The Intuitive Foundation supports Robotics Bronchoscopy Fellowships through its annual grant program.

The Intuitive Foundation Robotic Bronchoscopy Fellowship grant program provides financial support to non-profit institutions, programs and organizations to provide a clinical experience for students to gain robotic bronchoscopy skills after completing a conventional fellowship program.

Fellowship programs should be provided to provide bronchoscopists with basic skills, a more lung cancer directed training opportunity, with the goal of training in robotic assisted bronchoscopy, experience in staging, with some time devoted to clinical research in robotic-assisted bronchoscopy. Proposed fellowships should not be less than 6 months and not more than 12 months.

Applicants can be funded through their established Fellowship Programs via the Fellowship Director.

Programs supporting the following clinical areas are strongly encouraged to apply: interventional pulmonology, pulmonary medicine, and thoracic surgery.

All grant funds are to be used to support fellow salary and benefits, and grants are made on a competitive basis by the Intuitive Foundation.

Eligibility and Application Guidelines – Fellowship Programs for Fellowship Director 

Eligibility:

• Applicant fellowship programs must have an active robotic bronchoscopy program.
• Applicant fellowship programs must have an adequate clinical robotic volume to support training a fellow to the level of an independent robotic bronchoscopist upon completion.
• Fellows are expected to spend a minimum of 10% of their time in clinical research activities.
• Applicant programs must provide a clinical curriculum with clearly defined goals and objectives and evaluation methods.

• Fellowship applications must be submitted by the fellowship program through the fellowship director; the Intuitive Foundation does not accept applications submitted by a surgical fellow.

Selection Process: Applicants must first submit a proposal as detailed below. All grant proposal applications will be reviewed by the Intuitive Foundation’s Robotic Bronchoscopy Fellowship Grant Committee and scored on the following criteria:

1. Sufficient clinical robotic work to support a Robotic Bronchoscopy Fellowship
2. Sufficient opportunity and resources for clinical research (fellows are expected to spend a minimum of 10% of their time in research activities)
3. Sufficient mentoring to enable the fellow to meet his/her clinical and research goals
4. Strength of Goals and Objectives
5. Adequate Evaluation Methods
6. Strength of Curriculum

Robotic Bronchoscopy Fellowship grant applications will not be distributed beyond the selection committee at the Intuitive Foundation. Please be advised that in order to comply with Intuitive Surgical’s Tender Compliance guidelines, organizational names will be shared with Intuitive Surgical’s Tender Department.  Due to the expected volume of proposals, the foundation regrets that the committee will not be able to provide detailed individualized feedback for unsuccessful proposals.

Grant Proposal Guidelines: A proposal should be submitted by all interested grant applicants. Submissions will consist of a detailed description of each of the following aspects of the proposed program:

1. Goals of the fellowship.
2. Program director’s qualifications.
3. Other bronchoscopists, who will assist in training, qualifications
4. Current program’s clinical scope and volumes.
5. Please describe additional procedures the fellow will receive advanced training in, if any.
6. Training structure of current program and if have current advanced procedural trainees provide a schedule or plan to ensure adequate training time and numbers for both trainees.
   • If there is an Interventional Pulmonary Fellow or Advanced Diagnostic Bronchoscopy Fellow a letter of support from the department chair and your institution’s ACGME representative (if applicable) approving the proposed fellowship should be provided at the time of the application.
7. Overview of strengths for the Fellowship Program.
8. Description of curriculum overview for fellow, including weekly work schedule, conferences, clinics, or operating room time fellow will be responsible for.
9. Brief description of the research opportunities for the fellow.
10. Description of fellows’ involvement in teaching and administrative activities.
11. Overview of the curriculum for the program, including methods for evaluation of proficiency
12. Duration of the fellowship and anticipated start date
13. Proposed budget with breakdown of salary, benefits, liability insurance, and administrative overhead.
    • No more than 20% of the total budget can be allocated for indirect costs.

The fellowship director will be required to submit a curriculum vitae with the proposal.

Submission Timing:

The Robotic Bronchoscopy Fellowship grant program will have a rolling submissions process. Submission packets will be reviewed on a quarterly basis and must be completed before the last week of each quarter to be included in the reviews. Submissions completed after the last week will move into the next quarter for review. Notifications on the status of an award will be provided and available after the committee has completed its review. Grant funding will be available after executing a grant agreement and will be paid quarterly. Grant monies must be used to support fellow salary expenses during the proposed fellowship year.

Grant Conditions – Fellowship Directors – Applied for Grants

Multiple fellowship grants to the same institution for fellowships in different specialties will be considered.

Applications must be submitted by a representative of the institution; i.e. Program Director or designated administrative staff. Applications submitted by a fellow will not be accepted.

Grant monies must be used to support fellow salary expenses during the proposed fellowship year. The fellowship cannot be postponed. Overhead or indirect fees are limited to 20% of the total budget.

The fellowship program should be designed to emphasize the transition to independent practice.

The fellowship Program Director must be certified by the specialty board of the proposed fellowship specialty.

The fellowship program director must have been at the applying institution for at least one year and must be at minimum 3 years out of fellowship training at the time of the application.

The fellowship Program Director must have published in a peer-reviewed journal or have presented an abstract at a national or regional meeting within the past 2 years.

All applicants selected to receive a grant are required to submit a semi-annual progress report that includes:

1. List of all research activities in progress or accomplished by the Robotics Bronchoscopy Fellow during training
2. Number of robotic cases in which the Robotics Bronchoscopy Fellow participated as a console surgeon, including summary of types of cases
3. Overall evaluation of the Robotics Bronchoscopy Fellowship by the Robotics Fellow and the fellowship director
4. Accounting of how the Robotics Bronchoscopy Fellowship funds were utilized

At completion of the fellowship, fellows will be required to submit their complete case log; lists describing their research experience, grants, and publications; and curriculum vitae.

If the funded fellowship does not occur, all monies awarded will be refunded to the Intuitive Foundation. If the fellowship is terminated early, then a partial refund, with an accounting of the funds expended up to the termination date, will be provided by the Program Director. Any unused funds at the end of the Fellowship year will be refunded to the Foundation. Please email grants@intuitive-foundation.org with questions regarding the grant process.