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Research Funding Opportunities

Drexel Sponsorship Resources

Drexel's Office of Research & Innovation maintains a list of governmental, industry and foundation sponsorship opportunities for researchers in all topic areas.

View Office of Research & Innovation Sponsor website

College of Medicine-Specific Foundation Funding Opportunities

Foundation & Corporate Relations (FCR) in the Office of Institutional Advancement builds and maintains partnerships with private and corporate foundations and serves as a resource to investigators during the grant proposal development process.

FCR and the College of Medicine will provide investigators with up-to-date funding opportunities available through foundations. The following requests for proposals (RFPs) are listed by submission deadline. Some foundations have recurring deadlines; others may have rolling deadlines.

There are some foundations that limit the number of applications an institution may submit for specific funding opportunities. Therefore, FCR facilitates limited submissions funding opportunities through Drexel’s InfoReady portal and will make known any funding opportunities that require an internal competition.

Investigators interested in pursuing a foundation or corporate grant should contact, executive director, Foundation & Corporate Relations – STEM Unit, pib25@drexel.edu, 215-895-0326.

November 2024

McKnight Foundation

Deadline: November 4, 2024, Letter of Intent
If invited, full proposals due mid April 2025

Amount: $100,000 per year for three years

Purpose:
The first step is to submit a two-page letter of intent describing how the McKnight award would permit new approaches and accomplishments toward the development of translational research. The letter should address the following questions:

  • What clinical problem are you addressing?
  • What are your specific aims?
  • How will the knowledge and experience you have gained in basic research be applied to improving the understanding of a brain disorder or disease?
  • How are you fostering an inclusive and equitable lab environment?

The letter should clearly describe how the proposed research will uncover mechanisms of brain injury or diseases and how it will translate to diagnosis, prevention, treatment or cure.

The letter of intent should include the email addresses of the principal investigators and a title for the project.

Eligibility:
A candidate for a McKnight Neurobiology of Brain Disorders Award must work as an independent investigator at a not-for-profit research institution in the United States, and must hold a faculty position at the rank of assistant professor or higher. Those holding other titles such as research professor, adjunct professor, professor research track, visiting professor or instructor are not eligible. If the host institution does not use professorial titles, a letter from a senior institutional official (e.g., dean or director of research) must confirm that the applicant has their own dedicated institutional resources, laboratory space and/or facilities.


American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Deadline: November 15, 2024

Funding: Up to $125,000 over two years

Career Stage: All stages

Purpose:
AFSP suicide research grants program priority areas:

  • Ethnic and racial diversity: Suicide prevention research related to ethnic and racial underrepresented communities, health and mental health disparities and inequities, as well as researchers from underrepresented ethnic and racial backgrounds proposing research focused on understanding and preventing suicide.
  • Understudied populations with elevated suicide rates: Some groups of individuals (e.g., those experiencing interpersonal violence, minoritized gender identity and sexual orientation groups, people with disabilities) and in some settings (e.g., correctional settings, foster care, construction industry) have been found to have higher rates of suicide and yet they have not been well studied. We welcome proposals that seek to understand and prevent suicide in these types of populations and/or settings.
  • Survivors of suicide loss: Research related to survivors of suicide loss, understanding the impact of suicide loss and its after-effects, and the process of healing.

Eligibility:

  • Investigators from all academic disciplines are eligible to apply, and both basic science and applied research projects will be considered, provided that the proposed study has an essential focus on suicide or suicide prevention.
  • A current grantee may submit a new application as their grant nears completion, but it will not be funded until completion of the current grant and submission of a final report.
  • New grantees must begin their studies within six months of the approved start date. Failure to begin the study within this time frame may result in withdrawal of the grant award.

December 2024

American Association for Cancer Research
Breast Cancer Research Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards to Promote Diversity and Inclusion

Deadline: December 4, 2024, 1 p.m. ET

Funding: $150,000 over two years

Purpose:
The American Association for Cancer Research invites applications for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards to Promote Diversity and Inclusion, which represent a focused effort to encourage and support investigators from diverse backgrounds who are underrepresented in cancer research and/or from low-resource settings, and to foster their professional advancement. This grant program also intends to build a more diverse and inclusive future for breast cancer research.

The proposed project may be in basic, translational, clinical, epidemiological, population health and/or community-based cancer-related research, and designed to accelerate the discovery, development and application of new agents to treat breast cancer. Research that aims to advance the science of understanding cancer health disparities in racial and ethnic minorities with relevance to breast cancer will also be considered. Selection is competitive and will be based on outstanding accomplishments both in scientific research and in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within the cancer research community.

Eligibility:
To be eligible, applicants must hold a faculty position with the title of assistant professor, instructor, research assistant professor or the equivalent; have independent laboratory space as confirmed by their institution; work at an academic, medical or research institution anywhere in the world; and belong to racial or ethnic group(s) that has (have) been shown to be traditionally excluded in the cancer-related sciences workforce and/or to individuals from low-resource settings.


American Heart Association
2025 Innovative Project Award

Deadline: December 5, 2024, Pre-proposal
If invited, full proposal due January 2025

Funding: $100,000 per year for two years, including 10% indirect costs

Career Stage: All career stages

Purpose:

  • To support highly innovative, high-impact research that could ultimately lead to critical discoveries or major advancements that will accelerate the field of cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular research.
  • Research deemed innovative may introduce a new paradigm, challenge current paradigms, look at existing problems from new perspectives or exhibit other uniquely creative qualities.
  • The Innovative Project Award promotes unexplored ideas; therefore, preliminary data is not required and not accepted as part of the proposal. However, a solid rationale for the work must be provided. If you provide preliminary data, the application will be disqualified.
    • Should you include information about preliminary work, then the proposal is not innovative. You may refer to previous projects you have conducted to demonstrate that you possess a competency or technique that equips you to take on this new direction. Proposals may also refer to existing, unanalyzed datasets and the types of data they contain (e.g., geospatial, demographic, billing, molecular) that could be leveraged in conducting the proposed work, but there should be no preliminary descriptive summaries of the data itself.
  • Proposed work should not be the next logical step of previous work, but should have a high probability of revealing new avenues of investigation, if successful.
  • The principal investigator is responsible for clearly and explicitly articulating the project's innovation and the potential impact on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular research.
  • The idea proposed here should not have been submitted in whole or in part in a previous proposal for AHA support.

Eligibility:
Applicant must be an AHA professional member at the time of pre-proposal submission.

At the time of award activation:

  • The candidate must hold a post-baccalaureate PhD degree or equivalent, or a doctoral-level clinical degree, such as MD, DO, DVM, PharmD or PhD in nursing, public health or other clinical health science.

American Heart Association
2025 Career Development Award

Deadline: December 5, 2024

Funding: $77,000 per year over three years, including 10% institutional indirect costs.

Career Stage: Early career stage

Purpose:
This grant supports highly promising health care and academic professionals, in the early years of one’s first professional appointment, to explore innovative questions or pilot studies that will provide preliminary data and training necessary to assure the applicant’s future success as a research scientist.

The award will develop the research skills to support and greatly enhance the awardee’s chances to obtain and retain a high-quality career position.

Eligibility:
At the time of application, the applicant must hold an MD, PhD, DO, DVM, DDS or equivalent post-baccalaureate doctoral degree.

  • Postdoctoral fellows are eligible to apply but must have attained faculty appointment by the time of award activation.
  • Investigators who have been awarded NIH K99/R00 or R01 grants are not eligible to apply.
  • The AHA will permit a Career Development awardee to concurrently hold an NIH K award (other than K99/R00) if there is no budgetary overlap.
  • The awardee must devote at least 10% effort to the Career Development Award.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation
Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders

Deadline: December 5, 2025, 5PM ET

Funding: Eight two-year fellowships of $180,000 each

Purpose:
The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders aims to grow the global base of movement disorder specialists — neurologists with additional training in Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders — by training movement disorder clinician-researchers who can provide expert care and lead scientific advances.

As the demand for movement disorder specialists increases, not enough neurologists are receiving vital training in Parkinson’s and related conditions. To address this need, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, in collaboration with longtime partner the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, launched the Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders. The program annually funds eight academic centers to each train a new movement disorder clinician-researcher over a two-year period and is growing an international, collaborative network of next-generation leaders in Parkinson’s research and care.

Eligibility

  • The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders is open to established movement disorder centers worldwide and seeks to support the training of promising MD or MD/PhD fellowship applicants.
  • The foundation awards funding directly to qualified centers which then identify the most competitive fellowship candidates. Centers must then nominate their prospective fellow, with submission of the fellow’s CV and a letter of recommendation, for final review by MJFF.

The CART (Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust) Fund

Deadline: December 6, 2024, letter of intent via email to Dr. Gary Goforth, MD, vice president of grants, at gagoforth@earthlink.net
If invited, full proposals due February 14, 2025

Funding:
Applications may encompass a project period of up to two years with a combined budget for direct costs up to $500,000. No indirect costs are allowed.

Purpose:
The goal of CART is to encourage exploratory and developmental Alzheimer’s Disease research projects within the United States by providing support for the early and conceptual plans of those projects that may not yet be supported by extensive preliminary data but have the potential to substantially advance biomedical research. This proposal should be distinct from those projects designed to increase knowledge in a well-established area unless it is intended to extend previous discoveries toward new directions or applications. CART typically awards three to five grants, and expects to offer $500,000 to the top grant in 2025.

Eligibility:
Full-time faculty (or the equivalent status) at U.S.-based public and private institutions, such as universities, colleges, hospitals and laboratories, are eligible. This is for new projects only.


American Brain Tumor Association
Discovery Grant

Deadline: December 11, 2024
If invited, applications due in March

Funding: $50,000

Career Stage: Grants are intended to provide seed-funding for early-stage faculty-level researchers to develop their new ideas, and to get the preliminary data needed to apply for larger grants.

Purpose:
Discovery Grants are one-year, $50,000 grants for high-risk, high-impact research with the potential to change current diagnostic or treatment models. Grants are intended to provide seed-funding for early-stage faculty-level researchers to develop their new ideas, and to get the preliminary data needed to apply for larger grants.


American Brain Tumor Association
Basic Research Fellowship

If invited, applications due in March

Funding: $100,000 over two years

Purpose: The Basic Research Fellowships are two-year, $100,000 grants supporting postdoctoral fellows entering careers dedicated to the field of brain tumor research. By providing funding to fellows under the guidance of a mentor, ABTA hopes to ensure that a diverse pool of well-trained scientists remain in the field and emerge as the next generation of scientists leading the field of brain tumor research.


Klingenstein Philanthropies
Transformation of Mental Health Care Program

Deadline: December 15, 2024, 11:59 p.m.

Funding: $100,000 per year over two years

Career Stage: all stages

Purpose:
We are soliciting applications for academic investigators conducting research to demonstrate the benefits of novel ways to access or deliver mental health care or prevention approaches that can be implemented at scale. This application is specifically for high-quality research that builds upon promising pilot work and will lead to a larger demonstration project. Requests for service projects and applications that primarily focus on expanding services or measuring quality within an organization will not be reviewed.

In particular, Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation is interested in improving access to high-quality mental health care and prevention for children and adolescents through the use of novel models or promising approaches, including expanding the number of professional and paraprofessional treatment personnel who are trained to deliver mental health services, delivering care in non-psychiatric settings (e.g., primary care, schools, home or other novel settings), digital technology (e.g., the internet, apps for cell phones), and approaches that help parents access care for their children.

Eligibility:

  • Academic researchers from universities, research institutions, health systems or other settings that are positioned to provide rigorous high-quality research focused on transforming mental and behavioral health care that improves outcomes for children and adolescents are eligible. Investigators must reside within institutions based in the United States, where all research on the project will be completed.
  • Investigators can be at any stage in their career but must have collected enough pilot data to inform the development of the proposed research project and must be well enough established to lead an effort such as this. For investigators who are early in their career, we strongly recommend collaborating with a more senior academic researcher who has expertise in program development and dissemination. Co-applicants / principal investigators are allowed if they reside at the same institution.

January 2025

Whitehall Foundation

Deadline: January 15, 2025, letter of intent
If invited, full application due June 1, 2025

Funding:
The maximum budget is $100,000 per year for the two- and three-year research grants.

Purpose:
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.

Eligibility:
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 iInvestigator 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 PI's 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.

Rolling Deadline

Cardiovascular Medical Research and Education Fund
Improving the Treatment of Pulmonary Diseases

Deadline: Rolling

Funding:
Preference will be given to proposals that have budgets below $100,000 and timelines less than two years.

Purpose:
The CMREF mission of the fund is to support educational activities that will enhance the knowledge of pulmonary hypertension and research projects that may help uncover the causes and pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) in pursuit of the ultimate goal of its treatment and cure. The CMREF does not have a formal application process to fund clinical research or educational projects but is always interested in potentially providing full or partial support to initiatives that are novel, innovative or address the spectrum of unmet medical needs related to pulmonary vascular diseases.

Interested parties should submit a letter of intent (maximum of two pages) that describes the project sufficiently so that the Research Advisory Committee can understand the proposed goals and methods. In addition, the letter should mention the length of time of the project and an estimated overall budget.

How to Apply:
To submit your letter, please use the form on this page. Please be sure to fill out all fields and upload your letter before submitting. You can also email your letter directly to Patt Wolfe (executive director) at patt.wolfe@ipahresearch.org.

After you submit your letter, the CMREF will respond within four weeks to inform you if a full application will be requested.


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.

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.