SCAI Opens Second Application Cycle Process for Early Career Research Grants

February 6, 2023—The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) announced the second application cycle for the SCAI Early Career Research Grants, which represent the society’s continued commitment to supporting the academic interests of its early career members. The grants for this cycle are funded by support from Abbott and Cardiovascular Systems, Inc.

The new application cycle will close on March 6, 2023. More information and the application are available on the SCAI website.

Grant recipients will be announced at the SCAI 2023 Scientific Sessions held May 18-20 in Phoenix, Arizona. Recipients will present their resulting research in a dedicated session at the SCAI 2024 Scientific Sessions and be invited to publish their resulting manuscript in JSCAI with publication fees waived.

The SCAI/Abbott Early Career Research Grant will support research relevant to one or more of the following areas related to personalizing or tailoring the vascular patient care journey:

• Intravascular imaging with optical coherence tomography as a tool to guide and optimize endovascular or percutaneous coronary intervention in specific patient/lesion subsets
• Epicardial or microvascular coronary physiology assessments, for example, in management of patients with INOCA (symptoms and signs of ischemia but no obstructive coronary artery disease) or diffuse coronary disease
• Strategies designed to personalize the disease journey for patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI)

The SCAI/Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. Early Career Research Grant will fund research relevant to one or more of the following areas related to coronary or peripheral calcium modification:

• Investigation of diagnostic imaging or screening protocols to identify vessel calcification before angiography
• Optical coherence tomography/intravascular ultrasound analysis quantifying prevalence of concentric, eccentric, and nodular calcium morphologies
• One or more of the following areas related to CLTI:
  • Disparities in treatment (eg, by gender, race, ethnicity, age)
  • Recent treatment and outcome trends per national or international vascular registry data, administrative data, clinical trial data, or institutional databases
• One of the following areas:
  • Clinical and/or economic assessment of the adoption of radial and/or pedal peripheral vascular interventions—preferably in the outpatient/office-based laboratory setting
  • Potential shift in peripheral artery disease (PAD) practice patterns in the COVID-19 era (eg, changing PAD demographics, specialties treating PAD, prevalence and incidence, shifts in medical management, time to intervention)
  • Economic cost of a multidisciplinary approach involving endovascular procedures and wound care versus primary amputation in patients with CLTI
  • Quality-of-life after endovascular intervention in claudicants

The first round of four recipients of the Early Career Research Grants were announced by SCAI on January 4, 2023. These four grants are funded by support from Abbott, Cardiovascular Systems, Inc., Medtronic, and Shockwave Medical.

According to SCAI, the Early Career Research Grants are offered by the society as a member service to foster and stimulate new research ideas in interventional cardiology. The program targets junior-level investigators (ie, those within 10 years of completing interventional cardiology fellowship) by funding proposals that demonstrate a high likelihood of resulting in new and innovative approaches in interventional research.

The society advised in the press release that cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality in the United States continue to rise and federal funding dedicated to CVD research has remained stagnant, underscoring the importance of collaboration between industry leaders and medical organizations to increase research funding opportunities. Additionally, noted SCAI, recent data have shown the strong demand and interest in research opportunities among emerging interventional cardiologists, with it being reported as among the most valuable aspects of their training.