America Heart Association
The Ralph L. Sacco Scholars Program in Brain Health

Deadline: April 9, 2024, 3 p.m. Central Time

Funding: $150,000 over twoyears

Purpose:
The Ralph L. Sacco Scholars Program in Brain Health (“The Sacco Scholars”) is a transformative new career development opportunity jointly supported by the American Academy of Neurology and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. This prestigious scholarship aims to empower the next generation of researchers and practitioners in the field of brain health, with a specific focus on the prevention of brain diseases and advancement of brain health for all.

The Sacco Scholars Program offers a unique opportunity for early career trainees to undertake a mentored two-year research project targeting various aspects of brain health. The scholarship program is designed to encompass various training career stages each year, ensuring inclusivity and fostering diverse perspectives. In the current call for proposals, we welcome submissions from MD or PhD (or equivalent doctoral degree) applicants who are (or will be) in postdoctoral fellowship training with a focus on brain health beginning July 1, 2024.

The program's scope of brain health emphasizes preventive approaches across the lifespan and encompasses a wide range of areas including healthy brain development and aging; attaining and maintaining optimal cognitive function and mental well-being; and primordial, primary and secondary prevention of neurological and mental health disorders. We strongly encourage projects that prioritize health equity, diversity and inclusion, as inspired by Dr. Sacco’s lifelong work in this area and aligning with our organizational commitments to advance these crucial values in brain health research and practice.

Note:

• Each candidate must be supported by a primary mentor with appropriate expertise to guide them through the project. Mentors should possess doctoral or equivalent level training and hold a faculty or staff appointment at the sponsoring institution.
• A webinar will be offered for interested applicants before the deadline. The webinar will be recorded and posted on the funder’s web page.
• Applicants must be American Heart Association professional members or members of the American Academy of Neurology at the time of application.

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Whitehall Foundation

Deadline: April 15, 2024
If invited, full proposal due September 1, 2024

Note: This funder has three deadlines annually.

Amount:

• Research Grants: Up to $100,000 per year for the two- and three-year research grants.
• Grants-in-Aid: Up to $30,000 for a one-year period.

Career Stage:
The Foundation emphasizes the support of young scientists at the beginning of their careers and productive senior scientists who wish to move into new fields of interest.

Purpose:
The Foundation is currently interested in basic research in neurobiology, defined as follows: Invertebrate and vertebrate (excluding clinical) neurobiology, specifically investigations of neural mechanisms involved in sensory, motor and other complex functions of the whole organism as these relate to behavior. The overall goal should be to better understand behavioral output or brain mechanisms of behavior.

The Foundation does not support research focused primarily on disease(s) unless it will also provide insights into normal functioning.

The Foundation will accept only one letter of intent per twelve month period per investigator.

Two Types of Grant Programs:

• Research Grants
  Research grants are available to established scientists of all ages working at accredited institutions in the United States. Applications will be judged on the scientific merit and the innovative aspects of the proposal as well as on the competence of the applicant. Research grants of up to three years will be provided. A renewal grant with a maximum of two years is possible, but it will be awarded on a competitive basis. Research grants will not be awarded to investigators who have already received, or expect to receive, substantial support from other sources, even if it is for an unrelated purpose.
• Grants-in-Aid
  The Grants-in-Aid program is designed for researchers at the assistant professor level who experience difficulty in competing for research funds because they have not yet become firmly established. Grants-in-Aid can also be made to senior scientists. All applications will be judged on the scientific merit and innovative aspects of the proposal, as well as on past performance and evidence of the applicant’s continued productivity.

Eligibility:
The Foundation emphasizes the support of young scientists at the beginning of their careers and productive senior scientists who wish to move into new fields of interest.

The applicant must meet all of the following eligibility requirements in order to participate in the application process:

• Appropriate title: must be an assistant professor (or higher). If the institution does not use this title, a letter from the department chair confirming the applicant's eligibility is required.
• Status: must hold principal investigator status.
• Independent: must be considered an 'independent investigator' with their own dedicated lab space or with lab space independent of another investigator.
• The Foundation does not fund investigators who have substantial (approximately $200,000 per year) extramural funding. The Foundation uses the following formula to determine the PIs total extramural funding: Total direct per year plus total indirect per year less any PI salary taken from these grants. If this amount is greater than approximately $200,000 the PI would not be eligible for Whitehall Foundation funding. Startup funds and internal funding are not included in the calculation.

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The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research
Emerging Leader Award

Deadline: April 29, 2024, 5 p.m. ET
If invited, full application due week of June 10, 2024

Funding: $250,000 per year for three years totaling $750,000

Career Stage: Early career and emerging in field

Purpose:
The Mark Foundation Emerging Leader Awards support innovative cancer research from the next generation of leaders. These grants are awarded to outstanding early career investigators to support high-impact, high-risk projects that are distinct from their current research portfolio.

Eligibility:

• MD, PhD or equivalent is required.
• Applicants must be employed by a U.S. or Canadian nonprofit academic institution.
• Applicants must be three to eight years from the start of an independent faculty research appointment as of December 31, 2024 (i.e., the official start date of the appointment must fall within the calendar years 2016-2021). Exceptions due to prolonged medical or family leave will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
• This award is not intended to be the main source of funding for the applicant’s laboratory. Applicants must demonstrate multi-year independent funding that sustains the central activities of the laboratory (e.g., at least one or two grants such as NIH/R01, NSF/CAREER, or equivalently substantial multi-year awards). Individual eligibility will be determined during the review process.
• Projects for this award must be centered on evidence-based laboratory, data, and/or medical science.
• Proposed projects must not be supported by other sources of funding. Finalists will be asked to discuss any potential overlap with other current or pending awards during the interview.
• Only one submission per applicant is permitted.

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Elsa U. Pardee Foundation

Deadlines:

• April 30, 2024
• August 31, 2024

Career Stage: Postdocs, early and established career

Funding:
By design, there are no limits set on the amount that can be requested. It must be reasonably supported by the scope of the project outlined in the application. Indirect costs cannot exceed 5% of the total amount requested.

Description:
The Elsa U. Pardee Foundation funds research to investigators in United States nonprofit institutions proposing research directed toward identifying new treatments or cures for cancer. The foundation funds projects for a one-year period that will allow the establishment of capabilities of new cancer researchers or new cancer approaches by established cancer researchers. It is anticipated that this early-stage funding by the foundation may lead to subsequent and expanded support using government agency funding. Project relevance to cancer detection, treatment or cure should be clearly identified. The foundation particularly welcomes innovative, small-scale, short-term projects that may be difficult to fund elsewhere until some interesting results are obtained.

Eligibility:
Postdocs who are on the tenure track and have a tenured mentor are eligible. Priority is given to researchers at nonprofit institutions in the United States who are new to the field of cancer research, or to established research investigators examining new approaches to cancer cure.

W.W. Smith Charitable Trust

Limited Submission
A maximum of one proposal per parent organization may be submitted in each granting category (i.e., heart disease, cancer or AIDS) regardless of the number of EINs available under the organization.

Internal Competition Deadline: May 3, 2024, 11:59 p.m. EST
Funder’s Deadline: July 15, 2023, 11:59 p.m. EST

Focus: Heart disease, cancer and AIDS research

Amount: $125,000; Lower:  $100,000
Grants are awarded for a one-year term. Awards typically range from $100,000 to $125,000 (including 10% indirect costs).

Description:
The trust awards grants for basic medical research primarily related to heart disease, cancer and AIDS. The trust identifies and funds research projects that are unique and meritorious. The trust invests in promising researchers having the potential to attract larger-scale awards (e.g., NIH, NSF, AHA) subsequent to trust support.

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Pew Biomedical Scholars                           

Limited Submission: For the 2025 award, one nomination will be invited from each of the participating institutions.

Deadline:
Foundation opens nominations April 30, 2024. Nominations due to Pew May 15, 2024.
If invited, application due September 5, 2024

Funding:
The current grant level is $300,000; $75,000 per year for a four-year period.

Eligibility criteria:

• Hold a doctorate in biomedical sciences, medicine or a related field, including engineering or the physical sciences.
• As of September 5, 2024, run an independent lab and hold a full-time appointment at the rank of assistant professor. (Appointments such as research assistant professor, adjunct assistant professor, assistant professor research track, visiting professor or instructor are not eligible.)
• Must not have been appointed as an assistant professor at any institution prior to June 10, 2020, whether or not such an appointment was on a tenure track. Time spent in clinical internships or residencies, in work toward board certification, or on parental leave does not count as part of this four-year limit. Candidates who need an exception on the four-year limit should contact Pew’s program office to ensure that application reviewers are aware an exception has been given.
• Please note that the eligibility criteria above have been temporarily expanded to account for COVID-related lab shutdowns. Please direct any questions to the program office at scholarsapp@pewtrusts.org.
• May apply to the program a maximum of two times. All applicants must be nominated by their institution and must complete the 2025 online application.
• If applicants have appointments at more than one eligible nominating institution or affiliate, they may not reapply in a subsequent year from a different nominating entity.
• May not be nominated for the Pew Scholars Program and the Pew-Stewart Scholars Program for Cancer Research in the same year.

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award

Deadline: July 8, 2024, 4 p.m. Eastern Time

Amount: 
The Stage 1 award will be for two years, $200,000 per year ($400,000 total) with the opportunity for up to two additional years of funding (up to four years total for $800,000). Stage 2 support for years three and four will be granted to those awardees who demonstrate progress on their proposed research during years one and two of the award. Applicants will provide a written update on their research and present their progress in person to the committee shortly before the end of the second year of the award, at which time the committee will make a decision regarding continued funding. The Award cannot be used for indirect costs or institutional overhead. Awards will be paid in increments of $200,000 per year for the term of the award.

Description
The Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award is designed to provide support for the next generation of exceptionally creative thinkers with “high-risk/high-reward” ideas that have the potential to significantly impact our understanding of and/or approaches to the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of cancer.

The Innovation Award is specifically designed to provide funding to extraordinary early career researchers who have an innovative new idea but lack sufficient preliminary data to obtain traditional funding. It is not designed to fund incremental advances. The research supported by the award must be novel, exceptionally creative and, if successful, have the strong potential for high impact in the cancer field.

Eligibility

• Institutional nominations are not required and there is no limit to the number of applications that can be received from a particular institution.
• Applicants (including non-U.S. citizens) must be conducting independent research at a U.S. research institution.
• The applicant must have received an MD, DO, PhD or MD/PhD degree(s) from an accredited institution.
• Basic and translational/clinical projects will be considered. Applications will be accepted from all scientific disciplines provided that the proposed research meets the selection criteria.
• Applicants with a background in multiple disciplines are especially encouraged to apply.
• Joint submission from two collaborators working in different disciplines will be considered. (The collaborators will share the award.) Each collaborator must meet the eligibility criteria.
• Applicants must belong to one of the following categories:
  • Tenure-track assistant professors within the first five years of obtaining their initial assistant professor position (cut-off date: July 1, 2018).
  • Clinical instructors and senior clinical fellows (in the final year of their sub-specialty training) holding an MD, MD/PhD or DO who are pursuing a period of independent research before taking a tenure-track faculty position. Such individuals must have an exceptional record of research accomplishment, dedicated laboratory space and the support of their institution.
  • Distinguished fellows with an exceptional record of research accomplishment identified by their institution to pursue an independent research program and who have dedicated laboratory space. These candidates are markedly distinct from traditional postdoctoral fellows. Examples: Whitehead fellows, UCSF fellows, Cold Spring Harbor fellows. (Research assistant professors, research associate professors, research scientists and postdoctoral fellows are not eligible.)
• Applicants are expected to commit a minimum of 80% of their time to conducting research.
• Applicants may apply no more than two times.
• Applicants must demonstrate that they have access to the resources and infrastructure necessary to conduct the proposed research.
• The department must guarantee the investigator is conducting the proposed research independently.

American Federation for Aging Research
Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program

Deadline:
Interested students should be in touch directly with the National Training Centers to for the program deadline and application materials.

Funding:
The stipend level is approximately $1,980 per month; actual amounts will vary based on the specific appointment period of individual students. Award period: Eight to 12 weeks.

Purpose:
The MSTAR Program provides medical students with an enriching experience in aging-related research and geriatrics, with the mentorship of top experts in the field. This program introduces students to research and academic experiences early in their training that they might not otherwise have during medical school. Positive experiences in the MSTAR program have led many physicians-in-training to pursue academic careers in aging, ranging from basic science to clinical research to health services research. They have joined the growing cadre of physicians and scientists whose specialized knowledge and skills are in great demand as our population ages.

Students participate in an eight- to twelve-week (or two- to three-month, depending on the training site) structured research, clinical and didactic program in geriatrics, appropriate to their level of training and interests. Research projects are offered in basic, translational, clinical or health services research relevant to older people. Most scholars will do their training and research during the summer months. They will also be invited to submit an abstract to present a poster at the annual meeting of the American Geriatrics Society.

Eligibility

• Any allopathic or osteopathic medical student in good standing, who will have successfully completed one year of medical school at a U.S. institution by June 2024. Evidence of good standing must be provided by the medical school registrar or dean when the student is notified of receiving the award.
• Applicants must be citizens or non-citizen nationals of the United States, or must have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence (i.e., in possession of a currently valid Alien Registration Receipt Card I-551, or some other legal verification of such status). Individuals on temporary or student visas are not eligible. Due to NIA restrictions, individuals holding PhD, MD, DVM or equivalent doctoral degrees in the health sciences are not eligible to apply to do the MSTAR Program.
• Additionally, applicants receiving a stipend or salary support from a federal source are not eligible for this program. Applicants may not hold another award or participate in another program concurrently with the MSTAR program, and must participate in the program full-time for a minimum of eight weeks and a maximum of 12 weeks.

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Infectious Diseases Society of America
Grants for Emerging Researchers/Clinicians Mentorship Program

Career Stage: Medical Students

Amount: Not specified

Deadline: Ongoing

Description
The G.E.R.M. Program was developed to provide grants to medical students to support a longitudinal, mentored clinical learning and/or research project for up to a year on infectious diseases-related topics, including HIV, under the mentorship of an IDSA or HIVMA member. This program replaced the IDSA Medical Scholars and HIVMA Medical Students Programs.

Eligibility

• Graduate students
• Applicants must be medical students (first-, second- or third-year and those in combined degree programs, including MD/MPH and MD/PhD) from an accredited allopathic or osteopathic medical school in the U.S.