Research Grants Program

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2022 AOFAS Research Grants! Winning projects and investigators are listed below.

Since 1997, AOFAS has awarded more than $1.8 million in grant funding for AOFAS members and their research teams. These grants provide vital resources to discover new treatments and advance patient care. View the list of past awards. 

2022 Research Grant Recipients

Established Project Grants

Shared-Decision Making in Orthopedic Surgery: Field-Testing a Patient Decision Aid for Acute Achilles Tendon Rupture
Brad Meulenkamp, MD; Dawn Stacey, RN, PhD

FK-506 as Adjuvant to Improve Healing of Ankle Arthrodesis
Jason Bariteau, MD; Jay Patel, PhD

Small Project Grants

Exosomes for Treatment of Tendinopathy
Daniel Grande, PhD; Adam Bitterman, DO

Biological and Mechanical Factors that Underpin the Development and Progression Charcot Neuropathy
Michael Aynardi, MD

Nitinol Staples vs Traditional Plate Osteosynthesis for Primary Arthrodesis of Lisfranc Injuries: A Retrospective Analysis
Samuel Ford, MD; Alex Dombrowsky, MD; Carson Strickland, MD

Pilot Project Grants

Weight Bearing CT Scans to Evaluate Contact Surface Area Deviations, Rational Overlap, and Medial Rotational Changes in Weber SER 4a Ankle Fractures
Timothy Charlton, MD; Max Michalski, MD

Research Grants Program Information

Grant Categories

The AOFAS awards one-year research grants (May 1 to April 30) in three categories:

Pilot Project Grants (up to $5,000)
Grant recipients are expected to use data obtained from the projects to develop future grant applications. No more than four pilot grants will be awarded in any grant cycle.

Small Project Research Grants (up to $20,000)
The core grant category, providing seed funding for promising research projects.

Established Project Research Grants (up to $50,000)
Offering one opportunity in the 2020 cycle, this competitive grant category is intended to support innovative research for basic science, a clinical trial, or pre-trial work that could be used to obtain additional grants from national funding sources. Applications must be backed by preliminary work, data, and/or publications or abstracts to demonstrate feasibility of projects and capabilities of the research team.

Review Process

Applications are reviewed and ranked by the Research Committee on a competitive basis using a blinded NIH-style process. Any committee member or reviewer, including the Board liaisons, with any real or perceived conflict of interest with respect to a grant application is recused from deliberations and scoring of the application.

Grant recipients are announced in the spring.

Eligibility

Access to AOFAS Research Grants is a benefit of AOFAS membership. Either the principal investigator or co-investigator on an application must be an AOFAS member in good standing in one of the following membership categories:

• Active Member

• Candidate Member

• International Member

Surgeon in Training, International Surgeon in Training, MD Affiliate, Honorary, and Allied Health/Associate-Basic Science Members may apply with an AOFAS Active, Candidate, or International Member as a primary investigator or co-investigator. To determine your eligibility, please see the AOFAS Research Grants Program Policy and Guidelines. 

Questions?

Please contact the AOFAS Executive Office by email at research@aofas.org or by phone at 800-235-4855 or +1-847-698-4654 (outside US)