ACG's Committees (cont.) RESEARCH COMMITTEE MEMBERS Millie D. Long, MD, MPH, FACG, Chair Timothy B. Gardner, MD, MS, FACG, Vice Chair Manal F. Abdelmalek, MD, MPH, FACG Bincy P. Abraham, MD, FACG Naim Alkhouri, MD Jessica R. Allegretti, MD, MPH, FACG Christopher V. Almario, MD, FACG Ashwin N. Ananthakrishnan, MD, MPH Joseph C. Anderson, MD, MHCDS, FACG Jordan E. Axelrad, MD, MPH Edward L. Barnes, MD, MPH Divya B. Bhatt, MD Brian P. Bosworth, MD, FACG Darren M. Brenner, MD, FACG Audrey H. Calderwood, MD, MS, FACG Raymond K. Cross, MD, MS, FACG Evan S. Dellon, MD, MPH, FACG Andrew Dikman, MD Martin L. Freeman, MD, MACG Srinivas Gaddam, MD, MPH Lucinda A. Harris, MD, FACG
Yasmin G. Hernandez-Barco, MD Pratima Sharma, MD David P. Hudesman, MD, FACG Aasma Shaukat, MD, MPH, FACG Patricia D. Jones, MD Tracey Simon, MD Dina Kao, MD, FACG C. Roberto Simons Linares, MD Colleen R. Kelly, MD, FACG Amit Singal, MD, MS Hamed Khalili, MD Harminder Singh, MD, FACG Nikhil A. Kumta, MD Siddharth Singh, MD, MS Luis F. Lara, MD Sebastian Strobel, MD Millie D. Long, MD, MPH, FACG Theodore R. Levin, MD, FACG Sachin B. Wani, MD Peter S. Liang, MD Brian J. Wentworth, MD Bruce A. Luxon, MD, PhD, FACG Sonia S. Yoon, MD Neal A. Mehta, MD Baharak Moshiree, MD, FACG Eric S. Orman, MD Georgios I. Papachristou, MD, PhD, FACG Amit Patel, MD, FACG Francisco C. Ramirez, MD, MACG Carlos J. Romero-Marrero, MD Richard J. Saad, MD, FACG Brett W. Sadowski, MD Bryan G. Sauer, MD, MSc (Clin Res), FACG
RESPONSIBILITIES AS STATED IN THE ACG BYLAWS The ACG Research Committee is responsible for the annual review of applications for Clinical Research Awards and Junior Faculty Development Grants funded under the auspices of the ACG Institute for Clinical Research & Education. The Research Committee makes recommendations for clinical research funding to the ACG Board of Trustees which approves the awards.
COMMITTEE REPORT The ACG Research Committee is responsible for the annual review of applications for Clinical Research Awards and Junior Faculty Development Awards funded under the auspices of the ACG Institute for Clinical Research & Education. The Research Committee makes recommendations for clinical research funding to the ACG Board of Trustees which approves the awards. ACG Grant Review Process This February, the ACG Research Committee met via Zoom over three days, to review the submissions for the ACG 2021 Research awards. This hard-working group expertly pivoted to complete an extensive review of all submitted grants. In assessing the 82 | 2020–2021 ACG AWARDS & LEADERSHIP
applications for 2021, the ACG Research Committee utilized the Cadmium grant system. All grants were evaluated on a nine-point scale in line with NIH grant scoring practices. After preliminary review and scoring by three assigned reviewers, applications were further discussed, and a priority score for funding was assigned. The Committee’s typical process is that approximately one third of the lowest scoring grants are triaged without extensive discussion, and the rest have extensive discussion and re-scoring by the Committee at the meeting. The Committee pays meticulous attention to conflicts of interest, and rigorously assesses the scientific merits and feasibility of all grants. After prioritizing the quality of the science, the Committee discusses the appropriate cut-off lines denoting science of adequate quality to merit funding. Each applicant, whether successful or not, receives a written critique of the grant, so that improvements can be planned for subsequent submissions either to the College or elsewhere. Overall, the investigators selected for 2021 ACG clinical research awards were the top candidates of an outstanding group of applicants and should produce research of which the College will be proud.
