Dean’s Award for Innovative Medical Student Education
Dean's Award Information
Purpose
Purpose:
To create and assess medical student curriculum that makes innovative use of simulation and related technologies.
The goal of the Dean’s Award is to:
- Enhance medical student learning of the basic and clinical sciences through the use of simulation as an active learning technique. Where appropriate, utilize technology created through ARCHES, Advanced Imaging and Modeling, and other Jump programs to develop and implement a curriculum that makes this technology the preferred tool for education.
- Design a curriculum that can be initially piloted by educators at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria. Then, spread across the University of Illinois system to other campuses of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, as well as to the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, and then disseminated across the nation/world.
- Design a curriculum that builds our existing curriculum to include more advanced learners such as residents and practicing physicians.
- Assess the effectiveness of the curriculum with the intent of sharing the educational and patient care outcomes through publications, and national and international presentations.
- Develop collaborations and reputation that will lead to grant funding that sustains the innovative process.
Requirements for Application
Requirements for Application:
- A UICOMP faculty member must be the PI on the project to be funded.
- Grants up to $100,000 may be requested.
Background:
Simulation has been used for many years as an educational tool primarily for teaching clinical skills through the use of standardized patients and mannequins. More recently, exciting new simulation approaches have been developed including 3-D printing, virtual reality, simulation illustrating basic science concepts, avatars, and new devices for teaching physical examination and procedures. The University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria is uniquely able to forward the above goals because of its roles as one of the regional campuses of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, its collaboration with OSF Healthcare in Jump, its collaborations with the UIUC College of Engineering, and its willingness to collaborate on curriculum with the new Carle-Illinois Medical School.
Expectations for Grant Requests for the Dean’s Award for Innovative Medical Student Education:
- Will have a UICOMP faculty member (salaried or volunteer) as the lead and be initially utilized at the Peoria campus.
- Learning objectives will map to the required UICOMP medical student learning objectives.
- The pilot or curriculum cannot disrupt the required education of UICOMP medical students.
- Must have a deliverable piece of curriculum in 6 – 12 months. Individuals may reapply with a second proposal that builds on the first.
- Must include appropriate outcome assessments and program evaluations. At a minimum, each awardee is expected to present their work and its outcomes locally. Ideally, this will occur at an event similar to or embedded within the Health Care Engineering Symposium. Alternatively, this could be presented at the Jump Management Council.
- The curriculum must utilize simulation and related technologies.
- The curriculum will be shared within the University of Illinois System and presented/published as possible.
- The grant will not create new technologies or devices but create a curriculum that either utilizes existing technologies in innovative ways or utilizes new technologies (preferably those created at Jump) that are not currently deployed for medical student teaching.
- Deans Award for Innovative Medical Student Education Grants will not include the purchase of new infrastructure/equipment. If new infrastructure/equipment is needed, the application must include an associated proposal for a Dean’s infrastructure award.
Process
There will be a call for curricular proposals at least annually. The number of proposals funded will vary based on quality and the ability of UICOMP to pilot/implement. Grants for the Dean’s Award for Innovative Medical Student Education will be up to $100,000. The budget can include faculty/educator time, staff support, assessment tools, and (if a pilot) compensation/support to students for their time. An associated application process for the Dean’s infrastructure award may provide additional resources for the purchase of technology/equipment.
Letter of Intent Submission Form
Letters of Intent are due 2/20/26.
By the week of 3/13/2026, 1-2 proposals will be selected for a full application.
Anyone interested is encouraged to submit a letter of intent. This document should be brief (about 2 pages) and include the following content:
- Investigators and Co-investigators (include residents and students)
- AIMS for the proposal
- Medical student learning objective(s) the curriculum will deliver (Discuss/obtain these objectives from Dr. Hanks the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (e-mail jhanks1@uic.edu).)
- Innovative Simulation or technology that the curriculum will deploy, whether there will be a concurrent request for a Dean’s infrastructure award and a rough estimate of the infrastructure/technology cost. (Please remember: This is a curricular grant so the technology/innovation must already exist. This grant is not for the purposes of developing the technology.)
- Brief description of the proposed project
- Brief description of outcome measures.