Alliance to Cure's Summer Research Program

About Alliance to Cure Cavernous Malformation

Alliance to Cure Cavernous Malformation (ACCM) is a non-profit organization with the mission to inform, support, and mobilize those affected by cavernous malformations and drive research for better treatments and a cure. Among other things, we work to expand our patient identification, support, and clinical center program for special populations and their providers, including Black patients. ACCM works closely with academic researchers, treatment developers, government, and medical professionals to change the future. We have hosted the International CCM Scientific Meeting since 2005. We develop and recognize a CCM Centers of Excellence network that provides multi-disciplinary expert care. In one way or another, we are involved in every existing research project and treatment development program. We advocate for legislation to get more grant funding into the hands of researchers. In short, we drive research and we advance better care.

Summer Research Program Description

The Alliance to Cure Cavernous Malformation Summer Research Program is designed for Morehouse School of Medicine students who have completed their first year and have an interest in neurology or neurosurgery research. Students may join a research project underway at a CCM Clinical Center, Center of Excellence or a major research lab where research is already supported by ACCM.

Our Goal

The goal of the ACCM Summer Research Program is to expose students to the field of neurological and/or neurosurgical research while experiencing a real time research project. It is expected that students will develop practical research skills while working directly with a neurology or neurosurgical researcher at an excellent institution. The research period spans eight weeks from June 2 to July 25, 2025. The award recipient will receive $7,000 to help cover expenses during their time at the research site.

Impact

ACCM seeks to increase diversity in the number of practicing neurologists and neurosurgeons supporting the next generation of neurological researchers from underrepresented communities. Currently, fewer than 3% of neurologists and under 2% of neurosurgeons are Black. This has an impact on the diagnoses and quality of care received by patients with stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, headache, Alzheimer’s, and CCM. At least ¾ of the ACCM Grants will be reserved for students who identify as being from a racial and/or ethnic group that is underrepresented in the scientific workforce as defined by the NSF and NIH. The following groups have been shown nationally to be underrepresented in biomedical research: Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. Please refer to Section A of the following NIH guideline to confirm eligibility.

Application Timeline & Review

A full application must be submitted by the deadline that meets all guideline criteria as well as all eligibility criteria; otherwise, it will be rejected.
All applications will be processed after the deadline, not on a rolling basis.

2025 Participating Research Site

Ann & Robert H. Lurie
Children's Hospital of Chicago

Student researchers will have great exposure to CCM and other cerebrovascular diseases in our quaternary care hospital in downtown Chicago. The Lurie research team has unique strengths in mixed-methods research including clinical outcomes/comparative effectiveness research, healthcare economics, delivery of care, and health equity in pediatric epilepsy surgery and pediatric stroke/cerebrovascular care. The student researcher would work with the clinical research team and clinical care team to assist in ongoing registry and database management, gaining experience with electronic medical records. In addition, we would define specific goals for the summer tailored to student researcher's areas of interest, including but not limited to the following: (a) Qualitative research project - interviewing and coding interview transcriptions from patients and families about their healthcare journey, indirect costs of care to the families, and opportunities for improvement of the patient experience throughout the care journey such as from diagnosis, treatment, and integrating into life beyond the hospital. Results and themes identified can motivate healthcare re-design, quality improvement projects, and advocacy efforts for health equity, access to care, health literacy, and more. Gaining experience with qualitative research methods will also help empower future quantitative study designs. (b) Quantitative research project—working with national or local datasets, including involvement in study design, cleaning and analyzing data, interpreting results, and communicating the findings. Depending on experience and the type of data, questions may center around clinical outcomes, patterns of CCM care, access to care, and more. Gaining experience with this process with mentorship and teamwork to ask rigorous study questions that are clinically meaningful is a solid building block for any avenue in medicine, life sciences, and healthcare careers.

The Lurie Children's Pediatric Neurovascular program in Chicago is an interdisciplinary team caring for children and their families with CCM and other cerebrovascular diseases.

Lurie Children's, understands that caring for kids takes more than medicine. From diagnosis through treatment, it requires compassion and understanding that kids do best when they get to be kids. With a team of world-renowned pediatric experts and kid-friendly care, there’s a reason we’re ranked the #1 children’s hospital in Illinois.