For more than 25 years, the Association of Women Surgeons has supported surgeon scientists advance and develop their careers through grant funding.

AWS will offer one grant for clinical/education research. There are no topic restrictions. Past AWS Fellowship grants have supported women surgeons by funding original research in topics including cancer research, surgical education, surgical outcomes, bariatric surgery and biology, and MIS.

The AWS Fellowship Grant will be awarded to AWS members selected by the Grants & Fellowship Committee and approved by the AWS Council. The committee judges the applications based on the scientific merit of the project as well as the investigator’s capability and the likelihood of completing the project successfully within the one- year time period. Considerations include the investigator’s experience, background, availability of scientific material and other resources.

The grant recipients will present their research at AWS Annual Conference, held in conjunction with the October 2026 American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress and submit an eConnections article.