Vanderbilt may nominate three candidates for the 2014 Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Clinical Investigator Award. This three-year, $450,000 award supports young physician-scientists conducting patient-oriented cancer research. In addition, the Foundation will retire up to $100,000 of medical school debt owed by the awardee.
Preference will be given to research that adheres to the “Handshake Rule,” meaning that the physician will conduct research studies that directly involve patients.
Patient-Oriented Research shall be defined as:
- 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.
- Epidemiologic and behavioral studies.
- 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.)
Eligibility:
- Be a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident.
- Have an M.D. or M.D./Ph.D., completed his/her subspecialty training and be board-eligible.
- Apply within the first four years of initial full faculty appointment (cut-off July 1, 2010).
- Commit to spending 80 percent of their time conducting research.
- Apply in conjunction with a Mentor who is established in the field of clinical translational cancer research, cancer prevention and/or epidemiology.
- 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.
Anyone interested in being considered as Vanderbilt’s nominee must submit the following (in PDF format) to LSO@vanderbilt.edu by 5 p.m. on Dec. 16:
1. Brief (2 page maximum) research plan including summary budget;
2. Brief statement of support from department chair/center director
3. A brief CV or NIH Biosketch
Submissions should reference the program name in the subject line of the email.
Once received, all proposals will be forwarded to an internal review committee that will choose the final nominee. The chosen nominee will submit a full proposal to the Foundation by the Feb. 17, 2014 deadline.
If you have any questions about the Foundation or its interests and priorities, please contact Adele White, adele.white@vanderbilt.edu, director, foundation relations, (615) 936-1599.