Mary O’Flaherty Horn Scholars in
General Internal Medicine Program

To promote scholarship, advocacy, and creativity in the balance of work, family, and social responsibility 

The Mary O’Flaherty Horn Scholars in General Internal Medicine Program is a 2-year career development award for clinician-educators. The Horn Award offers a junior clinician-educator funding to promote their academic career, while maintaining a healthy balance between personal and professional responsibilities by providing the scholar with a flexible schedule and protected time to engage in meaningful career development and scholarly activities. Horn Award applicants proposing scholarly work or advocacy at the local or national level around provider engagement and wellness and/or social responsibility in health care will be viewed favorably. General Medicine includes Primary Care, Geriatrics and Hospital Medicine.

Funding

• $30,000 yearly for 2 years from SGIM Horn Scholars Endowment
• $30,000 yearly for 2 years matching funds/support from the Scholar’s institution

Requirements for the Horn Scholar Applicant:

• Role as a clinician-educator with a current academic appointment in a Division of General Internal Medicine or Department of Internal Medicine
  Current SGIM member
• Desire to work less than full-time, in a 0.5 – 0.8 FTE position
• Agree to use remaining 0.2-0.5 time to care for dependents (children, parents, etc.) and for self-care and wellness activities
• Motivation to develop a scholarly project related to provider engagement and wellness
• Be engaged in the care for underserved patients
• Have 2 committed mentors to support scholarly activities and a balanced lifestyle
• Promote the vision and goals of the Horn Award by presenting on their work locally, regionally and nationally where appropriate
• Submit annual career development plan and financial reports

Requirements for the Sponsoring Institution

• Institutional matching funds of $30,000 per year for 2 years
• Support Horn Scholar in a 0.5 – 0.8 FTE position
• The Scholar’s 0.5 – 0.8 FTE is to be evenly split between clinical/administrative duties, and scholarly work, with 30% of total FTE protected for scholarly work.
• Provision of full-time benefits as permitted by institutional policies.
• Promote a work environment supportive of the Horn Scholar’s Career Development Plan
• Agree to support the Horn Scholar to work in a similar reduced FTE position for 3 additional years after the Horn Award is complete, at the request of the Scholar
• Promote opportunities for Scholar to share scholarly work locally, regionally, and nationally as appropriate
• Provide the necessary physical facilities and administrative infrastructure normally available to academic faculty members (such as office space, administrative support, office supplies).

Funds may be used for any of the following purposes, and a portion must be used to support the scholarly work of the awardee:

• Salary
• Research Assistance
• Travel for professional development
• CME/professional development activities
• Expenses to complete scholarly activities

APPLICATION PROCEDURES
Applications for the Mary O'Flaherty Horn Scholars in General Internal Medicine are to be submitted electronically to SGIM. Supporting documents from the department or division chief, and two mentors should be submitted electronically. The Horn Scholars Program Selection Committee reviews applications.

Factors considered in the selection process:
Applicant Selection Criteria

• Commitment to provider engagement, wellness and work-family balance demonstrated by the ability to prioritize personal and professional activities and to make choices to enact these priorities.
• Commitment to caring for underserved patients.
• Ability and creativity to advance scholarship on provider engagement, wellness and work-family balance through writing, research and/or teaching.
• Commitment as a clinician-educator to an academic generalist career.
  • Personal characteristics of motivation and enthusiasm.

Sponsor Selection Criteria

• Availability of mentors for scholarly interests and a balanced lifestyle.
• Institutional commitment to provide a favorable environment for the applicant's academic development and promotion in a less than full-time position
• Promotion criteria that take into account the contribution and flexibility required of generalist faculty in a less than full-time status.

Global Selection Criteria

• Overall ability of the individual to fulfill the spirit of the Horn Award.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

• Executive Summary: Include applicant's name, medical school, rank, department, telephone, email address, mentors’ names, division chief and department chair.
• Applicant's Proposal: Please address the topics below in no more that 10 pages, double-spaced.
  • Work, family and social responsibilities: Describe your current life roles, including how you have chosen to prioritize them. What are the challenges and rewards in having these various roles? How would the Horn Scholars Program help you better fulfill your various roles? Describe what success looks like?
  • Career goals and aspirations: Describe your professional interests and career goals. What strengths do you bring to your work? What are the primary challenges you face? How would the Horn Scholars Program help you better fulfill your goals and aspirations? Describe what success looks like?
  • Health care to underserved populations: Describe your current and past experiences in caring for underserved patients and any personal changes and insights that you have gained as a result of these experiences.
  • Your ideas for scholarly work in the area of provider engagement, wellness and work-life balance: Describe how you plan to promote the concept of a balanced life as an academic generalist through teaching, scholarly projects, and/or writing.
  • Current educational role: Describe your current involvement in the education of learners and indicate how this role would change for you if you were to work 0.5-0.8 FTE.
  • Current clinical responsibilities: Briefly describe the time devoted to patient care. Indicate the panel size and nature of the patient population for which you provide direct care. How will this change if you were to work in a 0.5-0.8 FTE position?
  • Perceived barriers and support for a less than full-time position: Describe how you believe your current work environment will facilitate or hinder the success of your future career if working in a less than full-time position.
• Applicant's Curriculum Vitae
• Budget Documentation: Include the applicants’ current salary and benefits package as well as proposed salary and benefits package with the Horn Award. Include a breakdown of the applicants FTE by role (clinical, teaching, administrations etc.) currently and with the Horn Award.
• Brief description of how the Applicant's Department and/or Division is currently addressing provider wellness (limit 1 page, single spaced): This could include any efforts to track and address provider burnout and promote engagement and wellness etc.
• Letters of Support
  
  (1) Letter of Request: A responsible member of the applicant's institution must submit a letter stating that the funds are being requested on behalf of the position to be filled by the applicant. This information may be included in the letter of support from the Division Chief or Department Chair.
  
  (2) Letter of Support from the Applicant's Department Chair and Division Chief (limit 2 pages per letter, single-spaced): This may be one letter signed by the both individuals. The letter/s should include statements of commitment to the applicant's future career.

The Letter of Support from the Department Chair and Division Chief should address the following:

• The personal characteristics of the applicant that will enable him or her to fulfill the intent of the Horn Scholars Program and to serve as a role model for colleagues and learners;
• The resources available to provide matching funds;
• The department's willingness to guarantee a benefits package and a            set of clinical and academic responsibilities that are appropriately                adjusted for a less than full-time position;
• A description of the proposed distribution of the applicant's time,                  assuring that 30% of the applicants total FTE is devoted to scholarly            activities and the proportion of the applicant’s FTE that will be spent              in clinical and administrative duties.
• A description of how the division/department will provide a favorable            environment for the recipient's academic development and promotion in      a less than full-time status;
• Willingness to provide an annual update on the applicant's productivity as an academic general internist and in maintaining personal-professional balance;
• Commitment to support the individual in a less than full-time position for at least three years after the completion of the award if requested by the scholar.             
  
  (3) Letter of Support from 2 of the Applicant's Mentors: These letters should address:
• The applicant's ability to organize their time and activities in order to
  carry out the proposed less than full-time position;
• Personal characteristics and overall ability to succeed as an academic generalist;
• Excellence as a teacher and clinician;
• Ability to advance the cause of provider engagement, wellness,
  work-family balance and social responsibility;
• How you will support the individual's career and priorities regarding personal-professional balance;
• The mentor's willingness to provide an annual update on the applicant's productivity as an academic general internist and in maintaining personal-professional balance.

2020 Mary O'Flaherty Horn Scholarship Winner
Tyra Fainstad, MD

Questions?

If you have questions about the Horn Scholars program, please contact Erika Baker at bakere@sgim.org or 202.887.5150.