Understanding the ASCRS grant process and ASCRS Clinical Survey

ASCRS News
March 2021

by Kim Mangan
Annual Meeting Program Manager

ASCRS relies partially on unrestricted educational grant support to bring both live and online CME programs to our membership. Here we explain the grant writing process and how important the ASCRS and industry relationship is to continuing education.

ASCRS uses survey data from the ASCRS Clinical Survey, which is given to members both in person at the ASCRS Annual Meeting and online. Data collected from the Clinical Survey is used to determine membership needs/desires for program subject matter and format. After assessment of the professional knowledge gaps represented by this data, ASCRS and Clinical Committee members move forward with development of grant-supported educational programs to help address these gaps.  

Once a preliminary program agenda is made, ASCRS uses the Clinical Survey data to develop a needs assessment or rationale showing industry why a particular educational program is worthy of financial support. With supporting references from both ASCRS survey data and peer-reviewed journal articles, a needs assessment is arguably the most important part of the grant proposal. A program budget is developed after proposed dates, times, and venues are chosen. Industry partners review each grant proposal and decide to support programming based solely on the educational merit of the program. Once support has been agreed to, industry does not have influence over program decisions or faculty selections.

ASCRS submits grants for many different types of programming to many different industry representatives. Your participation in the ASCRS Clinical Survey each year directly impacts the programming chosen. Visit https://ascrs.org/clinical-education to learn more about the Clinical Survey process at the ASCRS Annual Meeting, and be sure to complete the survey so your voice is heard.

Contact 

Mangan: kmangan@ascrs.org