Funding Opportunities

Founded in 1990, the KCA is a charitable organization comprised of patients, family members, physicians, researchers, and other health professionals. With members in more than 100 countries, the KCA is the first international charity dedicated to the elimination of the effects of renal cancers.

The KCA funds early-career cancer researchers by supporting the ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation Grants Program and the AUA Foundation Research Scholars Program. The KCA also supports young oncologists interested in kidney cancer research through the Conquer Cancer Foundation's Young Investigator Award. This provides funding to promising physician-scientists to encourage and promote quality oncology research during the transition from fellowship to faculty.

Rewards dedicated men and women who contributions make a positive difference and exceptionally serve Islam and Muslims. The King Faisal International Prize, established in 1979, is for scientists and scholars whose research results not only benefit humanity, but also lead to encourage expanded research that may lead to medical and scientific breakthroughs.

The awarding of the prize ($200,00) is to draw attention to important issues, as well as rewarding gifted scientists who have made these issues a priority in their career, with hopes that the direct and indirect effects will be far reaching.

Starting with a $28,000 grant in 1982, and now totaling nearly $755 million, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is the largest non-government funder of breast cancer research with the goal of supporting work that has significant potential to lead to reductions in incidence and mortality within the decade.

Since the founding, the Foundation looks to end breast cancer in the US and throughout the world through research, community health outreach, advocacy, and programs in more than 50 countries.

Awards include the Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction, established in 1992. The Basic Science Award is presented to a researcher whose scientific discoveries have added to the further understanding of breast cancer and the molecular processes that drive the disease and/or whose work bridges the gap between research and patient care. The Clinical Research Award is presented to a clinical or translational researcher who has advanced the identification of new prevention, detection, or treatment approaches for breast cancer and promoted their incorporation into clinical care.

Dedicated to the support of biomedical research toward conquering disease, improving health, and extending life. The Foundation's Awards Program recognizes the contributions of scientists and physicians who have made major advances in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevention of disease. The Lasker Awards often lead to Nobel committee recognition, and the awards have become known as "America's Nobels." Eighty-three Lasker Laureates have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, including 31 in the last two decades.

Awards include:

• Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award - Honors scientists whose investigations have provided techniques, information or concepts contributing to the elimination of major causes of disability and death.
• Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award - Awarded to investigators whose contributions have improved the clinical treatment of patients.
• Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science - Honors scientists unique contributions and have invaluable influence on the course of science, health, or medicine, and whose professional careers have garnered respect in the biomedical community.

With a mission to increase scientific knowledge, education, and public understanding of human origins, evolution, behavior, and survival, the Leakey Foundation promotes a multidisciplinary approach to exploring human origins.

The Foundation awards more than $600,000 annually in field and laboratory grants for vital new research and long-term projects exploring human evolution. It is the only US funding organization committed to human origins research. Leakey grantees study early facets of our ancestors through paleoanthropology, primatology, geology. genetics, and morphology. Special encouragement is given to early career scientists with new questions and innovative ideas about human evolution.

Research grants are awarded twice annually, in May and December, and make up the majority of the Foundation's grant program, funding research specifically related to human origins. Advanced doctoral students and established scientists are eligible for general research grants. There are no citizenship restrictions, but all applications must be in English.

The majority of grants to doctoral students range from $3,000-13,500. Larger grants, especially to senior scientists and post-doctoral students may be funded up to $22,000. Priority of funding is commonly given to exploratory phases of promising research projects.

Since 1949, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has been the largest voluntary nonprofit health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services, and has awarded more than $750 million in research funding for all blood cancers.

Academic grants support and encourage basic and translational leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma research. Grants are awarded for studies ranging from basic blood cancer research to research using the latest genomic tools.

Research grant opportunities include:

• Career Development Program - Supports fundamental basic and clinical research in genetics, molecular and cell biology, molecular pharmacology, molecular virology, and immunology. It also supports translational research directly relevant to improved treatment or diagnosis of leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, as well as prevention.
• Translational Research Program - Funds new and innovative research that shows high promise for translating basic biomedical knowledge to clinical application with the goal of reducing time between laboratory findings and actual treatment.
• Specialized Center of Research Program - Supports interdisciplinary research across at least three independent research projects integrated and supported by scientific core laboratories.

Lilly is the 10th largest pharmaceutical company in the world and conducts research in more than 55 countries. Lilly is committed to supporting projects that promote excellence in patient care as well as providing valuable information to the medical and patient advocacy communities.

Lilly has formed partnerships with other pharmaceutical companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim and established grant offices to support continuing medical education for health care professionals in areas such as cardiology and diabetes.

The Lilly Grants Office accepts requests for health care professional education, patient advocacy, and consumer education programs. Main areas of focus include chronic pain, neuroscience, men's health, and oncology.

For nearly 40 years, the Lupus Foundation of America has taken a unique three-pronged strategy in research: lead special initiatives, fund researchers and advocate for expanded investment, all seeking to advance the science and medicine of lupus and to advance the quality of life of those living with lupus.

Research supported by the Lupus Foundation has led to expanded understanding of the disease and contributed to many of the lupus-related scientific breakthroughs of the last several decades.

Investigator awards include:

• Evelyn V. Hess Research Award - Given annually to a clinical or basic researcher whose body of work has advanced understanding of the pathophysiology, etiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, or treatment of lupus.
• Mary Betty Stevens Young Investigator Prize - Established in 2009 and given annually in recognition of the exceptional achievements of an investigator in the early stages if an independent career in lupus research.

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt founded the March of Dimes in 1938, research was one of the cornerstones in the effort to defeat polio. Seventeen years later and more than $25 million in research, the polio vaccine was declared safe. Today, research remains a vital part of the March of Dimes mission to prevent birth defects, premature births, and infant mortality.

The March of Dimes awards research grants in three categories:

• General March of Dimes Research Grants - These fund many different areas and topics related to the March of Dimes mission of preventing birth defects. Investigations include basic biological processes of development, genetics, clinical studies, reproductive health studies, environmental toxicology, and studies in social and behavioral sciences focusing on contributing factors to adverse pregnancy outcomes and consequences of birth defects and prematurity.
• Prematurity Research Initiative - Dedicated to grant support for projects related to causes of prematurity and providing new insight to premature births.
• Basil O' Connor Starter Scholar Research Awards - Created in 1973 and named for the first March of Dimes chairman and president, this award is for the support of scientists just starting out in independent research careers and provides funding for young investigators to start their own research projects on topics related to the March of Dimes mission.

MDA is the nonprofit health agency dedicated to finding treatments and cures for muscular dystrophy, ALS, and related diseases by funding worldwide research. MDA combats neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive medical and support services, and far-reaching professional and public health education. It is also the nation's largest nongovernmental funder of scientific research seeking better treatments and cures for the more than 40 diseases in its program.

To be eligible for an MDA Research Grant, one must hold an MD, PhD, DSc, or equivalent degree, be a professional or faculty member (professor, associate professor, or assistant professor) at an appropriate educational, medical, or research institution, be qualified to conduct and mentor a program of original research within their own laboratory, assume both administrative and financial responsibility for the grant, and have access to institutional resources necessary to conduct the proposed research project.

To be eligible for a Development Grant, a MD, PhD, DSc, or equivalent degree is requited, be a member of a research team at an appropriate institution, be qualified to conduct a program of original research under the supervision of a principal investigator, have an acceptable research plan for a specific disease in MDA's program, and have access to institutional resources necessary to conduct the proposed research project and have 18 months of postdoctoral research laboratory training at the time of applications, but no more than five years post-degree.

Awards are for either one, two, or three years for all grant types, and funding levels for primary Research Grants are unlimited. Development Grants are a maximum of $60,000 per year, and overhead is limited to a maximum of 10 percent of direct costs to be included in the total amount of the grant request.