Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award

Funding Agency:
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation

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.

Awards are made to institutions for support of the Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Investigators. All awards are approved by the Board of Directors of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation acting upon the recommendation of the Innovation Award Committee.

Deadline: July 8, 2024

Agency Website

http://www.damonrunyon.org/for_scientists/more/innovation_award_overview

Eligibility Requirements

  • 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 (5) 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, 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.  If you are unsure about your eligibility for this award program, please contact the Foundation's Award Programs at awards@damonrunyon.org]
  • 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.

Amount

$600,000

Amount Description

  • The Stage 1 award will be for two years, $150,000 per year ($300,000 total) with the opportunity for up to two additional years of funding (up to four years total for $600,000). 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 $150,000 per year for the term of the award. However, the Innovation Award Committee will consider an accelerated payment schedule if an award recipient can demonstrate compelling need.
  • The Innovation Award funds are intended to be flexible and can be used for a variety of scientific needs including the Investigator’s salary, salaries for professional and technical personnel, special equipment, supplies and other miscellaneous items required to conduct the proposed research.
  • No budget is required at the time of application.

Funding Type

Award

Eligibility

Junior Faculty
Medical Fellow/Resident
Post Doctoral Fellows

Category

Environmental & Life Sciences
Interdisciplinary
Medical
Medical - Basic Science
Medical - Clinical Science
Medical - Translational

External Deadline

July 8, 2024