2020 Postcard from Palm Springs
Highlights from the 2020 CHDI HD Therapeutics Conference are now here! This year’s Postcard covers HTT-lowering therapeutics, including an
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Clinical Fellowship
– 2025 COMPETITION IS OPEN –
TERMS OF REFERENCE – 2025 COMPETITION
Download the full terms of reference document here.
TIMELINE
Application Deadline: February 28, 2025 (11:00 p.m.ET)
Announcement of decisions: March 28, 2025
Funding may commence: July 1, 2025
BACKGROUND
The Huntington Society of Canada (HSC) is pleased to offer the Clinical Fellowship program (Fellowship) as a strategic initiative to encourage promising young clinicians to promote clinical training in Huntington’s disease (HD). This fellowship of $80,000 will fund a one-year clinical training program. The purpose of this post-residency training is to create expertise in the diagnosis and management of HD. Clinical training is the largest component of this hands-on program (at least 80 per cent) but could include an element of research. However, this application will be evaluated solely on the clinical component.
HSC wishes to ensure that each Canadian with HD receives appropriate medical expertise, drug treatment, support services, continuous care, educational resources, respect, dignity, help and hope. This Fellowship is an important component of HSC’s plan to achieve its goal of ensuring that these critical elements in the day-to-day management of HD are accessible and available. The intent of the program is to encourage more neurologists to have a HD practice in Canada. The selection of the successful applicant and administration of the Fellowship are the responsibility of HSC.
FUNDS AVAILABLE
This Fellowship will be awarded by the Huntington Society of Canada. The award is $80,000 for one year.
ELIGIBILITY
Applicants must have completed a recognized postgraduate training program in Neurology before the start of the proposed post-graduate Fellowship program and be eligible to practice in Canada. Trainees must have successfully completed the Royal College of Physicians examinations in Neurology or must show that they are eligible and have been approved by the Royal College to sit the examinations. The applicant should also be eligible for licensure in Canada.
Canadian citizenship is not a requirement. Completion of appropriate Canadian licensing and specialty examinations and ability to work in Canada after the Fellowship is completed will be taken into consideration.
LOCATION OF TRAINING AND SUPERVISION
The following criteria will be considered to rate the applications for a fellowship training program:
- A supervisor who is willing to take responsibility for the Fellow’s training.
- Neurology staff with sufficient expertise and experience in teaching Fellows.
- The clinic should have a large HD patient population so that the Fellow can gain the expertise needed.
- The clinic should have adequate space to host a Fellow.
- The clinic should have sufficient frequency of HD clinics to make the Fellowship a worthwhile experience.
- Clinical research in HD should be part of the clinic’s activities.
An appropriate Supervisor will be an individual who is active in both clinical care of, and clinical research into, HD and providing a strong training environment.
REVIEW CRITERIA
The foremost consideration in evaluation of the Fellowship applications is clinical excellence; however there are a variety of specific criteria that may be considered in the review process. Each of the points listed below will be addressed and considered in assigning the overall score, weighting them as appropriate for each application. Note that the application does not need to be strong in all categories to be judged likely to have a major clinical or social impact and thus deserve a high priority score. Clinical training is the largest component of this hands-on program (at least 80 per cent) but could include an element of research. However, this application will be evaluated solely on the clinical component.
Academic Competence of Applicant
- Honours/awards achieved
- Scholastic achievement
- Continuing education workshops, conferences, courses attended
- Is the applicant appropriately trained and well suited to enter into this work?
Quality and relevance of proposed program of study
- Reputation of host clinic in general
- Faculty members and/or resource personnel that would contribute to their learning
- Excellence of the proposed training program.
- Is the supervisor positioned to build significantly on the existing strengths of the individual clinician?
- Does the work stretch the experience and professional knowledge of the applicant?
- Is the environment in which the work will be done likely to contribute to the applicant’s learning?
- Is there evidence of institutional support of the training program?
Potential to make a contribution to clinical care of those living with HD upon completion of training
- Potential to contribute to care for individuals/families.
- Potential to add to our knowledge base.
- Potential for leadership in clinical care of HD in any/all of a) Clinical medicine, b) Teaching or c) Research.
Intention of candidate to remain in Canada upon Completion of Fellowship
- Expressed intention that candidate will return to/continue to practice in Canada following completion of training.
REQUIREMENTS FOR REPORTING
The successful applicant must comply with the reporting requirements and all other conditions and terms outlined by the Huntington Society of Canada.
A final report that outlines the trainee’s progress and success in the Fellowship must be submitted within three months of the completion of the Fellowship by the Fellowship supervisor.
APPLICATION PROCEDURES
Applications for this Fellowship include the following:
- A statement from the candidate expressing his/her interest in the field of HD, career goals and demonstrating evidence of commitment to HD. This should include the relevance of proposed training to future career (1-2 pages)
- If applicable, a project summary of fellowship work (maximum 600 words). (To save space, you do not need to include basic information, such as the description of HD).
- Curriculum vitae (CV), including a summary of any postgraduate experience, listing of any honours and awards, listing of any publications where the applicant has participated as a co- author, first author, sole author, etc. (please specify), including the number of papers, number of book chapters, and number of abstracts, and whether these are published or in press. Include a listing of all current and pending funding support; 4 page maximum.
- Confidential letters of reference from two (2) supervisors with whom the candidate has studied or worked. One of the referees should be the director of the neurology training program in which the candidate has taken the majority of his or her training.
In addition to the foregoing, the applicant should arrange for his or her proposed supervisor to prepare the following information:
- Letter of support from the HD Neurologist who will supervise the training where the applicant proposes to pursue the fellowship.
- The summary of the Training environment which outlines the proposed training program, including details of time allocation and publications of supervisor and supervisory experience. A Detailed description of the program should be included from the prospective supervisor describing the training environment and the collaborative milieu, including the clinical responsibilities to be assumed, the teaching to be provided and the research or other duties to be undertaken, as well as the proportion of time to be spent in each of these activities to account for 100 per cent of the training time of the Fellowship period.
An application in violation of these guidelines will be subject to disqualification at the discretion of the Advisory Council Chair.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Send applications to:
Alexander Maxan
Director of Research & Strategic Partnerships
Email: research@huntingtonsociety.ca
Questions may be directed to research@huntingtonsociety.ca
Download the full terms of reference document here.
Thank you in advance for your interest. If you have any questions, please contact:
Alexander Maxan
Director of Research & Strategic Partnerships
Huntington Society of Canada
20 Erb St. W., Suite 801 Waterloo, ON, N2L 1T2
1-800-998-7398, ext. 137
amaxan@huntingtonsociety.ca