Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award Grant

The Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award supports early career researchers with high-risk, innovative ideas in cancer research. This award aims to fund projects that lack sufficient preliminary data for traditional funding, emphasizing novel and creative approaches that could significantly impact cancer prevention, diagnosis, or treatment. Eligibility includes tenure-track Assistant Professors and clinical fellows, among others, who commit to 80% of their time for research. The award encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and applications from diverse scientific disciplines.

NOTE: All second-year Damon Runyon Stage 1 Innovators are eligible to apply for Stage 2. Stage 1 is represented by the Pre-Proposal deadline and Stage 2 is represented by the Full Proposal deadline.
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

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.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.
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.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.

Ineligibility

The Award cannot be used for indirect costs or institutional overhead.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.