In 1994, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) established the Elaine Schlosser Lewis (ESL) Fund through the generous gift of a private benefactor to support ongoing research in the area of Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. The fund bears the name of Elaine Schlosser Lewis, a special education teacher, child advocate, and mother of AACAP member Owen Lewis, MD. Mrs. Lewis' goal was to offer children affected by attention disorders hope for a productive and fulfilling future while educating her community about attention disorders, long before the diagnosis was commonly accepted.
Since its inception, the ESL fund has fostered research and made a significant difference in ADD/ADHD supporting the Elaine Schlosser Lewis Journal Award for Research on Attention Deficit Disorder. This $5,000 annual award goes to the writer of the best scientific paper on ADHD in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
In 2001, the ESL Fund celebrated the beginning of another important award for attention disorders - The Elaine Schlosser Lewis Pilot Research Award for Attention Disorders. This annual award supports junior faculty or child psychiatry fellow to develop or "pilot" research - to gather data and more fully develop proposals for a more substantial research project. The Elaine Schlosser Lewis Pilot Research Award expanded to include research in the area of learning disabilities in 2006. In 2009 the pilot research awards increased from $9,000 to $15,000.
The fund hosts a luncheon that is an opportunity the award recipients to present their work and show the breakthroughs in the field of attention disorder and learning disability research.
As of 2018 the Elaine Schlosser Lewis Fund has awarded over $400,000 to support research in the area of ADD/ADHD and learning disabilities.
Learn more about the ESL Fund over the years:
Elaine Schlosser Lewis Fund Celebrates 15 Years of Support for ADHD Research and Researchers
AACAP News - December 2009
The Elaine Schlosser Lewis Fund: A Powerful Force in ADHD
AACAP News - July/August 2004
Academy Announces the Elaine Schlosser Lewis Memorial Award for Research on Attention Deficit Disorders
AACAP News - September/October 1994