Those who read what I write about search engines, Science 2.0, Medicine 2.0 and Open Science probably sigh deeply each time I sneak in a mention of the grants and scholarship listing service I work on, ScanGrants. But there is more than shameless marketing in my madness.

After all, it is via ScanGrants that I have learned about all of the above movements and about such highly effective and well-run organizations such as National Organization for Rare Disorders and the Genetic Alliance. And I do learn quite a bit as I work on ScanGrants looking for funding opportunities about the use of Web 2.0 by scientific societies, what such societies and disease advocacy groups fund and what the commitment of each is to various aims. Today, I am going to discuss what I have learned so far about locating scholarships in the health sciences.

At the end of each day, I look forward to receiving the email alert (courtesy of good old FeedBurner — thank you, Google!) of the funding opportunities I have entered that day. Now, bear in mind that I am a lone person not the monoliths that Community of Science and the new funding product of enormous Elsevier, SciVal Funding.

But then I am very obsessed person and work pretty diligently, and am proud that ScanGrants averages around 700 funding listings on the site of various sorts.

So here is what I was able to look back on today as the daily alert:

• Association for Radiologic and Imaging Nursing Certified Radiologic Nurse Exam Scholarship Award
• American Association of Medical Dosimetrists Award of Excellence
• American Association of Medical Dosimetrists 2010 Writing Competition
• Society of Nuclear Medicine Technologist Section Advanced Practitioner Program Scholarship
• Society of Nuclear Medicine Technologist Section Bachelor’s Degree Completion Scholarship
• Children’s Digestive Health and Nutrition Foundation 2009 Research Grants
• Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates Membership Dues Scholarship

Now that is a pretty good day, scholarshipwise. On ScanGrants, I try to provide a mix of some substantial funding opportunities (in the case of this particular batch, the quite hefty amounts on offer from the Children’s Digestive Health and Nutrition Foundation for clinical and basic research) with what might strike some big-time research administrators at major institutions as items scarcely worth notice, such as the grants of $85-95 to members of the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates. But in these days when academia, hospitals and healthcare workers are under financial stress even amounts in the double digits can mean that healthcare workers can maintain professional association memberships or certifications (as in the case with the Association for Radiologic and Imaging Nursing Certified Radiologic Nurse Exam Scholarship Award) that ensure that the American healthcare system is able to maintain quality without forcing its workforce to dig into its own pockets to ensure that we as patients are treated by people with the most up-to-date skills.

Also, the granting of scholarships helps endow certain specialties with a strong esprit de corps and commitment to the ethos of service and standards of excellence. For example, I never fail to be impressed by the plethora of awards (grants, scholarships and recognition awards) offered by the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS), which in their variety, funding levels and number, as far as I can determine, outclass by far those of other nursing societies. The very names of some of the awards (Connie Henke Yarbro Excellence in Cancer Nursing Mentorship Award; Multidisciplinary Cancer Education Grant; Cancer Public Education Projects) suggests that this is an organization that honors the achievements of its own members past and present, that it wishes to recognize the importance of mentorship in the helping professions and that it understands the value of and wishes to further collaboration across the medical spectrum for the benefit of all, not least of all patients.

The ONS also offers scholarships in at all academic levels (bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral) and grants to attend its own conferences.

These funds and the investment by the ONS of staff time and resources to fundraise for and administer them suggests that this is a very well run organization. And these days when it is hard to recruit the best and the brightest into the often stressful and underappreciated field of nursing, that is not a bad reputation to have. I know that when I had questions about deadline dates, my questions were answered with phenomenal swiftness and extreme courtesy. The awards page, moreover, is a model of Web design and clarity. Deadlines and eligibility are clear and all the information seems up to date. Such basics are often surprisingly and dismayingly lacking on the awards pages of comparable organizations.

A side note here: I wrote the above and decided and to do a quick search for an example of poor Web design on a health science page. Instead, I found a well designed one with some of same attributes that redound to the credit of the ONS. In this case, I came upon several funding opportunities, handsomely presented, by Neuroscience Nursing Foundation of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN).

Indeed, I am going to leave off the writing of this article for a few minutes in order to enter those into ScanGrants lest the opportunity to do so slips away. I am particularly eager to do this because I am quite interested in the treatment and plight of those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and the purpose of the grants program I am slipping away for a few minutes to disseminate news of via ScanGrants has the wording, “The Research Grant Programs of NNF advance neuroscience nursing through research. Funds are available to support research projects that evaluate new modes of therapy, contribute to the scientific knowledge base of neuroscience nursing, and contribute to the quality of patient care.”

What could be more important?

Okay, I am back. I have entered into ScanGrants three different funding opportunities and what I found on that page illustrates some of the things that come up as I search for both grants and scholarships each day in the health sciences.

One is that some organizations at certain times may list travel grants and research grants but not scholarships per se, as in this case even though one clicks on “Grants and Scholarships.”

Another is when looking for funding on the sites of nursing organizations and medical associations, it is always a good idea to drill down and poke around and always to determine whether such an organization has a foundation, because that is often the source of grants and scholarships. For instance, I looked through the list of nursing associations here (additional tip: look at the links on health-related sites to “related organizations” or “links of interest” in order to familiarize yourself with the cornucopia of similar associations and to note which ones fund what) and checked out the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses. But it is actually its Neuroscience Nursing Foundation where I found the grants. Same sort of thing at the site of the American Gastroenterological Association; go to the Foundation for Digestive Health and Nutrition to find funding opportunities. Ditto with the American Academy of Physician Assistants. Funding opportunities can be found at the Physician Assistant Foundation.

Thus, if you are a medical librarian, a high school or community college guidance counselor or a parent or doting aunt (I am very partial to such, being one and being a niece of such) trying to help a bright, young, impecunious person find scholarships, ask that person what types of nursing or health science career he or she is interested in. There is funding out there and much of it lies undiscovered in the interstices of professional associations and societies. I try to publicize as much of it as I can via ScanGrants, but I can surf and type only so quickly.

Other tips: don’t give up one a Web site if you don’t see a tab clearly labeled, “Scholarships.” Take the case of that of the National Hemophilia Foundation, for example. The link to the quite rich page of scholarships for those with hemophilia (one inspiring aspect of disease advocacy groups is that they often offer scholarships not only to those matriculating in certain fields who are not themselves of that patient population, but to those with the conditions in question who wish to study them or who simply wish to further their educations generally) on it can actually be found by looking at the links under “About Us.”

Very touchingly, sometimes the people for whom scholarships or foundations are named appear to have been such deeply admirable, lovable individuals that those they left behind have gone to great effort to memorialize them by helping those with the same affliction. One of the links on the National Hemophilia Foundation is to the Web site of the Salvatore E. Quinci Foundation and what is written about him there is truly moving. He seems to have been a much loved, sweet and delightful person. It is heartening that such people are remembered with such affection and to see that their often illness-blighted lives really have made a difference. I am usually in a hurry when working on ScanGrants because I want to make it the best resource possible, but one does stop to read about people like this and to be grateful that they graced our planet and who make us think of others like him (in my case, the brother I lost to cancer in 1998):

Salvatore E. Quinci, known to everyone as “Sal”, was born in Boston to Francesco and Margherita Quinci, but as an infant moved to Italy with his family, where he lived until he was 14 years old. He came to this country in 1970 where he left a mark on all of us that will last forever. On May 17, 2000, his life came to an end, but his spirit lives on in everyone that was so blessed to know him. He passed away after a 4-week battle being sustained on life support following a catastrophic G.I. bleed due to complications of Hepatitis C and HIV. How ironic that he died not from the Hemophilia which he was diagnosed as a child, but from a disease that he contracted from the very product that was helping him combat his Hemophilia.

Sal was a beloved son, brother, uncle, partner, godfather and friend. Sal had a smile and a joke for everyone he met. He had a magnificent sense of humor and was able to camouflage all the stress and pain he was going through so he wouldn’t bring anyone else down. Sal was unselfish and will be remembered as a man of principle who had a capacity to care. As with many others in the bleeding disorders community, he was dealt many blows in his life. He not only had to deal with his Hemophilia, but also with Hepatitis C, HIV and Aids. No matter what Sal had been through, his concern was still for the present and future generations of those with Hemophilia, like his nephew Tony. Sal did not want to see them suffer as he and so many others did. I know it was for his nephew that he became actively involved within the Hemophilia Community … Sal was so loved and respected for the person he was and his memory will live on due to his legacy of love for others.

It really can be uplifting to search for scholarships and to think that lives can be saved or made a little less miserable by a few hundred dollars given to a health sciences student or a young patient. Thank you, Sal. I wish I had known you.

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