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Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Fellow Discretionary/Education Funds Policy

Effective date: July 2008
Revised: July 2009
 July 2010
 July 2011

Each fellow will have an educational fund of $2000 for the year. Each fellow may spend up to $1500 each year to cover expenses to attend a national meeting. The fellow will also have $500 to spend on books, courses, CD’s, and other resources to aid the fellows’ education. These items must be approved by the fellowship director (in writing or email). If the fellow does not spend the $1500 to travel to a meeting, the fellow may increase the book fund amount to $1000. Between meetings and books/courses, each fellow has $2000 total. Please see the Fellowship Administrator before the purchase of any educational resource or subscription/renewal of a GI related society.


Uses of Funds

Funds must be used for educational/university purposes and unless prior approval is obtained, items purchased of material value become property of the GI Fellowship Program when fellow completes training. Examples of allowable uses include:

  1. Support for research and scholarship not directly funded by sponsored research.
  2. Purchase of research and scholarship/work related items – computers, printers/fax machines, software, supplies, books, journals, web resources (e.g., UpToDate). Please remember that any equipment is the property of Duke University and must be returned to Duke at the end of fellowship.
  3. Travel to professional meetings or to sites where research or other scholarly activity is conducted. Adopted from Duke Financial Services: Travel & Reimbursements, expenses covered include air fare (coach), hotel, airport parking, transportation to/from airport to hotel, transportation to/from hotel to meeting, registration for the meeting if not free, meals for the fellow only (including taxes & tips). Snacks are not included. Original Receipts Must Be Submitted For Reimbursement. More detail in the conference section of the policy.
  4. Dues for membership in professional associations.

Conferences

The GI Division will help support each fellow to attend one national meeting per year. We recommend that each fellow should plan to attend ACG and DDW once during their fellowship, but we also encourage fellows to seek out conferences that match their clinical or research interests such as the AASLD and IBD meetings. Fellows may spend up to 5 days (including travel days) attending one of these national meetings. The schedule for these meetings will be set at the time schedules are made for the academic year.

When other fellows are at meetings, the remaining fellows may be required to help provide coverage to clinical services.

Fellows may spend up to $1500 per year to cover expense for a meeting. Reimbursement for travel expenses requires the original receipts. Expenses covered included:

Air Travel

Fellows are expected to secure the lowest reasonable airfare offered. It is permissible to make reservations as far in advance of the departure as possible to secure the lower rates. Duke provides reimbursement at the economy fare rate for domestic travel. The use of first class or business air accommodations is not authorized.

Airfare should be charged to the Fellowship Administrator’s Duke Corporate Card to minimize the out of pocket cost to the fellow. Airfares paid by other methods (personal credit card, cash, etc.) cannot be reimbursed to the traveler until after the trip takes place. Membership fees to airline clubs are not reimbursable. Upgrades at the expense of Duke are not permitted.

Lodging

Fellows are asked to use moderately priced hotel accommodations. Reservations should be made for single occupancy. A price exception will be allowed if the hotel is the location of the conference or symposium attended.

Duke will not reimburse for the following expenses:

  • In room video rentals
  • In room alcoholic beverages
  • Health club charges
  • Personal telephone calls except to report changes in schedule, or to talk with family members once a day for a reasonable period of time
  • Loss or theft of personal property

Ground Transportation

The cost of transportation to/from airport to the hotel AND transportation to/from hotel to meetings is reimbursable. The GI Division asks that if there are multiple fellows at a conference, you share transportation as often as possible.

Meals

The actual cost of meals, including taxes and tips (except where limited by contract or grant), while on Duke business is reimbursable. Travelers should select restaurants which are reasonably priced for the locality. Original receipts are required for all meals regardless of the amount. Duke will not reimburse travelers for snacks purchased in addition to regular meals. Non-alcoholic beverages may be purchased at the traveler’s discretion and submitted for reimbursement.

If a meal is provided by a conference as part of the conference fees and a traveler elects to purchase a meal independent of the conference, such meals will be considered a personal expense and will not be reimbursed.

Alcoholic beverages cannot be reimbursed from federal grants or contracts. Meals that include alcohol are considered to be entertainment expenses and must be coded as Entertainment/Social Expenses (693200).

Breakfast will be allowed when the traveler is out of town the night before or when the incurred travel begins earlier than a normal breakfast (7:00am).

Lunch will be reimbursed provided that the trip begins before the lunch hour or (11:00am).

Dinner reimbursement will be made when the trip begins prior to the dinner hour (5:30pm) or when the traveler does not return home until after the normal dinner hour (7:00pm).

Note: Registration for a meeting is usually free for fellows. If not, this charge is reimbursable.