SUPPORTING BIOMEDICAL INNOVATION AND DISCOVERY BY EARLY-CAREER INVESTIGATORS
For the past 32 years, the Smith Family Foundation has been supporting groundbreaking medical research through the Smith Family Awards Program for Excellence in Biomedical Research. Its mission is to launch the careers of newly independent biomedical researchers with the ultimate goal of achieving medical breakthroughs. Applications focus on all fields of basic biomedical science and may also be submitted by investigators in physics, chemistry and engineering. Since 1992, the Program has funded 197 scientists for a total investment of $44.1 million.
Three year awards in the amount of $400,000 (inclusive of 5% overhead per year) target new faculty who are within three and a half years of their first independent appointment by the start of funding on April 1st. Applicants must be full-time faculty at nonprofit academic, medical or research institutions in Massachusetts, at Brown University or at Yale University. Further details regarding the eligibility requirements may be found in the “Application Guidelines” document.
In order to ensure that the strongest research candidates from eligible institutions are able to apply, the Smith Family Foundation is a two-stage application process in which the institutional nomination process is eliminated, and any eligible candidate is invited to submit an initial proposal. Applicant eligibility must be verified by the relevant department Chair and the institution’s Office of Sponsored Research or the initial proposal will not be considered. There is no limit on the number of applicants from a given institution. The Scientific Review Committee will select a subset of initial applicants to invite to submit full proposals.
