GRANT APPLICATION PERIOD NOW OPEN!

The New Year is as good a time to reset and refocus on priorities, be it research, self-development or teaching others. Grant moneys may be available to help you meet your goals!

If one of your personal priorities is to implement a clinical or scientific research project, the American Hand Therapy Foundation (AHTF) can help. The AHTF offers three research grant opportunities. The Burkhalter New Investigator Grant for clinical research in hand and upper limb rehabilitation (funding up to $10,000) for a novice researcher. The Judy Bell-Krotoski “Grab the Evidence” Grant for basic science projects and/or studies to grow the evidence-base for hand therapy and upper limb rehabilitation. The ASHT Founders Award, a tri-alliance collaboration, simply seeks to promote meaningful research in hand therapy. The application window for all three of the research grants is January 1 to March 1.

If your priority is to pursue hand therapy certification or an advanced post-professional degree, the AHTF can assist in those areas, as well. The Janet Albrecht Memorial Scholarship is a new addition to the AHTF awards in 2019. The award provides funding for professional development to support an occupational or physical therapist interested in pursuing certification in hand therapy and/or an advanced post-professional degree (funding up to $1000). The application window for the Albrecht award is May 1 to June 1. The Mary Kasch Hand Therapy Certification Scholarship, coordinated by the HTCC (www.htcc.org), provides financial resources to facilitate the process of becoming a certified hand therapist to an occupational or physical therapist (funding up to $1,500). The application window for this award is January 1 to March 1.

If your priority is to educate others about hand therapy, the AHTF can help you in your efforts. The Evelyn Mackin Traveling Hand Therapist Award is designed to fund a practicing occupational or physical therapist, who is a current member of the American Society of Hand Therapists and a Certified Hand Therapist, to travel to educate therapists in a region (US or abroad) where access to well-educated hand therapy is lacking (funding up to $5000). The application window for the Mackin award is May 1 to June 1.

For more information, see the grants section of the AHTF website at www.ahtf.org. All application materials may be accessed via the AHTF website. For more specific inquiries, you may write the director of grants management at grants@ahtf.org.