The American Cancer Society Professor Award recognizes accomplished cancer researchers with a sustained record of major scientific contributions, leadership, mentorship, and engagement with the cancer research community. Eligible achievements may span fundamental, preclinical, clinical, psychosocial, behavioral, health-policy, or epidemiologic cancer research.
The award provides highly flexible funding that recipients may use at their discretion to pursue creative and innovative cancer research. ACS Professors are also expected to serve as spokespeople for the American Cancer Society and cancer research more broadly.
Eligibility Criteria:
- Beginning with the 2026 cycle, applicants must have held the rank of full professor for at least 5 years but no more than 20 years at the time of application. This time limit does not apply to renewal applications.
- Candidates should have made seminal and impactful contributions to cancer research and demonstrate the potential to continue making contributions capable of changing the direction of cancer or cancer research.
- The mandatory LOI should describe the applicant’s seminal contributions to cancer research, leadership roles, and record of mentoring individuals who have gone on to successful cancer research careers.
- Only a limited number of highly qualified candidates will be invited to submit a full application after LOI review.
- ACS grants and awards are generally made to not-for-profit institutions physically located within the United States and its territories that have the appropriate research infrastructure and administrative capacity.
- For-profit institutions and federal government agencies are generally not eligible recipient institutions under ACS standard grant policies.
Funding Details:
- Award amount: Up to $80,000 per year in direct costs.
- Initial award duration: 5 years.
- Maximum initial award: $400,000 over 5 years.
- ACS supports up to 40 active ACS Professorships at one time, although the actual number may be lower depending on the competitiveness of applications.
- Grant Amount: $400,000 over 5 years
Deadline:
- LOI availability period: June 1 – September 1, 2026.
- Mandatory LOI deadline: September 1, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET.
- Invited full application deadline: December 1, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET.
Further Information:
- Official program information: Visit the American Cancer Society Professor Award page for the latest funding information, eligibility requirements, deadlines, and program updates.
- Letter of Intent requirements: Review the official ACS Professor Award LOI Instructions for the required 2–3-page LOI, Biographical Table, CV, and review process.
- Grant policies: Consult the 2026 American Cancer Society General Grant Policies for detailed institutional eligibility, award conditions, review procedures, and ACS Professor Award policies.
- Application portal: The LOI and invited full application must be submitted electronically through ProposalCentral. Paper LOIs are not accepted.
- Program contacts: Questions may be directed to Melissa Cunningham, PhD, Senior Scientific Director, at melissa.cunningham@cancer.org, or Nicole Lopanik, PhD, Scientist, at nicole.lopanik@cancer.org.