Translational Medicine Faculty Starter Grant

Translational Medicine Faculty Starter Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Pharmaceutical Research And Manufacturers Of America Fnd Inc (PhRMA)
Amount: US $100,000
Last Updated: March 08, 2026

Summary

The PhRMA Foundation's Translational Medicine Faculty Starter Grant supports early-career researchers at U.S. universities, providing $100,000 for one year. This grant emphasizes innovative research that translates laboratory findings into clinical applications, addressing unmet medical needs. Applicants must be within five years of independent status and collaborate with clinical partners. The program aims to foster a patient-centric approach in translational medicine, enhancing the development of new diagnostics and therapies for improved patient care.

Overview

Mission The PhRMA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that fosters biopharmaceutical innovation and value-driven health care by investing in the frontiers of research. The Foundation catalyzes the careers of promising researchers through competitive, peer-reviewed grants and fellowships in the fields of drug delivery, drug discovery, translational medicine, and value assessment and health outcomes research. Vision A healthier world where all people have access to innovative, life-changing medicines. Values Integrity: We strive to be scientifically independent and evidence-based in our decision-making.Innovation: We invest in cutting-edge research and ideas that will improve patient health.Collaboration: We support collaborative research efforts that are diverse and inclusive. Translational Medicine Faculty Starter Grant The PhRMA Foundation Faculty Starter Grant in Translational Medicine offers financial support to individuals beginning independent research careers at the faculty level at an accredited U.S. university. Applicants must be within the first five years of their independent status. Program Goals Translational medicine fosters a patient-focused research cycle that stretches from the lab bench to the patient bedside and back to the lab again. This includes adapting basic research discoveries in cells, tissues, and animals for application in humans and then taking the knowledge of what did and didn’t work in the clinic back to the bench. Given the breadth of the discipline, the PhRMA Foundation’s Translational Medicine Program focuses specifically on novel research that uses the “bedside to bench” approach to address unmet needs in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. The Foundation seeks research proposals that focus on identifying unmet clinical needs and developing new diagnostic, experimental, and computational approaches and technologies to improve patient care and management. Applicants should work with clinical collaborators to identify unmet clinical needs. Proposals should integrate innovative technologies, with advanced biological, chemical, diagnostic, and pharmacological sciences and engineering methodologies in areas that include but not are limited to: Genetics (Molecular, Pharmaco-, Population, Medical)Genomics (Functional, Structural, Toxico-, Pharmaco-, Comparative)Systems (Biology and Pharmacology)Pathways and NetworksIntegrative BiologyModeling and SimulationTarget Identification and ValidationBiomarker Identification and ValidationMolecular EpidemiologyImagingDisease Modeling Funding The PhRMA Foundation Faculty Starter Grant in Translational Medicine provides funding of $100,000 for one year. Funding is conditional upon the awardee’s continued employment with the university, which will be assessed on a quarterly basis prior to payment. Awardees are required to notify the PhRMA Foundation if they leave the university. Payments will be made directly to the university on behalf of the awardee, with the understanding the university will administer the funds.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Applicants (U.S. and non-U.S. citizens) must be full-time, promotion-eligible, research intensive faculty at a PhD and/or MS degree-granting accredited U.S. university.Applicants must be within the first five years of independent status.Applicants must be eligible to apply for independent external research funding by their university.Applicants should not have other substantial sources of research funding. Individuals receiving only intramural funding or start-up funding from their university are eligible to apply. Use of FundsFunds may be budgeted to include the support of a technician, graduate student, or postdoctoral fellow at an hourly rate.Up to $1,500 may be used for travel by the awardee to professional meetings in the United States.Funds may be used to purchase equipment and/or data to support the research efforts.

Ineligibility

You are not eligible if your faculty status began before January 1, 2022.Studies that do not involve human specimens, human data, or patients will not be considered.Applicants are ineligible if they are the principal investigator of an R01 from the National Institutes of Health or a career award from the National Science Foundation.The Foundation will not consider multiple applications for the same or similar efforts on the same project. If multiple applicants are submitting proposed efforts on the same project, the efforts must be separate activities and not duplicative. Funds may not be used for salary support of the awardee, fringe benefits, or indirect costs.The funds may not be used to provide tuition, fringe benefits, or indirect costs for technician, graduate student, or postdoctoral fellow. Said personnel may not be an active award recipient of the PhRMA Foundation.