Building Trust through Diversity, Health Care Equity, & Inclusion in Internal Medicine Training Grants
The ABIM Foundation, Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM), the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), the American College of Physicians (ACP), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation are focused on improving the trustworthiness of the health care system and advancing health equity.
As part of this focus, the organizations are co-sponsoring a $500,000 grant program to support projects that (a) are led by individuals or groups of residents and faculty in internal medicine education and training; (b) incorporate members from across the care team; and (c) are intended to promote trust and create a more equitable health system by incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into the fabric of internal medicine education and training. All project teams must include at least one faculty member.
Diagnostic Excellence Track: One-fifth of the funding pool ($100,000) is dedicated to grants to support projects designed to promote diagnostic excellence and address diagnostic inequities based on factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, geography (rural vs. urban), age, and disability, and to foster greater diversity, equity and inclusion in internal medicine education. Diagnostic excellence embraces six dimensions of health care quality; diagnosis must be safe, timely, effective, cost-efficient, patient-centered and equitable across populations. You can read more about the topic here. Projects chosen for the diagnostic excellence grants could focus on addressing diagnostic gaps that exacerbate racial and ethnic disparities, such as discrepancies in pulse oximetry and their impact on patients with COVID-19, and disparities in cancer care and heart disease.
At a Glance
- We will provide grants of $40,000 and $10,000 under this program, with the exception of the diagnostic excellence track, which will offer grants of $20,000 and $10,000.
- Applications can be submitted by any resident or faculty member in internal medicine, except for those who are an employee or governance member of one of the sponsoring organizations or are a member of the steering or review committee for the grant program. Applications from individuals who have not previously received a grant under this program will be favored.
Project Categories
The sponsors are interested in funding two categories of projects:
- Education-driven proposals that focus on providing training, skill and competency acquisition with the goal of promoting trustworthiness through equitable outcomes
- Proposals that focus on engineering care processes to promote trustworthiness through equity
Examples
Examples of the kinds of projects that could be funded under this program include:
- Training programs that incorporate DEI, and in particular those that employ inter-professional education best practices
- Innovative curricular approaches
- Quality improvement programs and program evaluations that advance trustworthiness through health equity
- Projects to enhance diagnostic excellence and address diagnostic gaps that disproportionately harm members of the BIPOC population
- Ideas on building trustworthiness and psychological safety among teams, including an intentional focus on recognizing bias, lack of diversity and the barriers to being heard due to hierarchical structures
- Innovative approaches to create collaborative partnerships between health systems and community-based service organizations in under-resourced communities
- Trust and a sense of belonging within racially/ethnically diverse inter-professional groups
- Approaches that foster and support diverse and equitable pathways into medicine and faculty and leadership positions
(This is not intended to be an exhaustive list.)
Criteria
Projects will be evaluated based on the:
- Novelty and innovativeness of the proposed intervention
- Utilization of collaborative relationships with community-based organizations
- Feasibility and potential impact, and description of the approach that will be used to evaluate impact
- Replicability and scalability
- Project leaders’ ability and commitment to communicate their project to external audiences
- Support in existing literature/evidence
- Integration of multiple disciplines on project team
- Presence of intentional focus on building trust and equity within inter-professional teams
- Whether the proposed project fits within and contributes to a robust inter-professional education program
Funding Available
We will provide grants of $40,000 and $10,000 under this program, with the exception of the diagnostic excellence track, which will offer grants of $20,000 and $10,000. Grants of $40,000 and $20,000 will be for two years; $10,000 grants can be for either one or two years. You will be asked to indicate the level of funding and (if you are seeking $10,000) the length of grant you seek in your letter of intent.
How to Apply
The submission deadline for the Building Trust through Diversity, Health Care Equity, Inclusion and Diagnostic Excellence in Internal Medicine Training Grants Program has passed. Thank you for your interest.
Learn more about previous grant recipients
Sponsoring Organizations
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American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM): Since its founding in 1936 to answer a public call to establish more uniform standards for physicians, certification by the ABIM has stood for the highest standard in internal medicine and its 21 subspecialties. Certification has meant that internists have demonstrated – to their peers and to the public – that they have the clinical judgment, skills and attitudes essential for the delivery of excellent patient care. ABIM is not a membership society, but a physician-led, non-profit, independent evaluation organization. Our accountability is both to the profession of medicine and to the public. |
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ABIM Foundation: The ABIM Foundation’s mission is to advance medical professionalism to improve the health care system by collaborating with physicians and physician leaders, medical trainees, health care delivery systems, payers, policymakers, consumer organizations and patients to foster a shared understanding of professionalism and how they can adopt the tenets of professionalism in practice. |
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Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM): The Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine promotes the advancement and professional development of its members who prepare the next generation of internal medicine physicians and leaders through education, research, engagement, and collaboration. |
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American College of Physician(ACP)s : The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a diverse community of internal medicine specialists and subspecialists united by a commitment to excellence. With 160,000 members in countries across the globe, ACP is the largest medical-specialty society in the world. ACP and its physician members lead the profession in education, standard-setting, and the sharing of knowledge to advance the science and practice of internal medicine. |
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The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation: The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area. Visit moore.org and follow @MooreFound. |
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Josiah H. Macy Foundation: Since 1930, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation has worked to improve health care in the United States. Founded by Kate Macy Ladd in memory of her father, prominent businessman Josiah Macy Jr., the Foundation supports projects that broaden and improve health professional education. It is the only national foundation solely dedicated to this mission. |
