A one-year Young Investigator Award (YIA) from Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, dedicated to oncology fellows or junior faculty pursuing research in drug development. This grant provides $50,000 to support innovative early-phase clinical trials, preclinical drug discovery, pharmacology, or related research aimed at new cancer therapies. It helps bridge the transition from training to independent research for young oncologists specializing in developing novel treatments.
Eligibility Criteria:
- Open to oncology trainees in their final year of fellowship or within ~1–2 years post-fellowship (e.g. in a junior faculty instructor or assistant professor role). Typically applicants are ≤5 years from training completion and ≤ ASCO’s age criteria for “young” investigators (usually ~ ≤ 40).
- Must choose the Drug Development track and propose a project focused on anti-cancer therapy development (e.g. designing early-phase clinical trials, preclinical drug screening, biomarker-driven therapeutics).
- Requires a committed mentor in the research area and an institutional letter of support. Applicant (MD, DO, or equivalent) should be an ASCO member in good standing.
- Applicants should not have been a principal investigator on a major research grant (NIH R01 or equivalent) previously , ensuring this is a mentored, career-development award. International applicants are welcome; proposals from outside the U.S. are eligible as long as mentorship and institutional support are in place.
Funding Details:
- Grant Amount: $50,000 USD for a 1-year period.
- Allowed expenses: Primarily to cover the awardee’s research expenses and effort during the project year. Funds can support lab supplies, data collection, patient accrual costs, and a portion of the investigator’s salary to provide protected research time. Up to $2,500 (5%) may be used for institutional overhead if required (generally, indirect costs are discouraged).
- Additional benefits: YIA recipients receive complimentary registration to the ASCO Annual Meeting and are invited to Conquer Cancer events and networking forums. They are expected to produce a research abstract or manuscript by the end of the award and present results at an ASCO forum.
- Only one Drug Development YIA is awarded for the 2026 cycle (as part of Conquer Cancer’s targeted YIAs), making this a competitive opportunity.
Deadline:
- Full application due by January 29, 2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
- Award notifications will be made in spring 2026, and the funding period runs from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.
Where to go for further information: