Funding Opportunity Number: HRSA-23-007
GACA candidate eligibility
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Are full-time government employees at the Veterans Administration eligible to apply for GACA?
No. Federal employees (full-time or part-time) are not eligible to receive federal grants.
Receiving a salary from the Veterans Administration makes an individual ineligible for the GACA award.
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Are people with a H1B visa eligible to be a GACA candidate?
No. GACA candidates must be a citizen, national, or permanent resident of the United States.
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Does an applicant already have to be in a full-time, non-tenured assistant professor position when the application is submitted? Or can they submit an application without having such a position, anticipating that they will have a position once the GACA award is made?
Yes. The GACA candidate must have a full-time junior, non-tenured, faculty appointment in an accredited health professions school or graduate program.
The program must be in geriatrics or a geriatrics health profession at the start of the budget/project period, which is July 1, 2023.
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What is considered an approved fellowship program in geriatrics?
An approved fellowship program in geriatrics is an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited twelve-month program. The program provides advanced education to allow fellows to acquire competency in the subspecialty with sufficient expertise to act as independent primary care providers and consultants.
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Do applicants need to complete a certificate in gerontology prior to application, or can it be included as part of the career development plan for this application?
All eligible individuals must meet GACA requirements by the budget/project period start date, including the completion of the geriatrics fellowship by June 30, 2023.
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Could the geriatrics board certification (or letter to be board-eligible) possibly serve as the second category of eligibility/fellowship program if no such fellowship was available in the applicant’s state?
No. To meet the second category of eligibility/fellowship program, the GACA candidate must provide documentation of having completed an approved fellowship program in geriatrics or specialty training in geriatrics as required by the discipline.
For disciplines that do not have specialty training in geriatrics, the GACA candidate must provide documentation of having completed an accredited graduate level certificate program in geriatrics within the past three years.
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Should the fellowship be completed prior to application submission?
Yes. The notice of funding opportunity indicates that applicants must submit documentation indicating completion of the relevant programs or trainings as attachment 3 (see page 20 of the NOFO).
Promotion
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If a GACA candidate becomes tenured during the award period, may the GACA candidate keep the award?
Yes.If the GACA candidate is promoted during the period of an award under this program and thereby no longer meets the eligibility criteria listed on page 5 of the NOFO, the individual shall continue to be treated as an eligible individual through the term of the award.
Primary Mentor
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Is the primary mentor expected to be full-time at the same institution as the GACA candidate?
Yes. The primary mentor must be full-time faculty at the same institution of the GACA candidate to assist the GACA candidate to advance through the University’s system.
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Does the primary mentor need to be of the same discipline of the GACA candidate with a focus on geriatrics?
Yes. The primary mentor must be of the same discipline as the GACA candidate and must be an academic geriatrician or an academic gerontologist.
Program Requirements
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Is an applicant allowed to provide direct patient clinical care if accepted into the GACA program?
Yes. The GACA candidate must spend at least 75% of the GACA candidate’s time per the statutory service requirement providing training in clinical geriatrics, including the training of interprofessional teams of healthcare professionals.
The GACA awardee can provide direct patient clinical care while working in the remaining 25% of their worktime.
Recording
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Are the recording and slides available after this presentation?
Access the recording of the GACA TA webinar held August 23, 2022.Note: The slides will not be posted online.