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Securing seed funding is a huge boost when it comes to getting a research project off the ground.

For ideas of where to start your search, Science magazine links to similar databases that you can browse for funding opportunities. The magazine has a full series on tips for grant writing.

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Starzl Scholar Award

The Starzl Scholar Award provides fellowship salary support as part of our Pre-K program. This award reflects the Dean’s Office's commitment to advancing diversity in biomedical science among our physician-scientist trainees. We hope that through this program, our physician-scientist trainees will be able to advance their research to be competitive for a K award.

The Starzl Scholar Award is currently open and accepting proposals. For details, please visit Starzl Scholar Award.

Physician Scientist Fellowship

The Doris Duke Physician Scientist Fellowship program provides grants to physician scientists at the subspecialty fellowship level who are seeking to conduct additional years of research beyond their subspecialty requirement. The goal is to aid in the transition into a research faculty appointment.

The 2023 Physician Scientist Fellowship is currently open and accepting proposals. The deadline to submit applications is Jan. 13, 2023, at 3 p.m. ET. See the Request for Applications for information on how to apply. 

University Grant Listings

Bookmark the NITRO Competitions site for the most up-to-date listing of internal grant competitions. It's constantly being updated, so check back monthly.

You can sign up for the weekly email list from the Feinberg research office for the latest information and deadlines for relevant grants. Likewise, the Office of Research Development updates its list of federal funding opportunities on a weekly basis. 

Visit Pivot for more curated opportunities, which you can search by keyword.

NIH Grants

NRSA Institutional Predoctoral Training Grants (T32) are the most likely to be relevant to early-career scientists.

For examples of projects funded by the NIH, see The Graduate School of Northwestern University's list of research training grants that are currently active at Northwestern University.

Certain fellowship programs also allow you to apply for NRSA Individual Fellowship Grants (F32), which may help you offset some of your individual costs.

Most NIH Grants require you to submit a biosketch at the time of application. For help, attend a Galter Health Sciences Library course on how to write a biosketch.

NUCATS Voucher & Pilot Programs

The Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS) offers voucher (tier 1: $2,500) and pilot (tier 2: $10,000 programs), which are designed to accelerate research by providing rapid, targeted funding to address small but critical gaps in research. Faculty members will be the principal investigators on these projects, but they may be driven by fellows.

The NUCATS Diversity Supplement Program

The NIH offers Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (PA-20-222) that are specifically designed to “provide support for research experiences for individuals from diverse backgrounds throughout the continuum from high school to the faculty level,” including clinical residents and fellows. These administrative supplements have been an important mechanism for providing mentoring to underrepresented minority (URM) young investigators and trainees on the pathway to independence. The NUCATS Diversity Supplement program provides a mechanism to pair potential mentee/mentor pairs, as well as resources to submit a supplement application.

Foundation Awards

Do some research into the foundations that support your field of medicine. They often offer grants to support research for new treatments and cures. Start by visiting Foundation Center, a database of 140,000 foundations and donors worldwide.