Three early career investigators will be in the spotlight during the ATS BEAR Cage as they pitch their innovative research proposals to a panel of translational science experts representing academia, industry, and governmental sectors, and compete for the grand prize before a live audience.
The third annual Building Education to Advance Research (BEAR) Cage competition will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 21. The panel, with audience participation, will vet the proposals with each presenter and then award a grand prize of $5,000. The presenters of the two runner-up proposals will each receive $2,500.
The winner of the 2016 BEAR Cage competition, Jake Brenner, MD, PhD, pitches his project to a panel of experts last year.
Also during the event, last year’s winner, Jake Brenner, MD, PhD, from the University of Pennsylvania, will present an update on his project, “Pulmonary Endothelial-Targeted Liposomes (PELs) for the Treatment of ARDS.”
Early career investigators who are ATS members submitted research proposals to the ATS BEAR Cage competition, sponsored by the ATS Drug Device Discovery and Development Committee, prior to the conference. The committee invited the investigators with the top three proposals to pitch their research ideas at the live event.
This unique event promotes discussion of research proposals in a fun, competitive setting that leads to collaboration, mentorship, and improvement of the proposals. Over the ensuing year, a DDDD committee-sponsored “project advisory team” will provide feedback and distance mentorship. This year’s finalists are:
“Chest CT at Chest X-ray Radiation Dose”
Marcus Y. Chen, MD, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
“Communicating With Mechanically Ventilated Patients”
Prema R. Menon, MD, PhD, University of Vermont Medical Center
“Unmasking Resistance: Impact of Low-Frequency Drug Resistance on Molecular Diagnosis of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis”
Sanghyuk Shin, PhD, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health