Each year, the CHEST Foundation offers grants to worthy research candidates, generous community service volunteers, and distinguished scholars. Since 1996, the Foundation has provided more than $10 million in funding for clinical research and community service around the world.
In 2018, the Foundation awarded more than $500,000 to researchers who were honored during Monday’s Opening Session. Those grants included the Distinguished Scholar grant, research grants in various disease states, Community Service grants, and Diversity Travel grants.
The winners listed below exhibited exemplary partnerships with their sponsoring institution, rigorous metrics to track their project’s progress, and innovative, novel approaches to addressing their research topic.
Robert C. Hyzy, MD, FCCP, director of the Crticial Care Medicine Unit at the University of Michigan, was awarded the 2018 Eli Lilly and Company Distinguished Scholar in Critical Care Medicine grant for his research titled “The Use of Electrical Impedance Tomography to Assess Mechanical Ventilation in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.” The grant, sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company, will extend Dr. Hyzy’s research into vetting electrical impedance tomography (EIT).
“EIT is essentially a belt that’s worn around a patient’s chest that creates an image through a low, imperceptible electronic current,” Dr. Hyzy said, noting a cat scanner also can be used to see how air gets into the lungs, but those are not a practical tool in the ICU. “EIT creates some images, and the images change with regard to how air gets into the lungs, particularly when the patient has ARDS. So the idea here, with this generous grant, would be to build a better mousetrap—to explore this technology as a means to see various ways to push air through the lungs. It’s using the images you get to guide the way mechanical ventilation is provided.”
The Foundation’s grants have made a difference in patients’ lives by aiding young investigators. Many of the supported projects have led to breakthroughs in the treatment of chest diseases and patient care. The Foundation encourages members to apply for grants so that chest medicine will continue to improve and evolve.
How to apply
- Read the Request for Proposals (RFP) on the CHEST Foundation website at chestfoundation.org/apply. RFP’s for 2019 will be posted on the website in January 2019.
- Apply for the grant that interests you by going to the CHEST Foundation Grant portal page.
- Click on the portal link from the Apply for a Grant page.
- All applications have required budget and budget summary templates that must be used. These can be found on the Apply for a Grant page and on the Grant Resources page.
2018 Distinguished Scholar
Robert C. Hyzy, MD, FCCP
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, MI
Eli Lilly and Company Distinguished Scholar in Critical Care Medicine
Grant Title: The Use of Electrical Impedance Tomography to Assess Mechanical Ventilation in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
This grant is made possible due to the philanthropic support from Eli Lilly and Company.
2018 Community Service Grantees
Deborah Haisch, MD
Columbia University Medical Center – New York, NY
CHEST Foundation Community Service Grant Honoring D. Robert McCaffree, MD, Master FCCP
Grant Title: East African Training Initiative in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Pamela Garrett, CCRN, MN
Gwinnett Medical Center – Lawrenceville, GA
CHEST Foundation Community Service Grant Honoring D. Robert McCaffree, MD, Master FCCP
Grant Title: Breathe Better Gwinnett
Matt Siemer
Mobile Care Chicago – Chicago, IL
CHEST Foundation Community Service Grant Honoring D. Robert McCaffree, MD, Master FCCP
Grant Title: Home Environment Education for Children with Asthma
These grants are supported in full by the CHEST Foundation.
2018 Research Grant Winners
Ayodeji Adegunsoye, MD, MS
University of Chicago – Chicago, IL
Research Grant in Pulmonary Fibrosis
Grant Title: Impact of Telomere Length on Pulmonary Fibrosis Clusters Across Diverse Racial Cohorts
Justin Oldham, MD, MS
University of California at Davis – Davis, CA
Research Grant in Pulmonary Fibrosis
Grant Title: Plasma Biomarkers to Predict Outcomes and Treatment Response in Patients with Pulmonary Fibrosis
These grants are supported by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc and Genentech.
Jacob Brenner, MD, Ph.D
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Research Grant in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder
Grant Title: Ambulatory Cuirass Ventilation for Relief of Exertional Dyspnea in Severe COPD Patients
William Zhang, MD
New York Presbyterian – Weill Cornell Medical Center – New York, NY
Research Grant in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder
Grant Title: Pulmonary Iron Overload as a Novel COPD Endotype
These grants are supported by AstraZeneca LP and Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Margaret Bublitz, Ph.D
Miriam Hospital – Providence, RI
CHEST Foundation Research Grant in Women’s Lung Health
Grant Title: Sex as a Predictor of Sleep Disordered Breathing and Its Consequences in Pregnancy
This grant is Supported in full by the CHEST Foundation.
Tim Morris, MD, FCCP
University of California, San Diego – San Diego, CA
CHEST Foundation Research Grant in Venous Thromboembolism
Grant Title: Long-Term Follow-up of Acute Pulmonary Embolism
This grant is supported in full by the CHEST Foundation.
Monica Mukherjee, MD, MPH, FACC, FASE
Johns Hopkins University – Baltimore, MA
CHEST Foundation Research Grant in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
Grant Title: Exercise Provocation in the Noninvasive Detection of Occult Right Ventricular Dysfunction and Emerging Pulmonary Hypertension in Systemic Sclerosis
This grant is supported in full by the CHEST Foundation.
Don Sanders, MD, MS
University of Indiana – Indianapolis, IN
CHEST Foundation Research Grant in Cystic Fibrosis
Grant Title: Whole-genome Shotgun Sequencing of Oropharyngeal Swabs in Infants with CF
This grant is supported by Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Imran Sulaiman, MD, Ph.D
New York University – New York, NY
CHEST Foundation Research Grant in Nontuberculosis Mycobacteria Diseases
Grant Title: Lower Airway Microbiota Signatures Associated with Impaired Immune Response in Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterium
This grant is supported by Insmed.
Samira Shojaee, MD, MPH, FCCP
Virginia Commonwealth University – Richmond, VA
CHEST Foundation Research Grant in Lung Cancer
Grant Title: Extracellular Vesicle miRNA as a Biomarker in Malignant Pleural Effusion
This grant is supported in full by the CHEST Foundation.
Anna Volerman, MD
University of Chicago – Chicago, IL
CHEST Foundation Research Grant in Severe Asthma
Grant Title: A Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating the Effectiveness of Virtual Teach-to-Goal™ Education versus Brief Intervention for Children with Severe Asthma
This grant is supported by AstraZeneca LP.