OREF Career Development Grant

The OREF Career Development Grant supports early-career researchers in orthopaedics by providing funding of up to $300,000 over three years. Eligible applicants include new investigators, orthopaedic surgeons, and PhD faculty in orthopaedic departments. This grant encourages innovative research across various fields, including clinical and translational studies, fostering mentorship and collaboration in the orthopaedic community. Important restrictions ensure that applicants submit only one proposal per cycle and that previously submitted projects are not eligible.

Encourages investigators to commit to scientific research. Research may be basic, translational, clinical and/or health sciences. The grant is an award of $150,000 for 2 years or $100,000 for 3 years, for a total award of $300,000.

Eligibility

It is important that the research topic be relevant to orthopaedic practice. Applications may be submitted by domestic, non-profit, public and private institutions of higher education, such as hospitals, medical schools, universities, and colleges. Multidisciplinary research activity is strongly encouraged.  An orthopaedic surgeon must serve as the principal investigator (PI), co-investigator or MPI.The orthopaedic surgeon PI must be licensed to practice in the U. S. and be working in an institution in the U.S. A PhD may serve as the co-principal investigator (PI) or MPI and must hold a faculty appointment in an orthopaedic department at an institution in the U.S. The PI must be a new investigator, according to the definition of New Investigator (NI) from NIH. A new investigator is a research grant applicant who has not yet competed successfully for a substantial, competing research grant, such as an R01 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant or its equivalent (e.g., VA, DOD, and NSF, etc.) in the role of PI. Applicants are limited to one submission to OREF per cycle regardless of category.

Ineligibility

The same project may not be submitted in multiple categories, even if the PI is different.The principal investigator may receive only one OREF grant of each type during his/her lifetime.