# Best of AGA FORWARD - Fostering Opportunities Resulting in Workforce and Research Diversity

> **NIH NIH R25** · AMERICAN GASTROENTEROLOGICAL ASSN/INST · 2024 · $145,760

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
For more than 20 years, the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has successfully executed
NIDDK-funded efforts to promote the recruitment and retention of underrepresented physician-scientists in
gastroenterology. Our Fostering Opportunities Resulting in Workforce and Research Diversity
(FORWARD) Program was first funded in 2018 and has successfully recruited and trained numerous senior
and near-peer mentors who have effectively guided early-stage professionals toward grant funding, academic
promotions, and leadership roles within AGA committees.
The current FORWARD Program enrolls and trains cohorts of 14 scholars over an 18-month training period.
However, since its inception, FORWARD has become a top-rated program for training for early-stage
underrepresented gastroenterologists with a proven track record of successful career outcomes among
program alumni. Thus, interest from the gastroenterology community has far exceeded the availability of
training slots, creating a new challenge for AGA in 2024.
Our proposed supplemental application, the Best of FORWARD immersion experience, is designed to
disseminate the most impactful aspects of the longitudinal FORWARD experience for a larger audience that
cannot be accommodated through the parent program. Similar to the parent program, our overall objective is
to overcome a primary impediment to diversifying the biomedical workforce -- accessible and effective
mentorship. We plan to accomplish our objective through four specific aims:
1) Enhance mentorship through access to race and ethnicity-concordant near-peer and senior mentors.
2) Broaden academic research skills.
3) Strengthen leadership skills with a focus on team science and lab management.
4) Establish a sustainable network of underrepresented physician-scientists and mentors through a digital
community within a mobile app.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11035350
- **Project number:** 3R25DK118761-07S1
- **Recipient organization:** AMERICAN GASTROENTEROLOGICAL ASSN/INST
- **Principal Investigator:** Byron Cryer
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $145,760
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-07-01 → 2029-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11035350

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11035350, Best of AGA FORWARD - Fostering Opportunities Resulting in Workforce and Research Diversity (3R25DK118761-07S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11035350. Licensed CC0.

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