Medical Education Innovation Grants

Applicants Eligible for Funds

• Department of Medicine Faculty (SMPH faculty member with a primary DOM appointment)
• Trainees with an identified DOM Faculty Sponsor

Priorities for Funding Consideration

Read the 2025-2026 Priorities, Preferences, and Letter of Intent Questions (Box file).

How Applications are Reviewed

The Innovation Grant Committee was established in Fall 2024 to better serve the needs of the innovation grant program. The Chair of the Innovation Grant Committee will assign letter of intent applications for review by regular members of the committee. The reviewers will present the application to the committee who will vote to determine whether to move forward with a full grant proposal request.

Those projects approved for full grant proposals will receive further instruction from the committee in mid-February 2025. The number of applications approved will depend on the score and the availability of funds.

The Innovation Grant Committee approval determines support for the project and the level of funding only. All related purchases and expenses must follow UW purchasing policies, and transactions must go through the required purchasing approval process, which can take time.

Please feel free to reach out to Maggie Miller in Central Finance with any purchasing questions that come up while you are writing your application and budget. We would rather clarify processes and requirements in advance than run into issues later.

Expectations if Funded

Funds will be available on July 1, and must be expended by June 30 the following year. Any funds not encumbered by May 31 will be returned to the Department.

Requests for a one-year extension can be made through the DOM Education Innovation Grant Final Report form before May 31 of the current grant period and must provide progress on the project to date, an explanation of why the extension is necessary, and a plan for remaining funds.

Reporting

• Sign up and prepare one Work in Progress presentation during a Med Ed Scholars meeting (meets first Monday of the month at noon via Zoom)
• Complete Mid-Cycle Report (December): provide an update on the project, identify barriers, and facilitate successful completion of project
• DOM Education Innovation Grant Final Report (May): see above

Dissemination

Present results at the Department of Medicine Education Day through a poster session, workshop, or other activity

Ideally, results will be disseminated at other UW events and regional or national venues, such as:

• DOM Grand Rounds
• UW Teaching and Learning Symposium
• SMPH Medical Education Day
• Alliance for Academy Internal Medicine National Conference
• Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Regional Conference
• Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) Meeting

All resultant publications and presentations should acknowledge funding from the DOM Education Innovation Grant program using the following language: “This project was supported by an Education Innovation Grant award from the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.”

For questions regarding grant requirements, contact Katherine Vaughan.

Instructions for Submission

We have a new process this year for the grants. We are asking applicants to complete a letter of intent (LOI) form FIRST, which we will then review and inform that pool of people if they can submit a full grant proposal for the 25-26 year. LOI's are submitted via the webform below. The webform is not able to save partially complete applications, so only begin when you are ready to complete the entire form.

Application Form

What Percent Grant Submissions to the Education Committee are Funded?

70% funded (25/36) over the last 6 years

What are Reasons Some Grants Aren’t Funded?

• Vague proposal
• Too ambitious of a project
• Does not directly affect DOM members
• Duplicates other programs already available
• Unclear description of program need
• Lack of objectives and measurable outcomes
• Narrow scope of learners
• Unclear stakeholder buy-in

What are Some Useful Campus Resources?

• SMPH Academic IT; Kristin Simon
  • For Undergraduate Medical Education: Provides instruction design and technical development support as well as a course production unit.
• UW Survey Center; John Stevenson
  • Provides assistance with questionnaire design and instrument development and refinement.
• DOM IT Department; Jennifer Bonifas
  • Evaluates projects for technology factors that can affect initiation and maintenance of the project with the DOM IT environment.
  • Determines any HIPAA issues that could affect grant feasibility.

How do I Spend My Award Funds?

You will receive a notice from DOM Accounting when your project has been set up and funds are ready to spend. Please work with your divisional accountant or Maggie Miller in Central Finance to discuss purchasing policies and payment options relevant to your project. Purchasing approval can take time; please plan ahead.

2024-2025

“Testing the Use of a Virtual Learning Platform as an Effective Teaching Strategy for a Communication Skills Workshop for Internal Medicine Residents” 

Caroline Burkey, MD

“‘Training the Trainers.’ Developing a Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Training Program for the Nephrology Faculty.”

Ali Gardezi, MBBS

“Basic Interpretation of Transthoracic Echocardiogram”

Christina Hughey, MD

“Maximum Recall: Establishment of a Novel Curriculum for the Advanced Endoscopy Rotation”

Dana Ley, MD, and Omar Calderon, MD

“Diagnosis & Management of Cognitive Decline in Latinos – Development & Piloting of a Medical Education Curriculum”

Maria Mora Pinzon, MD, MS

“Navigating Glomerulonephritis After Transplant: A Complete Educational Program” 

Kurtis Swanson, MD

“Point-of-Care Ultrasound Education Track (Longitudinal POCUS curriculum)”

Ryan Townshend, MD

“Bringing It Home: Point of Care Ultrasound Use in the Home Hospice Setting”

Kiruba Vembu, MD 

2023-2024

"Beyond the Language Barrier: An Orientation Curriculum for Internal Medicine International Medical Graduates"

Mazen Almasry, MBBS

"Learning Leadership Strategies for the trainees in the Department of Medicine"

Fahad Aziz, MD

"Improving the care of patients who inject drugs through a trainee informed educational intervention"

Rosemary Bailey, MD, MS

"Cooking Classes and Nutrition Education for Residents: Building Skills Through Action"

Lucas Fass, MD, and Nicole Kochman, MD

"Standardized Curriculum in Cardiac Critical Care"

Dustin Hillerson, MD

"Internal Medicine Residency Outpatient POCUS Curriculum"

Michael Houghan, MD

“Rehumanizing the Intensive Care Unit through Interprofessional Team Coaching"

Jacqueline Kruser, MD, MS

"Snapshots: A Basic Science Curriculum for Rheumatology Fellows Pursuing Careers in Clinical Practice"

Tiffany Lin, MD

"Challenging Conversations 101: Introduction to Facilitating Difficult Conversations"

Geralyn Palmer, MD

"Utilizing Quantitative and Qualitative Methods to Investigate Key Factors when Standardizing Transplant Infectious Disease Subspecialty Training in the United States"

Michael Scolarici, MD

"Microlearning on Sickle Cell Disease for Clinicians–Practical Tool in Everyday Practice"

Thorunn Thordardottir, MD

"’Professional Development: Taking Your Career Forward’ - A Professional Development Curriculum for Graduate Medical Education"

Heidi Twedt, MD

"Learning about Hospital at Home: An Online Module for Interprofessional Learners"

Katherine Wang, MD

2022-2023

"Evaluating an Infectious Disease Fellowship Curriculum to Improve Interprofessional Collaboration and Outcomes of Veterans with Diabetic Foot Ulcers"

Meghan Brennan, MD, MS and Jessica Tischendorf, MD, MS

"Creation and Dissemination of a University of Wisconsin Rheumatology Fellowship Bootcamp"

Sarah Donohue, MD and Justin Levinson. MD, MBA

"Teaching Internal Medicine Residents to Mitigate Microaggressions in Clinical and Educational Settings"

Leila Famouri, MD, MPH, Andrea Schnell, MD, and Christine Sharkey, MD

"Implementation of a Health Equity Curriculum for Internal Medicine Residents"

Kelsey Holbert, Hannah Bell, MD, and Madelyn Alvarez

"Night Moves in the ICU: A Cross-Cover Curriculum for Learners"

Matthew Konz and Melissa MacDonald, MD

"Application Based Invasive Cardiovascular Hemodynamics Learning Tool"

Andrew Pap, MD and Ruben Alexanian, MD

"Refreshing the Outpatient Phase 3 Cardiology Experience"

Parag Tipnis, MD

2021-2022

“Simulation Based Learning in Cardiology Training”

Kelly Schmidt, MD

The goal of this project is to develop a robust simulation-based training program directed at promoting best practices for common cardiac catheterization lab procedures prior to, but also following actual patient engagement.  These same tools will also allow for technical skills assessment and feedback for advanced learners as they evolve in the UW Interventional Cardiology Fellowship program.

2020-2021

"Internal Medicine Residency Pathway in Health Equity"

Victoria Gillet, MD

"A Randomized Control Trial to Measure the Impact of Medical Improv On Medical Student Empathy"

Amy Zelenski, PhD

"A 2 Week Medical Student Curriculum in an Outpatient Allergy Clinic"

Daniel Rosenberg, MD

"An Evidence-Based Nutrition Curriculum for Resident Physicians: A Focus on Well-Being"

Stephanie Pritzl, MD

2019-2020

"Gaming for High Value Care"

Hannah Bell, MD

"Global Health Simulation Curriculum for Internal Medicine Residents"

Greg Gauthier, MD and Dawd Siraj, MD, MPH

"Building Research Communities: an Educational Framework and Formative Evaluation Tool for Research Mentors and Trainees"

Amanda Parkes, MD

2018-2019

"Resident Curriculum for Bedside Ultrasonography"

Katherine Fell and Tim Rowe

"Development of a Blended Interprofessional Ambulatory Care Curriculum"

Madelyn Alvarez, MD

"Empathy Training during Cardiovascular Medicine Fellowship"

Miguel Leal, MD

2017-2018

"Development of a Web-based Platform for Blended Learning in A Resident-As-Educator Curriculum"

Jessica Tischendorf, MD and Sara Johnson, MD

"Faculty can ‘Break the Bias Habit’ Too!"

Christine Kolehmainen, MD

"Preventing Endoscopy-Related Injuries among Gastroenterology Fellows: A Train the Trainer Program"

Kerstin Austin, MD and Sumona Saha, MD, MS

If you have additional questions not addressed above, please contact Amy Zelenski, PhD.