Applications for Cancer Research Fellowship

Offered by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, the Damon Runyon Fellowship Award supports theoretical and experimental research relevant to the study of cancer and the search for its causes, mechanisms, therapies, and prevention.

To that end, awards will be made to institutions in support of a fellow under direct supervision of a scientist sponsor (tenured, tenure-track, or equivalent) capable of providing mentorship to the fellow. In addition to aiding in the planning, execution, and supervision of the proposed research, the sponsor's role is to foster the development of the fellow’s overall knowledge, technical and analytical skills, and capacity for scientific inquiry. Fellowships are for a four-year term, with second-, third-, and fourth-year funding contingent on satisfactory progress reports. In addition, fellows in their first and third years of funding will attend Damon Runyon Fellows' Retreats designed to foster collaboration and interaction between scientists working in different fields relevant to cancer.

The first-year stipend is $52,000, with an additional $2,000 expense allowance. The foundation also provides a dependent child allowance of $1,000 per child per year and will retire up to $100,000 of any qualifying medical school debt still owed by the awardee. Payment will be made annually over the course of the award.

Applicants must have completed one or more of the following degrees or their equivalent: MD, PhD, MD/PhD, DDS, DVM, DO.

To receive level-one support, basic and physician-scientists must have received their degrees no more than eighteen months prior to the application deadline date, have not been in their sponsor's lab for more than a year before the application deadline date, and commit to spending 100 percent of their time on Damon Runyon-supported research activities.

To receive level-two support, physician-scientist applicants (MD, MD/PhD, DDS, DVM, or the equivalent) must have completed their residencies and clinical training, be board-eligible in the U.S. at the start date of the fellowship, and be able to devote at least 80 percent of their time to Damon Runyon-supported research activities.