Since 2009, the Rita Allen Foundation has awarded annually the Rita Allen Foundation Award in Pain, recognizing emerging leaders in basic pain research whose work holds high potential for uncovering new pathways to improve the treatment of chronic pain. Each year, the Foundation typically awards two grants, in the amount of $50,000 per year over three years, to early-career investigators who are pursuing innovative research on mechanisms that initiate and propagate pain in the nervous system.

Eligible candidates will have completed their training and provided persuasive evidence of distinguished achievement or extraordinary promise in basic science research in pain. Candidates should be in the early stages of their career, with an appointment at the faculty level, yet prior to achieving tenure.

Research projects proposed as part of the Award in Pain application should be directed toward the molecular biology of pain and/or basic science topics related to the development of new analgesics for the management of pain due to terminal illness. The entire award is made available to projects specifically chosen by the recipient; university overhead is not supported.

Applications are reviewed by a selection committee that includes past Award in Pain recipients, as well as other leading pain basic researchers. The selection committee is unfortunately unable to provide feedback on unsuccessful applications.

Deadline: Feb. 19, 2020