The 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.
The mission of APPD SMERFS is to provide instruction and mentoring for pediatric fellows to conduct medical education research for the purpose of promoting medical education scholarship.
Upon completion of the SMERFS program, fellows will:
- Describe foundational concepts in medical education research
- Develop a mentoring relationship with a medical education research expert
- 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 final year in the program
- Draft a medical education research manuscript in preparation for publication
Key Dates:
Call for Fellow Applications: Closed (March 31, 2025 Deadline)
Call for Mentors: Closed (February 12, 2025 Deadline)
Program Features
- Each mentor has one fellow
- Meet no less than monthly, maybe more during research months. Virtual except at APPD fall meeting
- Curriculum to support medical educational research
- Fulfill SOC requirements: Project MUST have an outcome measure to meet ABP requirements
- Some mentors could provide coaching for first year fellows as projects conceptualized
- Webinars/Q and A sessions to help with design
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.
For questions, please contact info@appd.org.
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
