Threasher Research Fund Early Career Awards

Program Summary
The Fund recognizes that young investigators may find it difficult to remain in pediatric research because of a lack of funding. Therefore, the purpose of this program is to encourage the development of medical research in child health by awarding small grants to new researchers, helping them gain a foothold in this important area. The goal is to fund applicants who will go on to be independent investigators. The Fund will make up to 30 awards total with two funding cycles (15 awards each).

Research Interests
The Fund is open to a wide variety of research topics. We do not focus on a particular ​disease, but all our funded projects deal directly with children's health.

In the Early Career Award Program, the Fund is particularly interested in applicants that show great potential to impact that field of children's health through medical research. Both an applicant's aptitude and inclination toward research are considered. The quality of the mentor and the mentoring relationship are also considered to be important predictors of success.

Eligibility
Those eligible to apply include:

1. Physicians who are in a residency/fellowship training program, or who completed that program no more than one year before the date of submission of the Concept Paper.

2. Post-doctoral researchers who received the doctoral level degree no more than three years prior to the date of submission of the Concept Paper.

A new investigator who holds a National Institutes of Health (NIH) K award (including a K12 award) or a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) is not eligible to apply for the Early Career Award.
Each project needs to be under the guidance of a mentor. The qualifications and experience of the mentor will be considered in the evaluation of the application. A mentor may have only one Thrasher Research Fund Early Career Awardee at a time.

There are no restrictions with regard to citizenship. The Fund is open to applications from institutions both inside and outside the United States.

There are normally two application cycles per year