Letter of Intent due 17 November 2022.

Final Deadline 08 March 2023

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Soliciting pre-proposals by 17 November, with final deadline 08 March, 2023 for DDCF Clinical Scientist Award from US-based researchers. DDCF's Medical Research Program created the Clinical Scientist Development Award to provide mentored research funding to early-career physician-scientist faculty to enable their transition to independent and successful research careers. Approximately 17 grants of up to $495,000 each over three years will be awarded.

Eligibility Criteria
The CSDA is for individuals who have completed all clinical training (residency, fellowship, and any research years post-fellowship prior to faculty) and are at the Assistant Professor rank. Please see our FAQs for more information. The CSDA is a highly competitive award. Typically, 10% of all reviewed applications are funded. Competitive applicants are expected to have research experience and contributions consistent with the rank of Assistant Professor as well as committed mentorship and institutional support. We understand that COVID-19 has negatively affected research productivity and will be mindful of this general impact when evaluating applications for this competition. To be eligible for this award, applicants must:

Have received an MD, DO, or foreign equivalent degree from an accredited institution.
Have a valid, active US medical license at the time of application, but do not have to be US citizens.
Work at a US academic institution that grants doctoral degrees and is able to receive an award as an organization with 501(c)(3) Internal Revenue Service status. Please see the information on page 4 and consult with your institutional grants office.
Have a full-time faculty appointment at the Assistant Professor rank. Adjunct, affiliated, temporary, part-time or acting faculty positions are not eligible for this competition. Applicants that will become Associate Professor on or before the award start date of July 1, 2023 are not eligible for the award.
Have been appointed to their first post-training, full-time Assistant Professor faculty position between December 1, 2018, and December 1, 2021 (i.e., have been at the appointment no more than 4 years but at least 1 year). Exceptions to the eligibility window will be considered on a case-by-case basis for individuals who do not meet this criterion because of delays in career advancement due to COVID-19 and/or family or medical leave. For COVID-19-related delays, exceptions of up to 6 months will be considered. Check our FAQs for examples of situations for which DDCF may make an exception. DDCF approval of exemptions must be obtained prior to submitting a pre-proposal. Exemption requests must be made by October 14, 2022. Exemptions are not granted for applicants with less than one year at their academic position. Please check page 6 for further information on eligibility exemption requests.
Not have served as the principal investigator, or one of multiple-principal investigators, of an extramural, multi-year (term >12 months) research grant, cooperative agreement, or contract with annual direct funding in the amount of $225,000 or higher with a start date prior to and inclusive of July 1, 2023. The CSDA is not for researchers who have already attained this level of funding, even if the researcher substituted for the original principal investigator of the grant. National Institutes of Health (NIH) K-series career development awards and startup packages are excluded from this requirement.
Not have applied for a single or multiple-principal investigator NIH R01 research grant or equivalent as principal investigator that has a start date prior to and inclusive of July 1, 2023. This includes but is not limited to research projects that are part of a P01 program project, P50 center grant or a U01 cooperative agreement, DP1, DP2, R37, and VA Merit grants.
Not be in a graduate degree program at the time of the award. All education and training toward advanced degrees must be completed by the award start date, July 1, 2023.
Be guaranteed a minimum overall research time protection of 75% of full-time professional effort by the institution where the applicant has an appointment in the event an award is made. There is no explicit minimum percent effort that must be dedicated to the CSDA project. Applicants in specialties that require considerable effort to maintain clinical competency skills, such as those in surgery, are eligible to apply if a minimum effort commitment to research of 50% during the award term could be guaranteed by the institution. Reviewers will evaluate whether an effort commitment of less than 75% would be conducive to committed and longlasting clinical research careers.
If you have any questions about these eligibility criteria check our FAQs or email ddcf@aibs.org. Please note that requests for exceptions to eligibility criteria must be made as indicated on page 6 and will not be considered after October 14, 2022.

Other requirements and considerations

A clinical research project—as defined by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation—in any disease area must be proposed. DDCF’s definition of clinical research can be found on page 5. This program does not set funding priorities based on research type or disease area. The clinical research question should have strong potential to impact the corresponding field and be achievable within the scope of the award amount and 3-year term. To learn more about the breadth of fields and research types funded in past competitions, please see previous grantees of the program.
A mentor must be designated, or mentorship team assembled, and the role of the mentor(s) must be described. Mentors are expected to play an active role during the course of the Clinical Scientist Development Award in fostering the applicant’s career development as a physician scientist and capacity for independence. Mentors are expected to act as advocates for the applicant at the departmental, institutional and professional levels and provide scientific guidance for the proposed project.
Experiments that utilize non-human animals or any tissues derived from them, including established cell lines, must not be included in the proposed research. Animal-based research may be presented as preliminary evidence supporting the research plan but the aims themselves must not include research with non-human animals.
If applicable, Investigational New Drug (IND) approvals must be in place by the deadline for submission of a full proposal. See page 6.
Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals are not necessary at the time of application. However, DDCF strongly prefers IRB approvals to be in place by the grant start date, July 1, 2023. IRB approval must be in place by October 1, 2023. See page 6.
Other funding

Applicants are allowed to hold an NIH K series award or other career development award at the same time as the CSDA grant. Principal investigators of the NIH Director's Early Independence Award (DP5) and in the R00 phase of Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) grants are eligible to apply provided that they meet all other eligibility criteria and do not already have another career development award.
Applicants must not propose research aims or budget expenses that directly overlap with another funded project. Application for support of CSDA research aims that simply extend those of other grants is discouraged.