AMSPDC Research Program Development Visiting Professorship
The purpose of the Visiting Professor Program is to provide consultation to chairs of pediatrics who are interested in strengthening their departmental research program and seek external input regarding strategies, necessary resources, use of existing resources, appropriate leadership, recruitment/retention priorities, and other relevant issues. The scope of the VP program is broad and includes advice and mentoring on establishing research programs that are basic (laboratory-based), clinical-translational, population science, big data science, health services, and other related categories.
The visiting professorship will be supported by AMSPDC and will typically involve a 2-day itinerary (generally with 2 overnights) organized by the hosting department chair. The itinerary will provide the visiting professor with an opportunity to meet with the host department chair, other members of the host department, appropriate leaders from the hospital and the school of medicine, including the Dean and/or Vice Dean of Research, and the directors of departmental and institutional philanthropic efforts. One option is to include the visiting professor in a departmental research planning retreat.
Shortly following the visit, the visiting professor will provide the host department chair with a report that summarizes observations and recommendations. This report may be shared with appropriate hospital and school of medicine leadership. One year following the visit, host department chairs will be expected to submit a follow-up report to the AMSPDC Research Committee summarizing progress made towards addressing the three primary goals for the visit and strengthening their departmental research program.
AMSPDC will provide up to $3,500 to cover travel and accommodations, along with a $1500 honorarium for the visiting professor and will support up to 4 visiting professorships per year. The host department will cover any additional expenses.
All chairs of pediatrics will be eligible to apply for support to host a visiting professor, but preference will be given to new chairs and small departments. Applicants will be asked if they have a particular individual in mind to serve as the visiting professor, but the AMSPDC Research Committee will facilitate an appropriate pairing, focusing in particular on current chairs of pediatrics and emeritus chairs of pediatrics. Applicants should specify three primary goals for the visit, e.g. to provide guidance related to developing a research program, to expanding a research program, to using new resources available to support research, to recruiting research-intensive faculty, etc.
To facilitate the review by the visiting professor, applicants should provide the visiting professor with pre-reading about existing research activity, including investigators, extramural and intramural research funding, research space, research cores in the department and in the institution, research themes, research productivity (peer-reviewed publications, patents, conference presentations). This report should also highlight how the research within the department integrates with investigative work across the school of medicine.