Young Investigator Awards

Program Type: Seed funding for early-career cancer researchers

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

Application Process

Request for Proposal:

• CRF releases an annual Request for Proposal (RFP) for Young Investigator Awards
• Example: 2021 RFP was announced August 14, 2020
• Application instructions are provided through the RFP when released

Application Submission:

• Submit through designated online portal/application system
• Direct link to application available through RFP announcement

Contact for Questions:

• Email: mjohnson@cancerresearchfdn.org

Note: Specific application requirements, narrative questions, and detailed submission guidelines are not fully detailed in the available website content. Applicants should contact the foundation or access the annual RFP for complete application instructions.