American Cancer Society — Institutional Research Grant

• Assistant professor within six years of the first independent faculty (or equivalent) appointment.

• Must be eligible to apply as principal investigator for grant support from national agencies.  The applicant cannot be PI of an NIH, NSF, or DoD grant, but can hold career development grants solely intended for salary (e.g., NIH K award). Applicant cannot be PI of an active ACS award of any kind. Investigators with NIH R00 awards are not eligible. Please contact us if you have eligibility questions.

• PI can hold small foundation grants, provided they are not the result of a national peer-reviewed competition and support different projects.  

• Investigator must be independent and have a commitment from the institution for salary and space.

• Individual whose initial nationally competitive research grant was not renewed, and who meets other eligibility criteria is eligible.  Investigators with a grant in a no cost extension are not eligible.

• Applicant is not required to be a US citizen but must hold a visa that will allow them to remain in the US long enough to complete the pilot project.

• Previous ACS-IRG awardees are eligible to apply for a 1-year competitive renewal of their previously funded ACS pilot project grant. Renewal applications must document the progress made against outlined aims over the previous funding period.  Previous awardees may not apply for a pilot grant on a different topic.

• Michael Bouvet, MD, Chair, Review Committee

• Sunil Advani, MD

• Paula Aristizabal, MD

• Aditya Bagrodia

• Lyudmila Bazhenova, MD

• Jack Bui, MD, PhD

• Jay Desgrosellier, PhD

• Samuel Eisenstein, MD

• Gen-Sheng Feng, PhD

• Matthew Hangauer, PhD

• Sheri Hartman, PhD

• Sonia Jain, PhD 

• Jesse Jokerst, PhD

• Shu Mei Kato, MD

• Rana McKay, MD 

• James Murphy, MD

• Hari Narayan, MD

• Jesse Nodora, DrPH

• David Piccioni, MD, PhD

• George Sen, PhD

• Lingyan Shi, PhD

• Jason Sicklick, MD

• Robert Signer PhD

• David Strong, PhD

• Dwayne Stupack

• Irene Su, MD

• Karl Willert, PhD

• Jing Yang PhD

• Peter Zage, MD, PhD

• Patrick Casebolt (ACS Representative)

All research disciplines are encouraged and accepted. The MCC Pilot Grants Program will appoint an independent Review Committee to conduct an NIH-style peer review of applications. The Review Committee will evaluate the following aspects of each application:

Scientific merit of the proposed research, e.g., hypothesis driven, appropriate aims and techniques to attain goals; sound study design that will contribute valuable, valid, and meaningful data.

Significance of the proposed research, e.g., the proposal addresses an important problem and/or a critical need for rapid progress beyond current approaches or applications.

Novelty of the proposed research, advancing the field, e.g., the proposed project capitalizes on unique populations/ environments, specialized expertise, new concepts/ perspectives, innovative methodologies, and/or emerging technologies.

Degree to which the research will have a positive impact on the detection, treatment or prevention of cancer or pre-cancer, and/or patients with cancer, e.g., alignment with the mission of Moores Cancer Center (cancer prevention, detection, and care) and/or American Cancer Society (save lives, celebrate lives, and lead the fight for a world without cancer); what impact could the findings ultimately have on cancer patients and/or their care?

Pilot Project Justification/Likelihood that the project will lead to significant follow-on funding and/or return on investment, e.g., meaningful preliminary data will be generated for potential future grant funding.

Likelihood that the research project will achieve its stated goals given the budget requested, institutional and other available resources.