Young Investigator Awards

Cancer Research Foundation Young Investigator Awards

Program Type: Seed funding for early-career cancer researchers

Award Amount: $100,000 per award, distributed over two years

Purpose: The Young Investigator Award is the Cancer Research Foundation's preeminent grant-making program. It addresses a critical gap in early-career cancer research funding by providing seed capital to promising scientists at the beginning of their careers as principal investigators.

Problem Addressed: Most funding sources require primary data and proof of principle, yet early-career researchers lack the funding needed to generate initial data sets. This catch-22 blocks promising scientists from advancing their research.

Geographic Scope: Primarily supports researchers at universities and cancer centers in the Midwest/Central United States, including institutions in Illinois, Missouri (Washington University in St. Louis), and other regional academic medical centers

Institutions Represented: Recent recipients are from:

University of Chicago

Northwestern University

Washington University in St. Louis

Other Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the central US

Focus Areas: All areas of cancer research, with emphasis on:

Novel and innovative fields including genomics, bioinformatics, molecular engineering

Immunotherapy and immune system approaches

Tumor microenvironment and cancer biology

New treatment and delivery mechanisms

Cancer prevention and prediction

Diverse scientific fields including data science, molecular chemistry, epigenetics, proteomics

Award Objective: To enable early-career scientists to:

Generate their first primary data sets

Establish themselves as independent principal investigators

Pursue novel and independent hypotheses

Create foundation for larger grants from NIH and other major funders

Contribute to transformational events in cancer treatment, prevention, and cure

Eligibility:

Early-career scientists at the beginning of their careers as principal investigators

Faculty at academic and research institutions

Scientists pursuing promising, innovative research ideas

Funder Mission: The Cancer Research Foundation acts as a "venture philanthropist," seeking opportunities to support new researchers and novel ideas at the time when promising ideas can be starved for capital. The strategy employs relatively small amounts of funding in a highly leveraged way to get outsized returns on grant "investments."

Program History:

Program established nearly 30 years ago

Awards have been given since at least 1993

Recent cohorts (2021-2025) have consisted of 6-9 award recipients annually

One recipient per year designated as the Breakthrough Board Scholar (beginning 2022)

Diversity Commitment: The Cancer Research Foundation is dedicated to supporting women and minorities in STEM. Recent funding reflects commitment to reflecting diversity among the best scientific minds, as different people are affected by cancer in different ways.

Contact Information:

Email: mjohnson@cancerresearchfdn.org

Address: Cancer Research Foundation, 6200 N. Hiawatha Ave., Suite 640, Chicago, IL 60646

Phone: 312.630.0055

Fax: 312.630.0075

Funder Information:

Organization: Cancer Research Foundation

Type: Registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Website: cancerresearchfdn.org

Tax IDs: CRF EIN: 36-2385213; CRFCC EIN: 81-2771469

Established: More than 60 years ago

Mission: Raise funds to support early career scientists and new directions in cancer science research with the goal of contributing to transformational events in cancer treatment, prevention, and cure

Program Features:

Annual awards ceremony

Networking opportunities through annual CRF meeting for all past and present Young Investigators

Community-building among funded scientists

Support for high-risk/high-reward scientific investigation