Funding Opportunity for Innovators and Pioneers

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provide funding for faculty in the medical and behavioral health fields. Please see the announcement below regarding funding for Pioneers (researchers showing exceptional creativity or proposing potentially transforming ideas to address significant problems) and New Innovators (faculty within their first 10 years post degree). Deadlines are in October.

Pioneer and New Innovator Awards

NIH Director’s Pioneer and New Innovator Awards Program

NIH welcomes proposals for 2012 NIH Director's Pioneer Awards and New Innovator Awards for innovative approaches to major challenges in biomedical or behavioral research.

Pioneer Awards:
Up to $2.5 million in direct costs over 5 years
Open to scientists at any career stage.

New Innovator Awards:
Up to $1.5 million in direct costs over 5 years
For early career stage investigators (ESI), defined as those who have not received an NIH R01 or similar grant and are within 10 years of completing their terminal research degree or medical residency.

NIH expects to make at least 7 Pioneer Awards and at least 33 New Innovator Awards in summer 2012. To continue its strong record of diversity in these programs, NIH especially encourages women and members of groups that are underrepresented in NIH research to apply.

The deadline for submitting Pioneer Award applications is October 7, 2011. See the instructions in the Funding Opportunity Announcement RFA-RM-11-004 (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-11-004.html) and http://commonfund.nih.gov/pioneer for more information. Send questions to pioneer@nih.gov.


The deadline for submitting New Innovator Award applications is October 14, 2011. See the instructions in the Funding Opportunity Announcement RFA-RM-11-005 (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-11-005.html) and http://commonfund.nih.gov/newinnovator for more information. Send questions to newinnovator@nih.gov.

The NIH Common Fund encourages collaboration and supports a series of exceptionally high impact, trans-NIH programs. These programs are supported by the Common Fund, and managed by the NIH Office of the Director in partnership with the various NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices. Additional information about the NIH Common Fund can be found at http://commonfund.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) –“The Nation's Medical Research Agency” – includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.