669 - Impact of a Pediatric Hospital Global Health Seed Grants Program

Publication Number: 3647.669

Christiana M. Russ, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States; Carolyn Baer, Boston Children's Hospital, BROOKLINE, MA, United States; Inna Tarasiuk, Boston Children's Hospital, Marblehead, MA, United States; Mirona Dragnea, Boston Children's Hospital, Chicago, IL, United States; Alexis Schmid, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States; Michelle Niescierenko, Boston Childrens Hospital, Boston, MA, United States

Background: Since its founding in 2014, the Boston Children's Margaret C. Ryan's Global Health Program has supported numerous interprofessional clinicians and trainees through Global Health (GH) grants aimed at advancing equitable, sustainable, and partnership-based initiatives. GH grants are awarded for a one-year period, with the option of a no-cost extension for up to six additional months if needed. Funding amounts range from $2,000 to $7,500 per award. In 2023, strategy shifted from awarding multiple smaller grants to providing fewer but larger grants. Since its inception, the program has maintained a registry of grant recipients and projects.

Objective: To assess the outcomes and impact of GH seed grants.

Design/Methods: The registry of GH grant awards was analyzed for countries, disciplines, and project types. An updated list of grant recipients was created, and program leadership identified current emails for award recipients. Recipients received an online survey link that included dropdown questions on outcomes and open-ended questions about the grant's impact on their careers and their global partner organizations or communities. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze outcome data, with qualitative thematic analysis of open-ended questions about impact.

Results: From 2014-2025 there were 98 GH grants totalling $429,055 awarded to 105 individual recipients from a range of disciplines and professions and partnerships across 35 countries. (Figure 1). Fifteen projects were awarded funds but not carried out due to changes in feasibility. Recipients in training, including a global nursing fellowship, served as leads on 19% of the awards granted.

Email contacts were identified for 69 recipients, of which 31 (45%) responded to the survey about grant outcomes and impact. A majority reported their projects resulted in presentation with almost half resulting in publication, and 32% reported generating data that mobilized additional funding. (Figure 2).

Recipients described significant career and research benefits for themselves as well as global partners, in addition to impact of numerous innovative projects frequently in quality improvement, capacity development and research (Figure 3). They also described initial projects that led to lasting collaborations. More robust evaluation is planned including processes for more direct feedback from global partners.

Conclusion(s): Global health seed grants for early career faculty can support innovation that grows careers in global health and benefits global partners with substantial impact.

Figure 1 Global Health Grant Attributes


Figure 2 Key Outputs from Global Health Grants


Figure 3 Described Impacts of Global Health Grants