Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award Grant

The Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award, offered by the Parkinson's Foundation, supports early-career scientists in Parkinson's research. With $300,000 in funding over three years, it aims to bridge the gap for junior faculty transitioning to independent research. Eligible applicants must hold a PhD or MD and be U.S. or Canadian faculty members. This award promotes innovative research proposals that advance understanding and treatment of Parkinson's disease, fostering the next generation of scientists in this critical field.

NOTE:  The Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award is offered every other year (it is closed during the 2025-2026 cycle, and it will be open during the 2026-2027 cycle).
Applicants will first send a letter of intent.Based on favorable peer-review, we may then invite applicants to submit a full application, also for peer-review.
The Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award honors longtime Parkinson’s Foundation Scientific Director Stanley Fahn, MD, renowned for his clinical abilities and commitment to training the next generation of Parkinson's scientists.
Program Overview
The award acts as a bridge to ensure promising early-career scientists stay in the Parkinson’s research field, helping us solve, treat and end the disease. In today’s funding environment, as young scientists navigate the path from mentored to independent research, they face a “valley of death” between their scientific potential and the funding they need to make it happen. This award can stem Parkinson’s research talent loss.In conjunction with their institution’s commitment, the award gives junior investigators the support they need to develop their own independent funding source (such as an NIH R01 award) and stay in the PD research field. Becoming an independent research leader with his or her own research space is the ultimate goal.The Parkinson’s Foundation seeks clinical, pre-clinical or basic research proposals that will directly impact the understanding of Parkinson’s or its treatment from promising early career scientists. Successful projects should include novel PD research hypotheses and be inventive in methodology or approach.
Funding
Each award provides $300,000 in total costs. We permit applicant salary support up to 40 percent of total salary.
We award funds for three years — subject to annual progress reviews. Submission of an NIH R01 or equivalent is the required award milestone. The third year of funding is also contingent upon this.

Eligibility

Junior faculty members possessing a PhD, MD, or equivalent are eligible to apply. Applicants must meet the National Institutes of Health (NIH) definition of a "new investigator." The Parkinson’s Foundation anticipates the typical applicant will hold an assistant professor-level position with up to several years of experience. We will consider earlier-stage faculty and those with more experience provided they meet the above eligibility criteria.
The award is open to applicants, regardless of citizenship, who are residents and faculty members at institutions in the U.S. and Canada.
Applicants from Parkinson’s Foundation research centers are eligible to apply. We require a letter of support from the applicant’s department chair to demonstrate the level of institutional commitment to the applicant.
We restrict this program to full-time faculty members of institutions in the U.S. and Canada with a current instructor or assistant professor post.An applicant must be in a tenure-track position or in the case of an Instructor, have the intent to begin a tenure-track position as shown by a support letter from his or her department chair. We will give only one award per institution each year, but we may consider special exceptions.

Ineligibility

As a career development initiative, the program is not open to current or prior holders of NIH R01 awards or their equivalent.