RAPID Scholar Awards

Initial Proposals

The Call for Applications is announced each summer.  Submit a proposal by November 1, 2025, 11:59pm ET.

Please take care in reviewing the following steps before submitting an Initial Proposal:

• Select one Funding Path
• Ensure you are within the eligibility requirements for a RAPID Scholar
• Confirm that both you and your chosen mentors are current members of the Academic Pediatric Association (or other supporting organization, based on selected funding path)
• Review the Initial Proposal Checklist for detailed application instructions

The RAPID National Advisory Committee (NAC) will review initial submissions and select Principal Investigators (PIs) who will be invited to submit full proposals.

Incomplete submissions and application materials that exceed the requested page limits will NOT be considered for review.

Full Proposal

Those who receive an invitation to submit a full proposal will be notified directly with access to the submission portal and a reminder of the deadline.

Please take care in reviewing the following steps before submitting an Full Proposal:

• Review the comments that were provided to you during the Initial Proposal review.
• Review the Full Proposal Checklist for detailed application instructions

The RAPID NAC will review and score the full proposals and prepare a summary review to be sent to each PI. Funding decisions will be based on the results of the study section review. The number of proposals selected for funding will be determined by the funds available for the given year. The awardees will be announced at the annual Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting.

Incomplete submissions and application materials that exceed the requested page limits will NOT be considered for review.

Application Material Templates

The following items are examples of application materials:

• Sample Cover Page for RAPID
• Sample Budget and Budget Justification for RAPID
• Biographical Sketch

To Apply

Applications for the 2024 award year have closed.  The Call for Applications is announced each summer.

If applying for the NIDDK pathway, confirm that both the principal investigator and his/her chosen mentor(s) are current members of the Academic Pediatric Association; if applying for the PIDS pathway, confirm that both the principal investigator and his/her chosen mentor(s) are current members of PIDS.

Applicants must identify as underrepresented in medicine (UIM), or disabled, who are committed to a career in academic general pediatrics.

Proposals are welcome from those who are:

• Fellows in the last year of fellowship
• Faculty members no more than 5 years out from completion of all training (fellowship or post-doc)

Previous RAPID Scholars and YIA recipients are not eligible to apply.

Proposals

This is a one-time award for 1 year.  Multi-year funding requests will not be considered.

2024 RAPID Scholars

RAPID-NIDDK

• Jasmine Umana, MD
  Evaluating the Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Treatment of Children and Young Adults with Sickle Cell Disease Hospitalized with Pain Crises
  Institution: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
  Local Mentor: Angela Ellison, MD
  NAC Mentor: Jean Raphael, MD, MPH (Baylor College of Medicine Texas Children's Hospital Houston, Texas)
• Robin Ortiz, MD, MS
  Exploring the potential of caregiver toxic stress as a biomarker for child cardiovascular health
  Institution: NYU Grossman School of Medicine
  Local Mentor: Alan Mendelsohn, MD
  NAC Mentor: Faye Jones, MD (University of Louisville School of Medicine)
• Nadirah El-Amin, DO, MPH
  Characterizing the Thrombo-inflammatory Pathway in Children with Sickle Cell Disease
  Institution: Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU
  Local Mentor: India Sisler, MD
  NAC Mentor: Michael DeBaun, MD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

RAPID-PIDS

• Karen Hanze Villavicencio, MD
  Identification of Microbial metagenomic determinants of disease severity in children from the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCHa) Study
  Institution: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  Local Mentor: Daniel P. Beiting, PhD
  National Mentor: Octavio Ramilo, MD (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital)
• Cecilia Banda Hibjan, MD
  A Clinical Predictive Score for Severe Adenovirus Disease in Pediatric Solid-Organ Transplant Recipients
  Institution: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Holtz Children’s Hospital, Jackson Health System
  Local Mentor: Ivan A. Gonzalez, MD
  National Mentor: Yvonne Maldonado, MD (Stanford University School of Medicine)

RAPID-ABP

• Anthony Bui, MD, MPH
  Beliefs and Attitudes about Facilitators and Barriers to Mental Healthcare Among Vietnamese American Youth and their Parents
  Institution: University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children's
  Local Mentor: Tumaini Coker, MD, MBA
  NAC Mentor: Jennifer Woo Baidal, MD (Columbia University Irving Medical Center)
  
• Vivian Valcarce, MD
  Optimizing Neonatal Care: Validating the steps to establish a human milk pasteurization center within NICUs
  Institution: University of Alabama Birmingham
  Local Mentor: Ariel Salas, MD, and Waldemar Carlo, MD
  NAC Mentor: Jason Mendoza, MD, MPH (Seattle Children’s Hospital)

RAPID-APS

• Danielle Perez Sharp, MD
  The association between maternal vulnerability index and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy diagnosis, severity, and mortality
  Institution: Stanford University School of Medicine
  Local Mentor: Jochen Profit, MD, MPH
  NAC Mentor: Karen D. Hendricks-Muñoz, MD, MPH (Children's Hospital of Richmond of VCU)
• Nicole Stephenson, MD
  Monitoring Preterm Lung Disease Through Point-of-Care Lung Ultrasound
  Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Local Mentor: Stephanie Davis, MD
  NAC Mentor: Brian Sims, MD, PhD (University of Alabama at Birmingham)

RAPID-Mead Johnson

• Gretell Gomez Zaghmout, MD
  Impact of maternal breast milk vs. donor human milk diet on microbiota of premature infants
  Institution: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Holtz Children’s Hospital, Jackson Health System
  Local Mentor: Teresa Del Moral, MD, PhD, MPH
  NAC Mentor: Yasmin Pedrogo, MD, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine

2023 RAPID Scholars

RAPID-NIDDK

• Silvia Pereira-Smith, MD, MPH
  Education and Safety for Children with Autism to Prevent Elopement (ESCAPE) Kits for Adolescents
  Institution: Medical University of South Carolina
  Local Mentor: Michelle Macias, MD
  NAC Mentor: Jennifer Woo Baidal

RAPID-PIDS

• Ingrid Camelo, MD, MPH
  Screening for seroprevalence of Chagas disease in pediatric Latino population in Georgia
  Institution: Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
  Local Mentor: Julia Koelher, MD
  National Mentor: Anthony Flores, MD, MPH, PhD (UT Health Houston)

RAPID-ABP

• Miheret Yitayew, MD, MPH
  Home Health Services Utilization of NICU Graduates with Technology Dependence
  Institution: Children's Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University
  Local Mentor: Karen D. Hendricks-Muñoz, MD, MPH
  NAC Mentor: Jochen Profit
  
• Holly Vo, MD, MPH, MSc, MA
  Characterizing Pediatric Clinician Shared Decision-Making Behaviors
  Institution: University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle Children's Research Institute
  Local Mentor: Douglas Opel, MD, MPH
  NAC Mentor: Elena Fuentes-Afflick, MD, MPH (UCSF)

RAPID-APS

•  Jaime La Charite, MD, MPH
  Public spending on community assets, adverse and positive childhood experiences, and adult health
  Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
  Local Mentor: Rebecca Dudovitz, MD, MSHS
  NAC Mentor: Jean Raphael, MD, MPH (Texas Children's Hospital)

2022 RAPID Scholars

RAPID-NIDDK

• Cynthia Akagbosu, MD, MA
  The Role of Gut Microbiota in Children and Adolescents Undergoing Sleeve Gastrectomy
  Institution: Children's National Hospital
  Local Mentor: Suchitra Hourigan, MD (NIH)
  NAC Mentor: Jean Raphael, MD, MPH (Texas Children's Hospital)

RAPID-PIDS

• Marisa Orbea, MD
  Influenza and SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Hesitancy in Hospitalized Children
  Institution: Baylor College of Medicine | Texas Children’s Hospital
  Local Mentor: Claire Bocchini, MD (Texas Children's Hospital)
  NAC Mentor:
• Ana Quintero, MD
  Impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants on mucosal cytokines and clinical outcomes in children with COVID-19
  Institution: Nationwide Children’s Hospital
  Local Mentor: Asuncion Mejias, MD, PhD (Nationwide Children's Hospital)
  NAC Mentor:

RAPID-New Century Scholars

• Tolulope Rosanwo, MD
  Tracking quiescent hematopoietic stem cells for pre-clinical optimization of genome editing for the cure of sickle cell disease
  Institution: Boston Children's Hospital
  Local Mentor: Daniel Bauer, MD, PhD (Dana Farber/Boston Children's)
  NAC Mentor: Michael DeBaun, MD, MPH (Vanderbilt University School of Medicine)
  NCS Mentors: 
• Katia Crisler, MD, MEd
  Parent Engagement and Communication Preferences in Long-term Survivorship Care of their Children with Cancer
  Institution: Boston Children's Hospital
  Local Mentor: Katie Greenzang, MD, & Ariel Winn, MD (Boston Children's Hospital)
  NAC Mentor: Jason Wang, MD, MPH (Stanford University)
  NCS Mentors:
  

2021 RAPID Scholars

RAPID-NIDDK

• Kelsey Egan, MD
  Multi-level determinants of early introduction of sugar-sweetened beverages and 100% juice
  Institution: Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine
  Local Mentor: Caroline Kistin, MD, MSc (Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine) & Elsie Taveras, MD, MPH (MassGeneral Hospital for Children)
  NAC Mentor: V. Faye Jones, MD, PhD, MSPH
• Shani Jones, MD
  Closing the Loop: Developing and Testing a New Approach for Head Start Food Insecurity Screening
  Institution: Vanderbilt University
  Local Mentor: Shari Barkin, MD, MSHS (Vanderbilt University School of Medicine)
  NAC Mentor: Jason Wang, MD, PhD

RAPID-New Century Scholars

• Fiorella Beatriz Castillo, MD, MSPH
  Safe Sleep for Brooklyn Babies: Identifying and Overcoming Disparities in Infant Safe Sleep Practices
  Institution: Brookdale Hospital Medical Center at One Brooklyn Health
  Local Mentor: Fernanda Kupferman, MD (Brookdale Hospital Medical Center at One Brooklyn Health)
  NAC Mentor: Jason Mendoza, MD, MPH (University of Washington)
  NCS Mentors: Kelsey Egan (Boston Medical Center) and Tara Williams (Nemours Children's Hospital)
• Joshua Sheak, MD, PhD
  Longitudinal Assessment of the Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Developmental Inflammatory Lung Injury
  Institution: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
  Local Mentor: William Zacharias, MD, PhD (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center)
  NAC Mentor: Michael DeBaun, MD, MPH (Vanderbilt)
  NCS Mentors: Allison Empey (OHSU) and Wally Carlo (University of Alabama at Birmingham)

2020 RAPID Scholars

RAPID-NIDDK

• Eileen Chaves, PhD
  The Meaning of Genetic Obesity: Parental Perception of Genetic Testing for Children with Obesity (Qualitative Addition to GO-ID Study)
  Institution: Nationwide Children's Hospital/The Ohio State University
  Local Mentor: Ihuoma Eneli, MD
  NAC Mentor: Jean Raphael, MD, MPH
• Melissa Bent, MD
  Assessing the Feasibility of Developing a Structured Weight Management Program for Overweight and Obese Adolescents and Young Adults with Spina Bifida using a Mobile Health App
  Institution: Children's Hospital Los Angeles
  Local Mentors: Alexander Van Speybroeck, MD, and Patricia Castillo, MD
  NAC Mentor: Michael DeBaun, MD, MPH
• Rochelle Cason-Wilkerson, MD, MPH
  Disparities in Sleep Efficiency for African American Children : A Qualitative Study of Sleep Barriers, Facilitators and Potential Interventions
  Institution: Children's Hospital Colorado
  Local Mentors: Jill Kaar, PhD, and Darcy Thompson, MD, MPH
  NAC Mentor: Jason Mendoza, MD, MPH

2019 RAPID Scholars

RAPID-NIDDK

• Alexandra Sims, MD
  A Qualitative Analysis of the Counseling Experiences and Preferences of Parents of Sickle Cell Trait Positive Children
  Institution: Children’s National Health System
  Local Mentor: Beth Tarini, MD, MS (Children’s National Health System)
• Brandi Pernell, DNP, PNP-BC
  Combatting Adverse Childhood Experiences in Children with Sickle Cell Disease
  Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham
  Local Mentor: Monica Baskin, PhD (University of Alabama at Birmingham)
• Skye McLaurin-Jiang, MD
  Car Seat Tolerance Screening in Newborns: Epidemiology and Outcomes
  Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Local Mentor: Kori Flower, MD, MS, MPH (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

2017 RAPID Scholars

RAPID-NIDDK

• Victor Cueto, MD
  Academic General Pediatrics Fellow
  Stanford University School of Medicine
  Perceptions of Physician Communication Among Latino Parents with Limited English Proficiency and Overweight or Obese Children.
  Mentor: Fernando Mendoza, MD
  Department Chair: Lee Sanders, MD
• Tamara Gayle, MD, MEd
  Hospitalist Fellow
  Children's National Medical Center
  Are Practitioners Identifying our Most Vulnerable Children in the Inpatient Setting at a Large Tertiary-Care Children's Hospital?
  Mentor: Stephen Teach, MD
  Department Chair: Stephen Teach, MD

2016 RAPID Scholars

RAPID-NIDDK

• Brandi K. Freeman, MD, MS
  University of Colorado School of Medicine
  Using Standard Teaching Videos in Pediatric Nurse Phone Triage: A Qualitative Study to Understand Parent and Nurse Perspectives on Technological Enhancement of Phone Care Advice
  Mentor: Christopher Still, MD, MPH (University of Colorado School of Medicine)
  NAC Mentor: Jason Mendoza, MD, MPH (University of Washington/Seattle Children's Hospital)
• Morgan Walls
  Boston Medical Center
  Prevention and Management of Obesity in Children with Autism Spectrum
  Disorder: Attitudes, Self-Efficacy, Practices and Barriers among Primary
  Care Pediatricians
  Mentor: Megan Bair-Merritt, MD (Boston Medical Center)
  NAC Mentor: Monica Baskin, PhD (The University of Alabama at Birmingham)

2015 RAPID Scholars

RAPID-NIDDK

• Juan Espinoza, MD
  Children's Hospital Los Angeles
  Effect of personal activity trackers on weight loss in children enrolled in a Comprehensive Behavioral Family Lifestyle Intervention (CBFLI) program
  Mentor: Larry Lin, MD (Children's Hospital Los Angeles)
  NAC Mentor: Rafael Perez-Escamilla, PhD (Yale School of Public Health)
• Cristina Fernandez, MD, MPH, FAAP
  Columbia University Medical Center
  Dual Food and Energy Insecurity and the Onset of Adverse Child Behaviors and Health
  Mentor: Melissa Stockwell, MD, MPH (Columbia University)
  NAC Mentor: Elena Fuentes-Afflick, MD, MPH
  (University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine)

2014 RAPID Scholars

RAPID-NIDDK

• Suzanna Martinez, PhD
  University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco
  Development of a culturally appropriate tool for assessing bedtime routines and sleep hygiene in preschool-age Latino children
  Mentor: Michael Cabana, MD, PhD (University of California, San Francisco)
  NAC Mentor: Elise Taveras, MD, MPH (Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital)
• Thao-Ly Phan, MD
  Nemours AI duPont Hospital for Children
  Psychosocial Risk, Adherence, and Outcomes in Pediatric Obesity Treatment
  Mentor: Anne Kazak, PhD (Nemours AI duPont Hospital for Children)
  NAC Mentor: Jason Wang, MD, PhD (Stanford University, School of Medicine
• Jennifer Woo Baidal, MD
  Boston Children's Hospital
  Early Life Risk Factors for Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Children
  Mentor: Elise Taveras, MD, MPH (Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital)
  NAC Mentor: Michael DeBaun, MD, MPH (Vanderbilt University, School of Medicine)

2013 RAPID Scholars

RAPID-NIDDK

• Patricia Castillo, MD
  Children's Hospital Los Angeles
  Family-Centered Obesity Prevention Program for Underserved Latinos
  Mentor: Larry Yin, MD, MSPH (Children's Hospital Los Angeles)
  NAC Mentor: Elena Fuentes-Afflick, MD, MPH (University of California, San Fransisco
• Diana Naranjo, PhD
  University of California, San Francisco
  Ethnically diverse patients with diabetes: Transitions from pediatric to adult care
  Mentor: Stephen Gitelman, MD (University of California, San Francisco)
  NAC Mentor: Rafael Perez-Escamilla, PhD (Yale University, School of Public Health)
• Adebowale Odulana, MD, MPH
  Medical University of South Carolina
  Assessing the Perspectives of African American Adolescents about Obesity Prevention in Eastern North Carolina
  Mentor: Eliana Perrin, MD, MPH (University of North Carolina)
  NAC Mentor: Benjamin Caballero, MD, PhD (Johns Hopkins, Bloomberg School of Public Health)