Becoming a RWJF Physician Faculty Scholar

Physician Faculty Scholars is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is reviewing new expenditures due to the economic downturn. Pending completion of that review, the Physician Faculty Scholars program is delaying its call for proposals. Please check this website again in August for further information.

General Information
Eligibility Criteria
Selection Criteria
Use of Grant Funds
Evaluation and Monitoring
How to Apply


General Information

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Physician Faculty Scholars program will make up to 15 three-year awards of up to $300,000 each in 2010 to help outstanding junior faculty in medical schools to develop their careers in academic medicine.

Under the Physician Faculty Scholars program, talented junior faculty, who are nominated by their medical schools and selected by the program, will receive support to enhance their skills and productivity through institutional and national mentoring, specific research experience and protected time in which to acquire it. The program strongly prefers applicants interested in the fields of health policy research, epidemiology, health services research or community-based research. Physician-scientists who conduct basic biomedical research should not apply.

Applicants must be nominated by the dean of a four-year, fully LCME accredited United States medical school (allopathic or osteopathic). Each medical school dean may nominate one junior faculty member in any discipline to begin the program in July 2010. Applicants must be in their first four years of appointment at the time the PFSP award would begin (July 1, 2010) and be at the rank of instructor or assistant professor in a regular line faculty position that could lead to tenure.  If a school has an unusual promotion process or if an applicant has a unique situation and does not meet this criterion, the dean’s letter of nomination should explain why this applicant should be considered. In such cases, we recommend that you contact the National Program Office in advance to confirm eligibility. Applications submitted by individuals without nomination by their institution will not be accepted.

Schools may have up to two physicians in the program at any one time, provided they are each in different departments.

In selecting scholars for this program, we seek faculty members who have the potential to assume leadership roles in their institutions, their fields of scholarly activity, and their disciplines. The elements that are key to achieving such leadership roles include:

The Foundation will make grants to sponsoring institutions to help cover the scholars’ salary and research costs. Each sponsoring institution must agree to protect 50 percent of the scholar’s time from clinical and teaching responsibilities to spend on the scholarly activities outlined in the scholar’s proposal. Each institution must identify at least one mentor who will advise the scholar on his or her research project, provide career development guidance, and attend one annual national meeting with the scholar.

Additionally, scholars will interact with the medical leaders who serve on the program’s National Advisory Committee (NAC). The program will assign to each scholar a NAC mentor, who will discuss project management and career development with him or her at the program’s annual meeting and throughout the year. NAC mentors may also offer other assistance, such as reviewing and critiquing manuscripts and grant proposals and writing letters of recommendation.

All scholars are expected to attend each annual meeting, where they will present their ongoing research and take part in a broad array of discussions relevant to the program’s focus. They must also attend one additional scientific meeting of their choosing annually.

Eligibility Criteria

Each candidate must:

As the program is focused on new researchers, a physician is ineligible for the Physician Faculty Scholars program if he or she is currently serving or has previously served as the principal investigator of a grant (whether career development or research) that carries more than 48 months of funding. However, an applicant’s eligibility is not affected if notice of such a funding award is dated after the program’s application deadline (August 28, 2009).

The program strongly prefers applicants interested in the fields of health policy research, epidemiology, health services research or community-based research.

Physician-scientists who do basic biomedical research should not apply. Applicants who are in doubt about whether their research falls within the program's guidelines should contact the National Program Office, at (650) 566-2348 or rwjfpfsp@stanford.edu.

Consistent with all RWJF programs, this program embraces racial, ethnic, gender and disciplinary diversity and encourages candidates with diverse backgrounds to apply.


Selection Criteria

The NAC reviews applications and invites selected applicants to present their research proposals to the committee. The committee uses the following criteria to guide the selection process:

Use of Grant Funds

Grant funds may be used for a portion of the scholar’s salary, research assistants, community partners, medical student or other trainee summer stipends, project-related domestic travel, and other essential direct project expenses. Grants are made to the sponsoring institutions and follow RWJF’s regular funding guidelines. In keeping with RWJF policy, grant funds may not be used to subsidize individuals for the costs of their health care, to support clinical trials of unapproved drugs or devices, to construct or renovate facilities, for lobbying, or as a substitute for funds currently being used to support similar activities.


Evaluation and Monitoring

Grantee institutions will be expected to meet RWJF requirements for the submission of annual narrative and financial reports, as well as periodic information needed for overall project performance monitoring and management. We expect faculty scholars to participate in all the program’s annual meetings. At the close of the grant, the scholar shall provide a written report of the research project and its findings that can be widely disseminated.


How to Apply

Physician Faculty Scholars is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is reviewing new expenditures due to the economic downturn. Pending completion of that review, the Physician Faculty Scholars program is delaying its call for proposals. Please check this website again in August for further information.