Cancer Research Institute
CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship Program: Training the Next Generation of Leaders in Immunology and Cancer Research

Deadlines: March 2, 2026, September 1, 2026

Funding:  $228,000 over three years

Career Stage: Early career

Purpose:
The program emphasizes training through research, supporting hypothesis-driven, mechanistic studies in both fundamental immunology and tumor immunology. The applicant and sponsor are expected to demonstrate:

• How the proposed research will advance understanding of the immune system’s role in cancer.
• How the fellowship will provide the fellow with new skills, approaches and mentorship to expand their expertise.
• A clear trajectory toward independence, with training experiences designed to prepare the fellow for leadership roles in science.

Eligibility:

• Applicants must have a doctoral degree by the date of award activation and must conduct their proposed research under a sponsor who holds a formal appointment as an assistant professor or higher rank at the host institution.
• Applicants must be working in areas directly related to immunology or cancer immunology. An eligible project must fall into the broad field of immunology with relevance to solving the cancer problem.
• Applicants who will have five or more years of mentored research experience at the time of award activation are not eligible, with the exception of MD applicants, who should not include years of residency in this calculation. Applicants should use their doctoral degree conferral date when calculating eligibility.

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Cancer Research Institute
CRI Immuno-Informatics Postdoctoral Fellowship: Cultivating the next generation of leaders at the Intersection of immunology and data science.

Deadlines: March 2, 2026, September 1, 2026

Funding: $228,000 over three years

Career Stage: Early career

Purpose:
The CRI Immuno-Informatics Fellowship is designed to support:

• Computational biologists seeking to deepen their understanding of immunology.
• Cancer immunologists aiming to gain expertise in computational biology, data science and/or genomics.
• Researchers from diverse PhD backgrounds pursuing training at the interface of cancer immunology and computational biology.

Eligibility:

• Applicants must have a doctoral degree by the date of award activation and must conduct their proposed research under a sponsor who holds a formal appointment as an assistant professor or higher rank at the host institution.
• Applicants must be working in areas directly related to immunology or cancer immunology. An eligible project must fall into the broad field of immunology with relevance to solving the cancer problem.
• Applicants who will have five or more years of mentored research experience at the time of award activation are not eligible, with the exception of MD applicants, who should not include years of residency in this calculation. Applicants should use their doctoral degree conferral date when calculating eligibility.

Pew Biomedical Scholars – Limited Submission

Deadlines:
Pending announcement from foundation: Early April 2026
Submission of online survey with name and contact information for nominated candidate: May 14, 2026
Online application website opens: June 11, 2026
Application deadline: September 3, 2026

Funding: $300,000; $75,000 per year for a four-year period.

Purpose: Based on their performance during their education and training, candidates should demonstrate outstanding promise as contributors in science relevant to human health. This program does not fund clinical trials research. Strong proposals will incorporate particularly creative and pioneering approaches to basic, translational and applied biomedical research. Candidates whose work is based on biomedical principles but who bring in concepts and theories from more diverse fields are encouraged to apply.

Eligibility:

• Hold a doctorate in biomedical sciences, medicine or a related field, including engineering or the physical sciences.
• As of September 3, 2025, 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 and run an independent lab at any institution prior to June 11, 2021, whether or not such an appointment was on a tenure track. Time spent in clinical internships, residencies, 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. This extension will end after this upcoming application cycle. Beginning next year, the eligibility window for the 2027 grant will revert to the three-year period. 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 2026 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.

W.W. Smith Charitable Trust – Limited Submission 

A maximum of one (1) 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.

Focus: Heart disease, cancer and AIDS research

Deadline: July 15, 2026, 11:59 p.m. EDT

Funding: $100,000 to $125,000

Purpose:
The Trust awards grants for basic medical research primarily related to heart disease, cancer and AIDS. The Trust invests in promising researchers having the potential to attract larger-scale awards (e.g., NIH, NSF, AHA) subsequent to Trust support.

Eligibility:
Each organization may submit no more than one grant application for each discipline – heart disease, cancer and AIDS. It is up to each organization to conduct an internal selection process to determine the one principal investigator/research project to represent the institution for each discipline.

Michael J. Fox Foundation
Parkinson’s Disease Therapeutics Pipeline Program

Deadline:

• Applicants may submit a pre-proposal application at any time. Pre-proposals will be reviewed by MJFF within three weeks of submission.
• If invited, full proposal is to be submitted through one of the five review cycles:
  • December 11, 2025
  • February 22, 2026
  • April 23, 2026
  • June 25, 2026
  • October 2026 (date TBD)

Funding: $250,000 for smaller, targeted programs to upwards of $2M for larger, multi-stage preclinical and/or clinical programs.

Purpose:
This program seeks to advance therapeutic development through pre-clinical and/or clinical testing of approaches addressing unmet needs of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The program is set up to benefit therapeutics with clear potential to prevent, stop or delay disease progression or to reduce the burden of daily symptoms.

MJFF prioritizes pre-clinical and clinical programs that may slow, stop or prevent disease
progression, efforts that address moderate-to-advanced motor or non-motor symptoms of
Parkinson’s not well-managed by current treatments, such as advanced gait disturbances (e.g., balance issues linked to falls, freezing), and cognitive changes. Activities within scope of this program include:

• Pre-clinical: Identifying, validating and/or developing novel pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions through pre-clinical development from early screening to pre-clinical characterization and testing.
• Clinical: Progressing promising interventions with strong preclinical packages into/through initial clinical assessment exploring pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, safety/tolerability, or early proof of biology and/or clinical efficacy. For novel targets, MJFF is particularly interested in de-risking programs by supporting early proof of concept in patients to gain insight into the therapeutic potential, including exploration of biomarker-based or clinical endpoint-based efficacy

Eligibility:
The foundation is only accepting applications from industry groups or academic teams working in collaboration with a dedicated industry partner capable of further commercial development of a promising intervention. Further, our goal is to provide funding to de-risk therapeutic programs and catalyze investment by other funders. We do not anticipate serving as the sole funder for any program and encourage applicants to seek additional financial partnerships.

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Michael J. Fox Foundation

The Alzheimer’s Association and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research are launching the Bridge Funding for Disrupted Neurodegenerative Research (BFDN) grant program.

Deadline: 15th of the month (or the following Monday, if the 15th falls on a weekend).
If invited, full proposal deadline will be within four weeks of receiving the invitation by 5 p.m. ET. If invited, full proposal deadline will be within four weeks of receiving the invitation by 5 p.m. ET.

Funding: Principal investigators may apply for bridge funding spanning three to 12 months for U.S. and international projects impacted by changes in the NIH.

Career Stage: Early Career

Purpose:
This program specifically aims to 1) ensure support for early career researchers (based on NIH definition), who have not yet had the opportunity to fully establish their labs and position their projects for ongoing funding, and 2) provide bridge or interim funding for salary and other direct costs for research projects focused on Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, atypical Parkinson's and/or other related disorders that have been impacted by a series of changes at NIH.

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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.

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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.

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