Applications due Nov. 11
This is a joint competition for VU and VUMC investigators. All investigators should follow these instructions.
Vanderbilt (VU and VUMC combined) may submit one Scholar (Career Development) Award proposal for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation spring grant cycle. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a nonprofit organization raising funds for childhood cancer research. All projects must have direct applicability and relevance to pediatric cancer.
The Scholar (Career Development) Award is meant to help develop the independent research of highly qualified individuals still early in their careers. This award is granted for two years with an opportunity to apply for an additional three years of funding based upon the demonstration of significant accomplishment. Funding for years one and two will be up to $110,000 per year (up to $115,000 per year for years three through five), to be used entirely for the scholar’s salary and fringe at the applicant institution.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Adolescents and young adults
- Survivorship, outcomes and quality of life
- Supportive care
- Epidemiology and pediatric cancer predispositions
- Precision medicine
- Alternative and complementary therapies
There is particularly high interest in the following (research on these conditions may qualify for an additional institutional submission, and therefore may receive priority):
- Brain tumors – all types, including rare forms
- Burkitt lymphoma
- Complementary and alternative therapies
- Hepatoblastoma
- Langerhans cell histiocytosis
- Rhabdoid tumors
Eligibility requirements
Applicant eligibility
- Research projects must have direct applicability and relevance to pediatric cancer. They may be in any discipline of basic, clinical, translational or epidemiological research.
- Applicants should hold a Ph.D., M.D. or D.O. degree in a field of research specialty by the date the award becomes effective.
- Applicants must currently hold (for no longer than seven years at the time the award begins), or will hold by start of the award, a title that is considered by the institution to be a full-time faculty position. (Contact lso@vanderbilt.edu with any questions about eligible positions.)
- This is an early career award. The scholar award is intended to develop the independent pediatric cancer research careers of highly qualified investigators, not to support well- established or senior investigators.
- Scholars may receive funding from other sources to support their research. However, no other comparable or higher (monetary value) career development award may be held prior to or at the time the award begins. Scientific or budgetary overlap with other funded projects is not allowed.
- Applicants holding or awarded R01s at the time of the LOI are not eligible to apply. Applicants cannot hold an NIH K award at the time that they apply (institutional K12 funding is allowable). If other awards are received after application, adjustments to the scholar award may be possible – see guidelines.
- Applicants must have an appropriate sponsor who provides supervision, facilities and research support. If appropriate for the project, applicants may have more than one sponsor.
Additional conditions of award
- Scholar awards are to be used entirely for the scholar’s salary and fringe at the applicant institution. Other personnel and/or non-personnel costs are NOT allowed on scholar awards.
- No institutional overhead or indirect funding is allowed.
- The scholar must devote no less than 40 percent effort to the funded project.
- Baldrick’s funds may not be used for human embryonic stem cell research.
Applicants should review full eligibility and budget requirements in the scholars grant guidelines document.
Internal selection process
Anyone interested in being considered as Vanderbilt’s nominee must submit the following (in a single PDF) to LSO@vanderbilt.edu by 5 p.m. on Nov. 11, 2021.
- Research plan (two-page max.)
If your research will focus on any of the six high-interest areas listed above, please identify the area
- Letter of support from department chair/center director;
Letter must additionally acknowledge that this grant does not allow indirect costs.** This statement can be used/modified within the letter: “The department recognizes that this grant does not allow indirect costs and will commit to covering any associated indirect costs per applicable school/institutional policy.”
- NIH Biosketch or brief CV (five-page max.)
Submissions should reference the program name in the subject line of the email. Following internal selection, Vanderbilt’s nominee(s) will submit a letter of intent to St. Baldrick’s by Dec. 3, 2021.
**Process for cost-sharing typically coordinated at the departmental level and approved by department chair and/or dean. Please consult LSO@vanderbilt.edu for further guidance.