Blood Disease Research Affinity Group (BDRAG)
The Blood Disease Research Affinity Group (BDRAG) is a formal venue to promote cutting-edge collaborative research among clinicians, scientists, physician-scientists and trainees working on blood, vascular science and related disciplines at Nationwide Children’s, The Ohio State University and beyond to positively impact the prevention and care of childhood blood diseases.
By facilitating cohesion and synergies amongst investigators working on related problems, the BDRAG enhances group productivity, grant funding success, manuscript output and publications by BDRAG faculty, thereby increasing awareness of blood disease research at Nationwide Children’s and OSU and enhancing their scientific and clinical reputations within the field.
Finally, BDRAG aims to educate and inspire trainees to pursue careers focused on blood disease-related disciplines and elevate their experience and opportunities.
Research Areas
The BDRAG encourages synergy across the spectrum of basic, translational and clinical research of blood diseases including thrombosis, hemostasis disorders, sickle cell disease, cytopenia and many other hematologic conditions.
Activities
The monthly series, presented in a hybrid format to balance broader access to participation with the added value of in-person interactions, promotes collaboration and raises awareness of ongoing blood disease science activities at Nationwide Children’s and The Ohio State University. Presenters include faculty with active research projects across the basic-translational-clinical science spectrum and trainees presenting in-progress work to receive multidisciplinary feedback that will enhance the value of their projects. The series also features two extramural speakers each year selected based upon their recent scientific contributions and collaboration opportunities to highlight valuable external work. CME credit is offered for seminar attendance and participation.
BDRAG hosts two promising undergraduate or medical students per year to work on projects supervised by one or more BDRAG faculty to encourage them to consider a blood disease science focused career. Summer Scholars each receive a $3,000 stipend to cover their summer living expenses during their robust clinical, translational or basic science training experience, modeled after the highly successful NURAG Summer Scholars program.
To enhance the educational experiences and scientific communication skills of blood disease science trainees (Summer Scholars, undergraduates, medical students, graduate students, research residents/fellows, postdoctoral fellows and laboratory staff) and encourage them to disseminate their blood disease research results, BDRAG awards up to four travel awards (of up to $1,000 each) per year to support the presentation of work at relevant national or international meetings.
Each awardee will be paired with a faculty mentor who is also attending the meeting. The mentor will help guide the trainee on the most valuable sessions to attend, explain complex concepts, answer questions and introduce the trainee to relevant luminaries in the field. Trainees will benefit from presenting their research, obtaining relevant feedback from meeting attendees and education from other presentations at the meeting. Acceptance of an abstract for presentation at a meeting relevant to blood diseases is a prerequisite of the award.
The BDRAG Pilot Award Program is designed to advance blood disease science at Nationwide Children’s by providing support for research ideas in need of pivotal proof-of-principle data to yield competitive extramural funding.
Many high-risk, high-reward ideas go unrealized due to a lack of funds needed to generate preliminary data. These Pilot Awards enable the early experiments needed to pursue extramural funding and promotes collaboration between BDRAG faculty members.
Up to two grants are awarded per year. Two awardees will receive $5,000 each or one awardee will receive up to $10,000 with appropriate budget justification. These awards may support the purchase of necessary reagents, animals, or core charges, but may not be used for faculty/staff salary support or equipment purchases. Eligibility for these awards requires collaboration between two or more BDRAG faculty members.