AGA Institute Research Awards Panel
This committee charter was approved by the AGA Institute Governing Board, (8) VOTED, November 2018; Revised (13) VOTED, November 2019.
Mission
To maintain a rigorous and equitable review of applications for awards funded by the AGA Institute. For more information on the mission and committee structure of the AGA Institute Research Awards Panel please review our committee charter.
The specific charges to the AGA Institute Research Awards Panel are to:
- Conduct peer review of research and abstract-based travel awards funded by the AGA Institute.
- Provide recommendations to the AGA Institute Research Policy Committee regarding new or revised policy and programmatic actions concerning the AGA Institute’s research awards program.
Committee Structure
The AGA Institute Research Awards Panel is a subcommittee of the AGA Institute Research Policy Committee. The subcommittee will include a balance of basic and clinical investigators. The subcommittee has a maximum membership of 56; the number of members may vary each year based on the expected number of applications.
The chair will serve as the liaison between the subcommittee and its oversight committee. The vice chair will support the chair with his/her responsibilities in leading the subcommittee. In years that the chair is a basic scientist, the vice chair must be a clinical scientist. Conversely, in years that the chair is a clinical scientist, the vice chair must be a basic scientist. “Basic” and “Clinical” are defined according to the following definitions approved by the AGA Institute Governing Board, (1) VOTED, September 2018:
- Clinical research is defined as research involving direct contact with human subjects or using clinical data to address problems related to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment or outcome of human diseases (e.g., clinical epidemiology). This category also includes research related to health care delivery (e.g., health services, health IT).
- Basic/translational research is defined as research with a primary goal of understanding basic biology or disease mechanisms. It can involve animal subjects, cell culture, human biospecimens or human data as resources for laboratory- or informatics-based investigation.
The AGA Institute basic and clinical research councillors (who shall not count against the maximum membership) shall serve as the governing board’s liaisons to the subcommittee and shall attend all business meetings of the full subcommittee. Additional members of the governing board (who shall not count against the maximum membership) may be assigned as team members to the subcommittee but are not intended to attend any subcommittee meetings. A chair-elect and vice chair-elect (who shall not count against the maximum membership) shall be appointed one year before the end of the term of the chair.
Appointment terms of all subcommittee members shall be for two years, with the opportunity to be renewed for an additional year based on attendance and performance. One-third of the maximum terms shall expire annually. The chair may request extension of terms beyond three years, pending approval from the AGA Appointments Committee. He/she may also recruit ad hoc reviewers who may or may not be members of the subcommittee; in unique circumstances where specialized expertise is needed that cannot be found within AGA membership, the chair may recruit ad hoc reviewers that are not members of the AGA Institute when deemed necessary.
Committee chair responsibilities
The AGA Institute Research Awards Panel chair ensures that the review process is rigorous, equitable and aligned with the priorities with the AGA Institute. He/she:
- Serves as vice chair of the AGA Institute Research Policy Committee.
- Facilitates the annual AGA Institute Research Awards Panel meeting at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW).
- Works with staff to prepare meeting agendas, minutes and reports.
- Evaluates the performance of committee members based on attendance, timeliness and responsiveness during the review process.
- Provides a summary of AGA Institute Research Awards Panel activities to the AGA Institute Research Policy Committee and AGA Institute Governing Board as requested.
- Is expected to be cognizant of timelines and help assure timely panel reviews.
- Will frequently interact with the research awards manager and/or other AGA staff as deemed necessary.
- Determines the composition of individual award review panels, including a basic science co-chair and clinical science co-chair for each review panel.
- Chairs the AGA Research Scholar Awards review panel.
- Communicates needs for membership and expertise of the AGA Institute Research Awards Panel to the governing board liaison during the annual appointments process.
- Oversees issues pertaining to, but not limited to, questions related to award eligibility, potential conflicts of interest, waivers, simultaneous funding, no-cost extensions and transfers.
Committee vice chair responsibilities
- Supports the chair in determining the composition of individual award review panels, including appropriate balance of basic and clinical scientists.
- Chairs the pilot research awards review panel.
- Works with the chair to determine needs for membership and expertise of the Research Awards Panel during the annual appointments process, including balanced representation of basic and clinical scientists.
- Will provide input as needed on issues pertaining to, but not limited to, award eligibility, potential conflicts of interest, waivers, simultaneous funding, no-cost extensions and transfers.
- Assumes the responsibilities of the chair when he/she is unavailable, such as during extended travel or illness.
- Will frequently interact with the research awards manager and/or other AGA staff as deemed necessary.
Committee functions
- Facilitate peer review of all research awards and abstract-based travel awards funded by the AGA Institute.
- Provide constructive feedback to be shared anonymously with all research award applicants.
- Select award recipients based on scientific merit and other relevant criteria as specified in the award descriptions.
- Where possible, ensures appropriate balance of basic and clinical science funded as well as demographic and geographic diversity among the award recipients.
- Performs other functions as assigned by the AGA Institute Governing Board.
Meetings
The subcommittee is authorized to hold one face-to-face meeting per year at DDW and teleconferences, as needed. The review panels for the AGA Research Scholar Award and AGA pilot research awards are authorized to hold one face-to-face meeting per year to aid in determining award recipients.
Demographics
| Committee Demographics | Percentage of Members |
|---|---|
| Professional Rank | |
| Professor | 28% |
| Associate Professor | 43% |
| Assistant Professor | 30% |
| Credentials | |
| MD | 57% |
| PhD | 26% |
| MD, PhD | 17% |
| Research Focus | |
| Clinical Research | 44% |
| Basic/Translational Research | 56% |
Members
- Ma Somsouk, MD, MAS, AGAF (Chair)
- Beth A. McCormick, PhD (Vice Chair)
- Andrew Chan, MD, MPH, AGAF (Governing Board Liaison)
- Thaddeus Stappenbeck, MD, PhD (Governing Board Liaison)
- Julian A. Abrams, MD, MS
- Jessica Allegretti, MD, MPH
- Ashwin Ananthakrishnan, MBBS, MPH
- James Bayrer, MD, PhD
- Faraz Bishehsari, MD, PhD
- David L. Boone, PhD
- Jonathan Braun, MD, PhD, AGAF
- Kirsteen Browning, PhD
- Yin Cao, ScD, MPH
- Brooks D. Cash, MD, AGAF
- Maneesh Dave, MD, MPH
- Brian J. DeBosch, MD, PhD
- Brooke Druliner, PhD
- Pradeep K. Dudeja, PhD
- Daniel Freedberg, MD, MS
- Ravinder K. Gill, PhD
- Sarah C. Glover, DO, AGAF
- Adam Gracz, PhD
- Madhusudan Grover, MD, MBBS
- Kathryn E. Hamilton, PhD
- Girish S. Hiremath, MD
- Robert Hirten, MD
- Jason K. Hou, MD, MS, AGAF
- Courtney Houchen, MD
- Chin Hur, MD, MPH, AGAF
- Sumera H. Ilyas, MD
- Rodney Infante, MD, PhD
- Purna Kashyap, MBBS, AGAF
- Michael Kattah, MD, PhD
- Jonathan Katz, MD
- Uri Ladabaum, MD
- Suthat Liangpunsakul, MD, MPH
- Berkeley N. Limketkai, MD, PhD
- Julia J. Liu, MD, MSc
- Jorge Marrero, MD
- Haifa Mtaweh, MD
- Willscott Naugler, MD, AGAF
- Linda A.B. Nguyen, MD
- Long H. Nguyen, MD
- Takeshi Saito, MD, PhD, AGAF
- Jami Saloman, PhD
- Robert Schwartz, MD, PhD
- Shailja C. Shah, MD, MPH
- Anisa Shaker, MD
- Anita Shin, MD
- Natasha T. Snider, PhD
- Jun Sun, PhD, MS
- Elliot B. Tapper, MD
- Phillip I. Tarr, MD
- Marie-Pier Tetreault, PhD
- Ryan C. Ungaro, MD
- Silvia Vilarinho, MD, PhD
- Louise Wang, MD, MSCE
- Huiping Zhou, PhD
