen M. Rake, MD: Assessing the Impact of the Yale Resident Spanish Initiative (YRSI) on Effectiveness of Residents’ Interpreter Use: Does Partnering with Interpreter Services Make All the Difference? Yale-New Haven Medical Center. Audience: Residents/fellows

Jeremy B. Richards, MD: Case-Based Integration of Basic Science and Clinical Concept: Vertical Integration Grand Rounds (VIGR). Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine. Audience: Medical students

Shannon A. Scielzo, PhD: Resident Well-Being: Development and Validation of an Assessment System. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas with University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Audience: Residents/fellows

Mark P. Tschanz, DO: Daily Milestone-Based Ambulatory Clinic Evaluation – Harnessing Mobile App Technology to Optimize Evaluation. Naval Medical Center (San Diego) with Scripps Mercy Hospital. Audience: Residents/fellows and faculty

Tasha R. Wyatt, PhD: Understanding the Process of Taking Ownership. Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. Audience: Medical students, residents/fellows, and faculty

2015 Innovation Grant Recipients

Global Is Local: Creating, Piloting and Evaluating a Community-Engaged Service Learning Rotation with Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers in Rural Minnesota
As part of a collaborative group with Pharmacy, Dental and Medicine Faculty, we are creating a pilot rotation which will be a community-engaged and service learning opportunity in rural Minnesota. Learners will work in community health observing multiple agricultural workplaces, meeting with community leaders and seeing patients, under Faculty supervision, via two mobile medical units that will visit communities of Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers (MSFW) in rural Minnesota.

Participating Institutions: University of Minnesota Medical School, University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, and University of Minnesota Department of Chicano and Latino Studies
Submitting Author: Jonathan D. Kirsch, MD

Using Virtual Patients to Learn Key Cross Cover Skills
We plan to design, test, and implement web-based virtual patient modules to develop fourth year medical students’ knowledge and skills in approaching and managing common cross cover scenarios on inpatient general internal medicine wards.

Participating Institutions: Medical College of Wisconsin
Submitting Author: Ankur Segon, MD

The Electronic Health Record as Teaching Tool
We plan to develop an electronic tool for faculty development demonstrating the teaching capabilities of the Electronic Health Record (EHR). In addition to providing education regarding documentation, billing and compliance issues, the tool will demonstrate techniques for maintaining effective interpersonal communication with patients and the multidisciplinary team while using the EHR. Faculty will learn ways to improve student documentation and integrate evidence-based and clinical decision tools into clinical encounters with learners. In addition, we aim to highlight how the EHR can teach principles of population health management and quality improvement.

Participating Institutions: Duke AHEAD (Academy for Health Professions Education and Academic Development), Duke University School of Medicine, UNC Academy of Educators, and University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Submitting Author: Diana B. McNeill, MD

Development of a High Value Bedside Examination: Needs Assessment for a Novel Physical Diagnosis Curriculum
We are designing a physical examination curriculum that explicitly emphasizes the high value and cost-effectiveness of bedside diagnostic skills. A number of common presenting concerns, like dizziness or back pain, frequently prompt low-yield, diagnostic testing. However, how improved knowledge of physical examination and its utility might reduce this overuse is not apparent. To develop our “high value, cost-effective physical exam” (HVPE) teaching kit’s content, we will interview expert practicing physicians who are educators in academic medicine. In our interviews, we will determine how the physical exam might reduce costly diagnostic testing and establish the curricular content for the teaching kit.

Participating Institutions: Medical College of Wisconsin, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and Jefferson Medical College
Submitting Author: Paul A. Bergl, MD

Flat Screen Simulation of Family Meeting Scenarios Combined with Real-Time Experiential Learning for Resident Education
Effective training in family conference facilitation in the ICU has been identified as a need at our institution by postgraduate trainees during a mixed-methods pilot study. Our proposed curriculum will include two stages: a) flat screen simulation exposing participants to commonly encountered dilemmas in family meetings, with the opportunity to choose from a selection of possible clinician responses and eventual reveal of the most appropriate selection and b) experiential learning through structured peer debriefing after actual family meetings. Patient and family satisfaction will be monitored from data collected by the hospital.

Participating Institutions: Pennsylvania State College of Medicine and Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Submitting Author: Susan Glod, MD

DX: Diagnostic Excellence - A Prototype Virtual Patient Case to Reduce Diagnostic Error
This project will develop and evaluate a virtual patient case that introduces the foundational concepts of diagnostic error to medical students. It will be the pilot for a series of cases that teach students the cognitive processes and system-related issues leading to diagnostic error, and will equip students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to mitigate diagnostic error. The case will be developed on the MedU platform, used at over 150 medical schools. This pilot program will be offered without charge to those institutions and will supplement existing patient safety curricula, and we anticipate the program will be widely adopted.

Participating Institutions: MedU and the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine
Submitting Author: Andrew PJ. Olson, MD

Promoting Humanistic Qualities in Medical Education by Incorporating Resident Essay Teaching Modules into the Curriculum
To promote professionalism and humanistic qualities in the teaching environment, a resident in the program will be given the opportunity to present one of their own cases as a humanities teaching module session for a teaching conference, under the guidance of a faculty mentor. These will be included in the resident’s portfolio under professionalism and also be considered for publication.

Participating Institutions: Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center
Submitting Author: Judy Swanson, MD

Improving "Code Blue" Resuscitation in the Medical ICU: An Inter-Professional Approach Utilizing Team-Based Simulation and Interactive Group Training
This project introduces a novel, inter-professional, team-based curriculum designed to improve “code blue” resuscitation in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at a university teaching hospital. This inter-professional curriculum includes medicine residents, MICU nurses [RN], respiratory therapy [RT], and pharmacy trainees, and is ICU team-specific as all participants work together in the MICU. Participants will learn from simulated codes, interactive group sessions, review of audio-visual footage from simulated codes, and an unannounced mock code in the ICU. Measured outcomes will include ACLS algorithm adherence, perception of leadership and communication during codes, and patient outcomes before v. after curriculum implementation.

Participating Institutions: University of Louisville School of Medicine
Submitting Author: Lorrel Brown, MD

Cap Assisted Colonoscopy and Quality Based Competency in Colonoscopy among Trainees
This project is a single center, prospective, randomized controlled trial of colonoscopies performed by GI trainees to determine if cap assisted colonoscopy results in improved technical and quality measures of competency in novice endoscopy trainees.

Participating Institutions: Baylor College of Medicine
Submitting Author: Kalpesh Patel, MD

Systems of Care Curriculum for Hospitalist Residents
The University of Colorado Hospitalist Training Program (HTP) trains up to 12 PGY2 and 12 PGY3 residents per year. HTP residents receive specialized training in inpatient perioperative and consultative medicine, neurology, and geriatrics, and participate in a hospitalist preceptorship rotation. They also receive didactics on process improvement, patient safety, hospital efficiency, and healthcare finance and complete a longitudinal quality improvement project. A comprehensive “Systems of Care Curriculum” was introduced across existing rotations in AY 2014-2015 to augment their training in systems-based practice.

Participating Institutions: University of Colorado School of Medicine
Submitting Author: Darlene Tad-y, MD

Education of House Staff on Key Components of Discharge Summaries in an Electonic Health Record
The EHR has been in place for several years and recently more extensively used for most areas of documentation including discharge summaries. Despite the progress of the EHR and the increased use of electronic discharge summaries there has been little education of interns and residents regarding components that constitute a quality discharge summary in the EHR. This project will focus on education of house staff to improve quality of discharge summaries and subsequently outpatient provider satisfaction.

Participating Institutions: Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis VAMC, and Eskenazi Health
Submitting Author: Amy Munchhof, MD, PhD

High Value Care Physician Role Modeling Project
This project aims to identify the key behaviors and characteristics associated with role modeling high value care to medical trainees in the inpatient setting. This project will be conducted using focus groups comprised of third year medical students, interns, senior residents, and teaching faculty from the internal medicine program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Perelman School of Medicine. Results from this project intend to promote faculty development by leading to the creation of an innovative education intervention for teaching attendings on how to role model high value care.

Participating Institutions: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania
Submitting Author: Sarah E. Woodson

Efficacy of a Program Using Standardized Patients to Improve Practice of High Value Care
This project will test the efficacy of utilizing standardized patients to improve a student’s knowledge and practice of high value care.

Participating Institutions: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Submitting Author: Amit K. Pahwa, MD

Developing a Curriculum in Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care Providers (PCPs)
This project is designed to raise awareness of the growing population of adult survivors of cancer, many of whom will be cared for by PCPs, either alone or in partnership with an oncologist. The proposed program will allow us to develop a curriculum to educate participating faculty and their trainees in caring for cancer patients from the time of diagnosis , through treatment and for the remainder of their life. Our focus will be on finding safe and effective ways to transition care from the oncology clinic to primary care for the cancer survivor.

Participating Institutions: St,.Vincent's Medical Center and Quinnipiac University School of Medicine
Submitting Author: Radhika Khwaja

Creating and Implementing a Patient Safety Checklist App for Residents and Students on Medicine Wards
Mobile device applications (“apps”) are increasingly used by medical trainees to guide in-hospital treatment plans. There are no apps currently available to improve the safety of hospitalized patients on the wards. The authors have drafted a patient-safety checklist to be used during rounds on inpatient medicine wards. The proposed project is to develop the checklist as an app for iOS devices such as iPhone or iPad and conduct usability testing with residents and medical students on the inpatient medicine wards.

Participating Institutions: Baylor College of Medicine and Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center
Submitting Author: Samir Desai, MD

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