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The Joel and Barbara Alpert Endowment for Children of the City

The Joel and Barbara Alpert Endowment will support Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center Department fellows, pediatric faculty, or pediatric residents to implement and evaluate projects that innovate and transform pediatric health care delivery and/or research paradigms and improve child health outcomes. Fellows are also invited to submit more traditional small research grants.

Submissions are accepted annually for 18-month projects.

Upcoming Grant Cycle: April 15, 2026 – October 16, 2027
Supported by: The Joel and Barbara Alpert Endowment for Children of the City and the Boston Medical Center Department of Pediatrics
Grant Amount: up to $7,000 for pediatrics resident projects and up to $18,000 for pediatric faculty and fellow projects
Release Date: September 22nd, 2025
Proposals are due by: February 1st, 2026

The Joel and Barbara Alpert Endowment for Children of the City

The Joel and Barbara Alpert Endowment for Children of the City was established at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine in honor of the work carried out by the Alperts over their 25 years with Boston City Hospital, Boston Medical Center, and the Boston University medical community.

The endowment is used to support Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center residents, fellows, and faculty. Projects are expected to study the medical and social needs of vulnerable children, their families, and their communities.

PI and Submission Eligibility:

  • Eligible PIs cannot have been the PI of a federally funded grant
  • Eligible PIs cannot have been the PI of an Alpert grant that was funded within the last 36 months

Submitted proposals cannot be based on the same project that was previously funded by an Alpert grant. Proposals must include a different research design and/or research question.

Application Requirements

Projects focus on improving outcomes for families facing adversity, particularly through innovation of care delivery or innovative research approaches (clinical, translational, or basic science approaches) to answer critical research questions impacting our patient population. Projects should include rigorous research and/or evaluation.

Faculty and Residents who apply must be from the Department of Pediatrics. Fellows from other disciplines are invited to apply, so long as the project involves child health.

Submission guidelines are slightly different for Resident, Fellow, and Faculty projects. Please view the relevant Request For Proposal (RFP) below for more details: 

TEMPLATES

Grant Template

Budget Template

Submission Form Template

Mentor Requirements 

RESIDENTS

All resident applicants are required to have a BMC faculty mentor with relevant research experience. A letter of support from the mentor should be submitted with the application. Responsibilities for the mentor include: 

  • Meeting regularly (recommended 1-2 times per month) with the resident for the duration of the project
  • Overseeing the IRB submission & revisions
  • Guidance on research methodology for the project
  • Review of CDW or other data requests
  • Oversight of any human subject’s research components of the project
  • Overseeing hiring of any research staff associated with the project
  • Attendance at Alpert progress check-in meetings with the Alpert grant leadership team with the resident
  • Reviewing progress reports submitted by the resident
  • Assisting the resident with budget oversight for the project 

FELLOWS

All fellow applicants are required to have a BMC faculty mentor with relevant research experience. A letter of support from the mentor should be submitted with the application. Responsibilities for the mentor include: 

  • Meeting regularly (recommended 1-2 times per month) with the fellow for the duration of the project
  • Overseeing the IRB submission & revisions
  • Guidance on research methodology for the project
  • Review of CDW or other data requests
  • Oversight of any human subject’s research components of the project
  • Overseeing hiring of any research staff associated with the project
  • Attendance at Alpert progress check-in meetings with the Alpert grant leadership team with the resident
  • Reviewing progress reports submitted by the fellow
  • Assisting the fellow with budget oversight for the project 

FACULTY

Faculty without significant prior research experience are recommended to be paired with an experienced BMC research faculty mentor for their Alpert project to facilitate successful implementation and oversight of the project. Please reach out to Elisha.Wachman@bmc.org for assistance with pairing if needed. A letter of support from the mentor should be submitted with the application. Responsibilities for the mentor include: 

  • Meeting regularly (recommended once per month) for the duration of the project
  • Assisting with the IRB submission & revisions
  • Guidance on research methodology for the project
  • Review of CDW or other data requests
  • Guidance on any human subject’s research components of the project
  • Helping to oversee hiring of any research staff associated with the project
  • Attendance at Alpert progress check-in meetings with the Alpert grant leadership team
  • Reviewing progress reports submitted to the Alpert leadership team
  • Assisting with budget oversight for the project  

Grant Requirements 

Receipt of grant funding is contingent upon compliance with the following deliverables/expectations:

  • Submission of a 9 month progress report to detail completed and upcoming activities, summarize data collected thus far, discuss next steps
  • Submission of a final report including (but not limited to) a summary of project activities, data collected, dissemination and/or sustainability plans
  • Recipients will acknowledge the Alpert Foundation and the BMC Department of Pediatrics (verbiage will be provided) on all products (e.g. presentations; articles; publications, etc.)

Applications that do not follow the above format will not be reviewed.

The Pediatric Research Taskforce and Data Analytic Team are available for consultation during the preparation phase of Alpert Grants, including study design, data analytic planning, and budget planning. Please submit a request for consultation via Asana. 

Submissions should be submitted via this Form. Submissions sent via email will not be accepted.

Please contact Dr. Elisha Wachman (Elisha.Wachman@bmc.org) with any questions.