With the time demands inherent to pursuing surgical residency and fellowship training, acquiring grant funding and pursuing funded research feels like a daunting task to many urology trainees. However, thanks to the generosity of various donors and foundations, there are a number of research funding opportunities open to and often geared specifically toward residents and fellows. Many of these awards have streamlined application processes, with goals that are achievable in the context of clinical training, in contrast to many of the traditional funding opportunities available through the NIH and other national funding mechanisms.

The AUA offers a number of research grants and awards for residents and fellows that facilitate funded clinical, translational, and basic science research. The most well known of these awards are the AUA/Urology Care Foundation (UCF) Research Scholar awards, which have provided over $29,000,000 of funding to over 650 awardees since 1975. These awards provide $40,000 of funding per year for either a 1- or 2-year period. Those eligible for the grant are, at the start of the award period, surgeons in clinical urology fellowship programs, PhD researchers in post-doctoral fellowships, and early-career (less than 5 years out of training) urology faculty. The award does require that one commits 50% of their time during the award period to the project for which they receive the grant. With this structure, this award is often applied for by chief urology residents entering clinical fellowship programs that include sufficient dedicated research time to meet the 50% time and effort requirement for either a 1- or 2-year project. Funding for the grants comes from a variety of sources, including the regional sections, such as the AUA Mid-Atlantic Section William D. Steers, MD Award; subspeciality societies, such as the Endourological Society Joseph Segura, MD Scholarship in Endourology and Stone Management; and industry sources, including companies such as Bristol Myers Squibb. The source of the funding determines the projects the award funds, with the regional sections funding research performed at institutions within the section, and subspeciality societies funding research pertaining to their areas of focus.

The AUA/UCF also offers awards to support research during residency training. The Residency Research Award Program is one such mechanism, which provides $10,000 of funding for projects 3 to 12 months in length. In order to qualify for this award, one must be a urology resident within the geographic boundaries of an AUA section during the entire project. This award does require that 80% of one’s time be spent on the project, and therefore residents should apply for this award in anticipation of dedicated research time, whether it be a 3- to 6-month research rotation or a dedicated research year. The Leadership in Education, Achievement, and Diversity (LEAD) program is another program offered through the AUA/UCF, which has the same requirements as the Residency Research Award but is specifically for residents from racial and ethnic backgrounds underrepresented in urological research, including those of African American, Hispanic, or Native American ancestry. At the present time this award only supports bladder dysfunction and men’s health research based on the source of supporting funding, but the AUA/UCF hope to broaden the research scope of the award in the future.

There are also funding opportunities for residents and fellows available directly from the subspeciality and special interest societies separate from the awards they offer in collaboration with the AUA/UCF, which can vary from year to year. Opportunities available this cycle include a $25,000 award from Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine, and Urogenital Reconstruction (SUFU) for the study of neuromodulation, and a $2,500 award from the Society of Women in Urology (SWIU) for basic, clinical, or translational urological research.

Another avenue for funding that is often overlooked by urology trainees is internal funding mechanisms available at one’s local institution. Here at the University of Kansas, one of my co-residents, Dr Stephen Pittman, earned a $30,000 Clinical Research Pilot Grant to support a randomized controlled clinical trial on renal ultrasound for post-treatment surveillance in renal cell carcinoma. These sorts of mechanisms are available at many institutions, and can provide substantial funding for projects without many of the time requirements and competition that come with national-level grants.

Letters of interest and proposals for these awards are typically due in the months of August to December, so be on the lookout for deadlines. With each of these grants, it is important to identify a mentor early, and if the institution you will be working at has a grant office, reach out to them for support. While applying for these awards does represent a significant time commitment for already-busy residents and fellows, these awards offer a great avenue to help jump-start one’s academic career, and provide valuable experience in grant-writing and the scientific process in general.