APPD Supporting Medical Education Fellow Scholars (SMERFS) Application

Application System for Fellows Now Open! Deadline to Apply is March 31, 2025.

The APPD Supporting Medical Education Research Fellow Scholars (SMERFS) is a program that provides pediatric subspecialty fellows with instruction about scholarship and mentoring of a medical education research project. This is a two-year program to allow for project development, collection of data, data analysis and study presentation and publication. The goal is for this medical education research project to meet the American Board of Pediatrics’ Fellowship Scholarly Work requirement.

Goal: To provide mentoring and support for medical education research for pediatric subspecialty fellows.

Objectives: By the end of the SMERFS Program, fellows will:

• Design and carry out a medical educational scholarly project with assistance of a mentor
• Present their medical education research at the APPD Spring Meeting during their last year in the program
• Draft a medical education research manuscript in preparation for publication
• Describe foundational concepts in medical education research
• Develop a mentoring relationship with a medical education research expert

Components of the SMERFS Program:

• Core Curriculum
  • Once a month virtual group didactics and workshops, including topics such as:
    • An introduction to medical education scholarship
    • IRB in medical education scholarship
    • Conceptual frameworks
    • Curriculum development
    • Quantitative and Qualitative study design
    • Statistics

• Mentor support for a medical education research project
  • Fellows will be expected to attend the SMERFS Session at the Fall 2025 APPD meeting during the first year of the SMERFS Program to meet their mentor in person
  • Fellows will have monthly virtual meetings with their mentor (fellow will receive complimentary registration to Fall 2025 APPD meeting) 
  • Fellows will be expected to present their medical education research project at the Spring 2026 APPD meeting during the second year of the SMERFS Program (fellow will receive complimentary registration to Spring 2026 APPD meeting) 

Eligibility: 1st Year Fellow enrolled in a 3-year pediatric fellowship

Tuition: $3,000

Prerequisites for Participation:

• 1st Year Fellow enrolled in a 3-year pediatric fellowship. We will consider applications from incoming fellows enrolled in a 2-year fellowship, but this requires discussion with the Council Chair before the application is submitted.
• Letter of Support from Fellowship Program Director
• $3,000 program fee.
  This includes the registration fee for attending the fall APPD meeting in the first year of the program and the APPD spring meeting in the second year.

Application process is online and requests:

• Applicant contact information
• Reasons for SMERFS program participation and how program aligns with career goals
• Research experience
• What can SMERFS program provide that is not available at applicant institution
• Description of research question
• Curriculum vitae
• Letter of Support from Fellowship Program Director

Please contact info@appd.org with any questions.