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Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation – Clinical Investigator Award

Program Summary

The Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award supports young physician-scientists conducting patient-oriented cancer research. The goal is to increase the number of physicians capable of moving seamlessly between the laboratory and the patient’s bedside in search of breakthrough treatments. The awardee will receive financial support for three years, as well as assistance with certain research costs such as the purchase of equipment. The Foundation will also retire up to $100,000 of any medical school debt still owed by the awardee. The Clinical Investigator Award program is specifically intended to provide outstanding young physicians with the resources and training structure essential to becoming independent clinical investigators.

Definition of Clinical Research

For the purposes of this award, the Foundation’s definition of clinical research will follow the definition set out in “The NIH Director’s Panel on Clinical Research Report to The Advisory Committee to The NIH Director,” December, 1997.

1. Patient-oriented research: Research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator directly interacts with human subjects. This area of research includes: patient-based studies of mechanisms of human disease, diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, clinical trials and development of new technologies for the detection, treatment and prevention of human cancers.
2. Epidemiologic and behavioral studies.
3. Outcomes research and health services research.

Excluded from this definition are in vitro studies that utilize human tissues but do not deal directly with patients. In other words, clinical or patient-oriented research is research in which it is necessary to know the identity of the patient(s) from whom the cells or tissues under study are derived.
Preference will be given to research that adheres to the “Handshake Rule,” meaning that the physician will meet each patient in their research studies.

Research, Training and Development

During each year of the award, the applicant must commit a minimum of 80% of their full-time professional effort to the conduct of research and research career development. The Mentor’s role is to foster the development of the applicant’s knowledge, technical and analytical skills, and capacity for scientific inquiry in the field of human disease-oriented clinical and translational research. The Mentor also acts as an advocate for the applicant at the departmental, institutional, and professional levels.

Selection Criteria

• Excellence of the applicant and mentor.
• Innovation, creativity, quality and originality of the research proposal.
• The commitment of the mentor and institution to the development and training of the applicant as an independent clinical research investigator.
• Evidence of the applicant’s commitment to clinical translational and/or cancer prevention research and their ability to apply advances in laboratory research to clinical problems.
• Importance of the proposed research to the field of cancer and/or cancer prevention.
• Adherence of the proposal to the definition of clinical research as set out on this web page.
• Adherence to the “Handshake Rule.”

Eligibility

• The applicant must be a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident.
• Each applicant must be nominated by their institution.
• The applicant must have received an MD or MD/PhD degree(s) from an accredited institution and be board-eligible.
• The applicant may apply during the final year of their subspecialty training or within the first four years of their initial assistant professorship appointment (cut-off July 1, 2006).
• Candidates may apply up to three times during this eligibility period. Candidates holding or awarded R01s at the time of application are not eligible to apply.
• The applicant must commit to spending 80% of their time conducting research.
• The applicant is required to apply in conjunction with a Mentor who is established in the field of clinical translational cancer research, cancer prevention and/or epidemiology and can provide the critical guidance needed during the period of the award. No more than two Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators will be funded to work with the same Mentor at any given time.

Funding

The $450,000 Award will be for a period of three years. Annually, funding of $150,000 ($100,000 stipend and $50,000 research allowance) will be allocated to the awardee’s institution for the specific support of the Clinical Investigator. A portion of the stipend may be applied to research costs upon request. No part of this award can be used for indirect costs or institutional overheard.

Other Funding

Investigators may receive funding from other sources to support their research. However, no other physician-scientist career development award from a private source (non-federal government) may be held concurrently with the Clinical Investigator Award.  Physician-scientist career development awards from the federal government including the National Institutes of Health (e.g., K-08, K-12, K-23), the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are allowed. Scientific or budgetary overlap with other funded projects is not allowed. Therefore, it is critical that all current and pending grant support for your research be reported to the Foundation and the relationship of that support to the Damon Runyon funded project be explained.  Examples of awards that cannot be held concurrently with the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award include (but are not limited to):

• AACR- Career Development Award
• American Cancer Society- Mentored Research Scholar Grants in Applied and Clinical Research
• ASCO- Career Development Award
• Burroughs Wellcome Fund- Career Award for Medical Scientists
• Doris Duke Charitable Foundation- Clinical Scientist Development Award
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute- Physician-Scientists Early Career Award, Early Career Scientist Competition
• Kimmel Foundation- Kimmel Translation Science Award, Kimmel Scholar Award
• Leukemia and Lymphoma Society- Career Development Program, Scholar Awards

Additional Information 
http://www.damonrunyon.org/for_scientists/more/clinical_investigator_award_overview

Deadlines

Letter of Intent Instructions

• By submitting this form, applicant attests that s/he has read and meets the sponsor's eligibility criteria for this program. The LOI can be emailed to RDS@uic.edu, Attn: Chang Lee.
• OVCR may reserve submission slots for previously submitted but unfunded proposals that received highly competitive ratings from the external sponsor. These will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the Vice Chancellor. For consideration, scanned copies of your complete reviews (not just summary) must be included with LOI.

LOI form: http://tigger.uic.edu/depts/ovcr/research/funding/forms/0600.doc

Depending upon the number of LOIs submitted, OVCR might be required to facilitate an internal peer review process to select UIC’s submission(s) to this program. White paper instructions will be issued to those submitting LOIs, if necessary.

Please contact Chang Lee at clee10@uic.edu or 6-1961 with any questions.

If an authorized principal investigator is not listed above, please consider the limited competition still open. Contact RDS@uic.edu for further information.

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