AMES Awards First Round of Medical Education Research Grants in FY25-26

The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson’s Academy of Medical Education Scholars (AMES) chapter has announced recipients for its 2025 Medical Education Research Grants, funding innovative projects that explore new ways to enhance learning and teaching in medicine.

This round drew nearly 25 applications, the highest number received by AMES to date, said Indu Partha, MD, co-chair of the chapter with Jennifer Plitt, MD. Both are faculty in the Department of Medicine’s Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine. More than $8,000 was awarded to three studies led by faculty and students in the current funding.

“These are our first set of grants we offer throughout the course of the academic year,” Dr. Partha said. “We were really excited to have so many applications to choose from.”

Travel and development grants will be offered in the next few months, she added, as well as a call for teaching award nominations, including “for the first time, our faculty who are involved in the undergraduate curriculum.”

The program for the current awards, she added, was designed to encourage medical education research at all levels of training. 

“We’re really looking to fund and support students, trainees and faculty who are conducting research in the area of medical education, and to really highlight the fact that our college is truly committed to its educational mission,” Dr. Partha said.

Among grant awardees and project topics are:

Exploring AI tutoring for medical students

Medical student Jason Wheeler and Richard Amini, MD, professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, received $4,600 for their project, “Artificially Intelligent Tutors in Medical Education: Implementation & Evaluation.”

Dr. Amini and Wheeler will explore how artificial intelligence can be used to support student learning by developing and testing AI-powered tutorial tools within the medical curriculum.

They’re “utilizing AI tutoring instead of human tutors, in an effort to see if they can make access to tutoring more equitable,” Dr. Partha said. She added that Wheeler brings a unique perspective to the work in that he’s a non-traditional student who came to medical school after already having established himself with a tech background. “So, he’s very well placed to work on this,” she said.

Promoting preventive health education

The second project, led by medical student Aarjav Pandya and Danielle Avila, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, received $3,300 (which includes a $1,000 stipend for gift cards).

Their study, “Enhancing Knowledge, Attitudes & Practices Around HIV and STI Prevention,” will evaluate educational interventions to increase the prescribing of preventive therapies such as PrEP and DoxyPEP in primary care settings.

By strengthening provider knowledge and confidence, the team hopes to help normalize HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention as part of routine medical practice. See more on this in a sidebar story below.

Teaching psychological safety in clinical encounters

Sigrid Williams, MD, a lecturer in the Department of Pharmacology, and Paul Gordon, MD, a professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, received $500 for their project, “Use of Physician-Patient Interactions to Demonstrate Creation of a Psychologically Safe Space.”

“Dr. Gordon is working with Dr. Williams, and they are using grant money toward support to hire standardized patients as they train their undergraduate students in the Bachelor of Science in Medicine course on how to create a psychologically safe space when they’re conducting patient interviews,” Dr. Partha explained.

The team’s use of standardized patients aims to help future clinicians recognize and practice behaviors that build trust and openness in clinical and educational settings.

A growing roster of academic support

“We’re excited and happy to get this first round of grants awarded,” Dr. Partha said. “It’s wonderful to see so much enthusiasm for advancing medical education research at our college. 

“And it’s pretty neat that two of the funded projects this year are being co-led, or maybe even primarily led, by medical students,” she added, noting it bodes well for the future.

The AMES Medical Education Research Program provides up to $5,000 per project, with funding available to faculty, trainees and students pursuing educational scholarship.

Of AMES Tucson’s 51 listed members, 16 faculty are from the Department of Medicine, six each from the departments of Family & Community Medicine and Pediatrics, and five each from the departments of Emergency Medicine and Surgery.

Find out how to join and more, including on the upcoming AMES Travel and Development Grants.

EXTRA: Educating tomorrow’s physicians on HIV and STI prevention

AMES Research Grant Awardee Spotlight: Danielle Avila, MD, and Aarjav Pandya

As one of three University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson’s 2025 AMES Medical Education Research Grants recipients, Danielle Avila, MD, and her medical student partner Aarjav Pandya are working to fill a critical gap in medical training: the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

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“What we are doing is an intervention to educate medical providers at various stages of their education — from medical students through residency and other graduate medical education programs — around prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections,” said Dr. Avila, crediting most of their project’s design to Pandya.

An associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Davila is principal investigator for federal funding for HIV clinical care at Banner – University Medicine Tucson (including the Petersen HIV Clinics) and the Arizona office of the Pacific AIDS Education & Training Center, which operates statewide.

Their project, titled “Enhancing Knowledge, Attitudes & Practices Around HIV and STI Prevention,” received $3,300 in AMES funding, including a $1,000 stipend for gift cards to thank participants who complete pre- and post-education assessments.

The educational intervention will be integrated into the internal medicine ambulatory curriculum for residents, with medical students collaborating in the design and delivery.

“Really, the idea is to get infectious disease specialty education added as a new topic within medical education as part of the routine curriculum for these medical students and residents in particular,” Dr. Avila said.

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The study will focus on two key preventive measures: PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and DoxyPEP (doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis).

“They are medical interventions, usually by pill medications, that can be taken by patients to prevent acquisition of HIV — in the case of PrEP — and sexually transmitted infections, including syphilis and chlamydia and, to some extent, gonorrhea, for folks who are at higher risk of getting those infections,” Dr. Avila explained. “DoxyPEP is using an antibiotic called doxycycline after unprotected sex exposure to prevent acquired syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea.”

She said that while these prevention tools are highly effective, they are still relatively new.

“DoxyPEP has really only been commonly in use for the past two years roughly, and so it’s a pretty new intervention that wouldn’t be considered part of the normal medical school curriculum or residency curriculum yet,” she said.

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Rising infection rates underscore the urgency of such education.

“We know, with rates of HIV acquisition, we’re seeing over 30,000 new cases each year in the U.S.,” Dr. Avila said. “Sexually transmitted infections have been on the rise over the past 20 years, although they seem to perhaps be leveling off.”

In Arizona, almost 18,000 people are living with HIV — about two-thirds of them in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, the U.S.’s fifth largest city, according to Arizona Department of Health Services dashboards. STI statistics range from 1,142 cases for syphilis to 20,468 cases of chlamydia reported statewide in 2025.

Locally, Dr. Avila’s own clinic recorded 43 new HIV cases in 2024. Pima County accounts currently for about 16% of syphilis, 15% of HIV, 13% of chlamydia and 12% of gonorrhea cases reported in the state, reflecting continuing need for preventive awareness.

“We want to make sure that our medical trainees are up to date with this new recommendation,” she said.

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