Applications due June 15
These instructions are for VU investigators. VUMC investigators should visit the OOR funding opportunity site.
Vanderbilt University may submit one nominee for the Susan G. Komen Career Catalyst Research grant opportunity.
Overview
This grant mechanism aims to foster promising breast cancer researchers who are in the early stages of their faculty careers by providing support for up to three years of “protected time” for research career development under the guidance of a mentor committee. Career Catalyst Research grants provide up to $150,000 per year (combined direct and indirect costs) for up to three years ($450,000 total).
Applicants must be early career investigators that currently hold a faculty appointment or have a formal offer letter from the institution that confirms position and start date by the application due date (Oct. 2, 2025) and have not held any faculty appointment, including non-tenure and tenure track appointments combined, for more than a total of six years by the application due date.
Research projects must be hypothesis-driven, breast cancer-focused studies. They may be considered basic, translational, clinical and/or population science in nature and should align with Komen’s research priorities and/or mission to save lives from breast cancer. Komen’s research priorities are conquering metastatic and aggressive breast cancers; advancing personalized breast cancer care throughout the continuum of care; and improving health outcomes for everyone impacted by breast cancer.
- Metastatic breast cancer-focused studies may include, but are not limited to, the development of novel treatment strategies for existing metastatic disease, strategies to prevent or arrest metastasis and late recurrence, and innovative approaches to detect new or recurrent metastatic breast cancer.
- Precision medicine-focused studies aim to identify the most effective and appropriate strategies to treat, detect, diagnose, and prevent disease based on genomic, biological, environmental, economic, lifestyle and social characteristics.
- Applications focused on improving health outcomes may expand our understanding of the biological, behavioral, social, and systems contributors to disparities in breast cancer care and outcomes and lead to new ways to treat breast cancer and/or novel approaches to improve access and utilization of timely, high quality breast cancer care.
- Applications that leverage data science (includes artificial intelligence and other analytical methods applied to data aggregated from multiple sources, such as electronic health records, other clinical data, administrative databases, large data repositories, genomics and other -omics data, etc.) are also encouraged.
Eligibility
- Must have a doctoral degree, such as M.D., Ph.D., Dr.P.H., D.O., or equivalent.
- Must currently hold a full-time faculty appointment or have a formal offer letter from the institution that confirms position and start date by the application due date (Oct. 2, 2025), documented by the applicant/PI biosketch and letter of institutional support.
- Must not have held any faculty appointment, including non-tenure and tenure track appointments combined, for more than a total of six years by the application due date (Oct. 2, 2025), documented by the applicant/PI biosketch and letter of institutional support. All positions that are considered as “faculty” positions by the applicant/PI’s institution (or prior institution) count towards the six-year limit. This may include positions such as instructor, research fellow or other non-tenure track faculty positions as appropriate. All faculty positions and terms must be verified by the letter of institutional support which must also include information regarding a pathway to independence if the applicant is not already leading their own research lab.
- Must not simultaneously hold any other grant awarded by Susan G. Komen.
- Must not currently be or have been a Principal Investigator on an existing NIH R01 grant or their equivalent as of the date of award notification (on or around April 15, 2026).
- Must conduct the proposed research and training at the lead mentor’s U.S. based institution.
- Must have adequate space and facilities to conduct the proposed research and must be able to devote at least 75 percent of full-time effort to breast cancer research and activities, i.e., protected research time.
- Must ensure that all past and current Komen-funded grants are up to date and in compliance with all Komen requirements; e.g., progress report submissions, IRB approvals, etc. by the letter of intent due date (July 24, 2025), if applicable.
- Is not required to be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
See the program announcement and funding opportunities website for more information.
Internal Application Instructions
Interested faculty should visit https://vanderbilt.infoready4.com/#freeformCompetitionDetail/1983479 to submit an application for the internal LSO competition and to find additional information about the opportunity. The deadline for the internal competition is June 15, 2025.
Any questions about this opportunity or the LSO process may be directed to VU-LSO@vanderbilt.edu.
