Brain Research Foundation Seed Grant Program

Eligible Faculty: Assistant and Associate Professors at HMS and HMS Affiliated Hospitals

Focus Area: Neuroscience

Nominations Available to HMS: 2    HMS Faculty at the affiliated hospitals must apply through the Foundation funds.  Harvard University is the official nominating institution.  HMS Nominees will move on to the Harvard-wide competition offered through the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.

Funding and Award Period: Each total grant is limited to $80,000 for a two year grant period.*

Eligible Faculty:  Assistant and Associate Professors.  HMS Faculty at the affiliated hospitals must apply through the Foundation funds.

Program Description:  The objective of the BRF Seed Grant Program is to support new and innovative projects, especially those of junior faculty, who are working in new research directions. BRF Seed Grant awards are not intended to supplement existing grants.

Eligibility Criteria:

1.  Funding is to be directed at pilot research projects that are both innovative and will likely lead to successful grant applications to NIH and other public and private funding entities.

2.  Assistant Professor – Junior faculty with a new research project that will generate pilot data that will lead to RO1 funding or a comparable outside grant will be first priority. • Must provide abstract and specific aims for current grants and indicate if there is any overlap.

3.  Associate Professor – Faculty who are pursuing new research directions.  Must explain how the project is a new research direction. • Must provide abstract and specific aims for current grant(s) and indicate if there is any overlap.

4.  A new technique is not considered a new direction unless it pertains to a different area of study.

5.  Seed Grants are NOT to be used for bridge funding between grants.

*Allowable costs under this award: 100% of these Seed Grant funds must be utilized for direct costs.

Apply through the Harvard University Funding Portal (HUFP)

Additional information about this opportunity is available on the Brain Research Foundation website

Eligible Faculty: HMS is the sole nominating institution in the Harvard community for this award. 
HMS Faculty at the affiliated hospitals must apply through the Foundation funds.

Research Focus:  Medical Education

Nominations Available to HMS: 1

Funding and Award Period:  Macy Faculty Scholars receive salary support up to $100,000 per year over two years to implement an educational change project in their institution.

Program Description:  The Macy Faculty Scholars Program aims to accelerate needed reforms in health professions education to accommodate the dramatic changes occurring in medical practice and health care delivery. The Foundation is dedicated to the advancement of inter-professional education and is looking for mid-career faculty who are committed to careers in health professional education, have served for more than five years on the faculty of the sponsoring school, are innovators, and have shown promise as future leaders. The award will provide salary support to protect at least 50% of the time of the Scholar over two years. This time will be devoted to a mentored educational innovation project and other appropriate career development activities.

Macy Faculty Scholars are mid-career nursing and medical school faculty who are committed to careers in health professional education, are innovators, and have shown promise as future leaders.

Candidates must be nominated by the Dean of their school of medicine or nursing, which must commit to protecting at least 50 percent of the candidate’s time to pursue an educational change project at their institution. Candidates must be doctorally-prepared, have served for five or more years as a faculty member, and be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or its territories. Candidates must also identify a senior faculty member who will serve as the candidate’s mentor and provide advice on their project and career development.

Macy Faculty Scholars receive salary support up to $100,000 per year over two years to implement an educational change project in their institution. Scholars also receive mentoring and career advice from our National Advisory Committee.

Eligibility Criteria:

1.Be an RN, MD, or DO faculty member in good standing at the sponsoring school.
2.Have served for more than five years on the faculty (ideally at the sponsoring school).
3.Have an identified faculty mentor who will provide advice on the candidate’s project and career development.
4.Have an educational innovation project with the appropriate institutional support.
5.Have an institutional commitment for the protection of at least 50% of the applicant's time.
6.Be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or its territories.

Additional notes: HMS is the sole nominating institution in the Harvard community for this award. 
HMS Faculty at the affiliated hospitals must apply through the Foundation funds.

Apply through the Harvard University Funding Portal (HUFP)

Information regarding the Josiah Macy Faculty Scholars Program

Eligible Faculty: Assistant and Associate Professors at HMS and HMS Affiliated Hospitals (must have been appointed to the rank of Assistant Professor between January 15, 2013 and January 15, 2016).

Research Focus: Basic Biomedical Research

Nominations Available to HMS:  2  

Funding and Award period: Each total grant is limited to $100,000 for a four year grant period.*

Eligible Faculty:  Assistant and Associate Professors within 5 – 8 years of their appointment to the rank of Assistant Professor.  

Program Description:  The mission of the Foundation is to support early stage investigators engaged in basic biomedical research that has the potential to significantly advance the understanding, diagnosis or treatment of disease.

The funds are designed to provide faculty members who hold M.D. and/or Ph.D. degrees, and are in their fifth to eighth year of a tenure-track position, with support to move the project forward to the point where other independent funding can be obtained.  Candidates may have an R01.

Eligibility Criteria:

1.  Must hold a PHD or MD/PHD degrees

2.  Be within 5 – 8 years of their appointment to the rank of Assistant Professor as of January 15, 2021.  (Applicants must have been appointed to associate Professor rank between January 15, 2013 and January 15, 2016). 

3.  Have support to move their project forward to the point where independent funding can be obtained.

4.  Candidates may have an R01, however the proposed project will be less competitive if it already has significant funding.  

*Allowable Costs Under this Award:  100% of these funds must be utilized for direct costs.

Apply through the Harvard University Funding Portal

Additional information about this opportunity is available on the Mallinckrodt Foundation website

Eligible Faculty: Assistant, Associate and Full Professors at HMS and HMS Affiliated Hospitals

Focus:  Cancer Research

Nominations Available to HMS:  1   

Funding and Award period:  $100,000 for a two year grant period.*

Eligible Faculty:  Assistant, Associate and Full Professors.  HMS is the sole nominating institution in the Harvard community for this award.  HMS Faculty at the affiliated hospitals must apply through the Foundation funds.

Program Description:  The Mary Kay Foundation Cancer Research Program supports innovative translational researches in ovarian, uterine, breast or cervical cancer. Goal is to improve diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, or treatment of cancers that affect women.

Eligibility Criteria:

1.  Faculty member with ranking of Assistant, Associate or Full-time Professor

2.  Postdoctoral trainees and instructors are NOT eligible

3.  Translational research in ovarian, breast and cervical cancer

*Allowable Costs Under this Award:  Up to 15% of the award may be utilized for indirect costs.

Apply through the Harvard University Funding Portal

Additional information about this opportunity is available on the Mary Kay Foundation website

Packard Foundation Fellowship in Science and Engineering

Eligible Faculty: Assistant Professors at HMS and HMS Affiliated Hospitals

Focus: Biomedical Science and Engineering

Nominations Available to HMS:  2    Harvard University is the official nominating institution.  HMS Nominees will move on to the Harvard-wide competition offered through the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.   

Funding and Award period:  $875,000 over a five year grant period.*

Eligible Faculty:  Assistant Professors.   HMS Faculty at the affiliated hospitals must apply through the Foundation funds.

Program Description:  Candidates must be faculty members who are eligible to serve as principal investigators engaged in research in the natural and physical sciences or engineering and must be within the first three years of their faculty careers. Disciplines that will be considered include physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, astronomy, computer science, earth science, ocean science, and all branches of engineering. Candidates engaged in research in the social sciences will not be considered. The Fellowship Program provides support for highly creative researchers early in their careers; faculty members who are well established and well-funded are less likely to receive the award. Packard Fellows are inquisitive, passionate scientists and engineers who take a creative approach to their research, dare to think big, and follow new ideas wherever they lead. The Foundation emphasizes support for innovative individual research that involves the Fellows, their students, and junior colleagues, rather than extensions or components of large-scale, ongoing research programs

Eligibility Criteria:

1.  Candidates must be within the first three years of their faculty careers.  Specifically, the initial faculty appointment, whether at HMS or another institution before HMS must have begun no earlier than May 31, 2018, and no later than May 31, 2021.   Note: While instructors at HMS are often considered junior faculty and eligible to apply for foundation grants, they may be at a competitive disadvantage in the national selection process.  Instructors should only apply if they had demonstrated academic independence and research that is not an extension of a senior mentor.  Instructors interested in applying should contact the HMS Foundation Funds Coordinator.

2.  Candidates must be engaged in research in the natural sciences or engineering.  Disciplines that will be considered include physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, astronomy, computer science, earth science, ocean science, and all branches of engineering.  The program does not fund clinical research.

*Allowable Costs Under this Award:  $17,500 of the award is available to the institution to compensate for administrative costs.

Apply through the Harvard University Funding Portal

Additional information about this opportunity is available on the Packard Foundation Fellowship website

Eligible Faculty: Assistant Professors at HMS. Applicants must have received their first independent faculty appointment on or between July 1, 2012 and July 1, 2017.

Research Focus:  Basic Biomedical Research

Nominations Available to HMS: 2    Assistant Professors on the HMS Quad.   Faculty at HMS affiliated hospitals are invited to submit separate nominations for this award.  Please contact your research administration representative for details

Funding and Award Period: $150,000 per year for up to two years.*

Eligible Faculty:  Assistant Professors on the HMS Quad.  HMS faculty at the affiliated hospitals should not apply for the HMS nomination but should seek the nomination from their own institutions.

Program Description:  The Smith Family Foundation: Odyssey Award was created to fuel creativity and innovation in junior investigators in the basic sciences. The award supports the pursuit of high impact ideas to generate breakthroughs and drive new directions in biomedical research.  The awards will fund high-risk, high-reward pilot projects solicited from our brightest junior faculty in the region. Faculty who are between 4 and 9 years from their initial faculty appointment who have not received tenure are eligible to apply.

The two-year Award supports established junior faculty engaged in basic biomedical research. Investigators in the physical sciences (physics, chemistry and engineering) whose projects focus on biomedical science are also encouraged to apply. Clinical research will not be supported

Eligibility Criteria:

• Applicants must be full-time, independent faculty at academic research institutions who have not yet achieved tenure or its equivalent by the funding start date of July 1, 2021. 
• Applicants must have received their first independent faculty appointment on or between July 1, 2012 and July 1, 2017. 
• If an applicant has been on medical or family leave, or if research was interrupted for other reasons, this period of absence does not count towards eligibility. In these cases please address any gaps in work history in the Personal Statement on the Biosketch. The chair’s letter must also confirm the leave of absence as well as applicant eligibility.
• Applicants are ineligible if, at the sponsor deadline, they have combined federal and non-federal funding totaling $750,000 or more per year in direct costs. This figure refers to external funding only and not an applicant’s start-up package, other intramural support, or the Smith Award.

*Allowable costs under this award:  5% of these funds may be utilized for indirect costs.

Apply through the Harvard University Funding Portal

Additional information about this opportunity is available on the Smith Family Foundation: Odyssey Awards webpage