The Pediatric Endocrine Society – PES (formerly known as the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society) is committed to improving the care of children with endocrine diseases worldwide. One means to accomplish this objective is to make it possible for colleagues in pediatric endocrinology from foreign countries to visit and work in the clinics and laboratories of PES members and to attend the PES annual meeting. While some colleagues from foreign countries are able to make such visits, visitors to pediatric endocrine units in North America are frequently senior members of pediatric endocrine groups and often come from economically advantaged countries. Few opportunities for such visits are afforded to younger colleagues and to individuals from countries with disadvantaged economies. The PES International Scholars Program is intended, in so far as possible, to correct this problem.

Objectives Of The Program:
Basic tenets of the PES International Scholars Program are that foreign applicants eligible for the awards will be identified by PES members; the applicant and the PES member will prepare the application jointly; and if the applicant receives the award, the PES member will serve as host for the awardee while he/she is in North America. The host and the awardee will define the awardee's educational goals for the visit and will devise a program for attaining these goals. The goals might include observation in the host's clinics, opportunities for library research and for preparation of manuscripts, acquisition of techniques used in the host's laboratory, and development of long-term collaborative projects between the awardee and the host.

In addition to the visit in the host's endocrine unit, the awardee will attend the annual meeting of the PES. It will be necessary, therefore, for the time spent by the awardee in the host's endocrine unit to coincide with the PES meeting. It is intended that the awardee be present in North America for at least 4 weeks, but for no more than 3 months. The 4 week minimum will allow sufficient time for the awardee to have a meaningful visit in the host's unit, considering that the awardee will also be expected to spend up to 1 week at the annual meeting of the PES and, if desired, in the joint meetings of the Pediatric Academic Societies–PAS: the American Pediatric Society-APS, the Society for Pediatric Research-SPR, and the Ambulatory Pediatric Association-APA). The 3 month maximum period is selected to avoid giving the awards to individuals who are residing in the USA or Canada, who are receiving salaries from USA or Canadian institutions, or who are in prolonged sabbaticals from their home countries. Reports on the visit, from the applicant and the sponsor, will be submitted to the scholarship committee after the visit.

Amount of the Award:
The award will have a value of $8,000 (US Funds), which should cover all of the awardees travel expenses to the US and a portion of his/her subsistence. The host will be expected to provide any additional support that is needed, facilitating the travel/hotel arrangements for the annual meeting.

Qualifications of the Award Recipient:

The principal intended recipients of these awards are young pediatric endocrinologists and pediatric endocrine researchers who reside in countries with disadvantaged economies, have completed their training, are in the early stages of their academic career, and who have never had a professional opportunity in North America. Applicants from all countries will be considered, but strong preference will be given to applicants with the following qualifications:

1. The preferred applicants should reside and work in nations with limited health education resources. Such countries include those in Eastern Europe, Central and South America, Asia and Africa. Applications from individuals who reside in an industrialized nation with a healthy economy will be given lower priority.
2. The applicant should have an MD or PhD degree, have completed formal training, and be active in the field of pediatric endocrinology. PhDs who are engaged in research are eligible, if the relevance of their research to pediatric endocrinology can be documented.
3. Preference will be given to applicants under the age of 45 at the time of the annual PES meeting he/she is to attend. This criterion will not be used to rigidly exclude older academicians who have not had the chance to interact with North American colleagues and whose visit can be predicted to be highly profitable for the awardees unit.
4. Preference will be given to academically promising junior or mid-level faculty in a medical school, research institute or equivalent facility. This will help assure that the award is given to academicians, and will exclude persons who are involved only in private practice or are government functionaries.
5. The applicant should understand and speak English.
6. The applicant must be able to provide a letter of recommendation from his/her supervisor.
7. The applicant must have a US or Canadian sponsor who is a member in good standing of the PES (dues paid and a regular participant in the society). The sponsor must serve as the host for the applicant should he/she receives an award. One PES member institution cannot apply for more than one applicant per year. The sponsor/host:
   1. Identifies suitable applicants
   2. Helps define the applicant s goals for the visit
   3. Assists in preparing the application
   4. Works with the awardee in making arrangements for the visit (travel, visa, etc)
   5. Provides all additional support needed by the awardee, above that included in the award.
   6. Assures that the experiences of the awardee in the host's endocrine unit are profitable.
   7. Serves as the host for the awardee at the PES Annual Meeting, seeing that the awardee has a chance to interact with PES members.

Please place the pdf application (as a link) below the Qualifications of the Award Recipent
International Scholars Program Application:

2010 International Scholar Award Winners:

1. Dr. Henry Marcano, Caracas, Venezuela. Mentor: Prof. Silva Arslenian, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

2009 International Scholar Award Winners:

1. Dr. Monica Molina - Paredes, Universidades Catolica, Santiago y de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile - Mentor: Prof. Stuart A. Chalew, Louisiana State University, New Orleans

2. Dr. S. Sadehpour, Children's Hospital of Tehran, Iran - Mentor: Prof. Robert Rosenfield, University of Chicago

2008 International Scholar Award Winners:

1. Alvaro Aguirre-Villafan, MD Universidad San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca – Bolivia
North American Sponsor: Silva Arslanian, MD Children’s Hospital and University of Pittsburgh

2. Dr. Vandana Jain, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India.
North American Sponsor: Ram K. Menon, MD University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

3. Marisela Medina, MD Sponsored by Roberto Lanes, MD Caracas, Venezuela
North American Sponsor: Nelly Mauras, MD Nemours Children’s Clinic and Mayo Medical School, Jacksonville, Florida.

For additional information contact:
Alfonso Vargas, M.D.
Chairman, PES International Scholars Program Committee
Department of Pediatrics – Division of Endocrinology
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - School of Medicine
Children’s Hospital
200 Henry Clay Avenue, Research and Education Bldg, Suite 4233
New Orleans, LA 70118-2822 – USA
TEL (504) 896-9282
FAX (504) 894-5139
E-mail: avarga@lsuhsc.edu