The Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award supports independent young physician-scientists conducting disease-oriented research that demonstrates a high level of innovation and creativity. The goal is to support the best young physician-scientists doing work aimed at improving the practice of cancer medicine. 

The Clinical Investigator Award responds to three recognized realities:

• Though there has never been a more pressing need or more promising time for clinical cancer research, fewer young physicians enter this area of investigation every year.
• The number of institutions committed to training young physicians in the scientific discipline and methodologies of clinical investigation is critically low.
• The burden of medical school debt (averaging over $100,000) discourages many physicians from pursuing careers in clinical investigation.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation’s award offers solutions to these realities. The awardee will receive financial support for three years, as well as assistance with certain research costs such as the purchase of equipment. The Foundation will also retire up to $100,000 of any medical school debt still owed by the awardee.

The Clinical Investigator Award program is specifically intended to provide outstanding young physicians with the resources essential to becoming successful investigators. The goal is to increase the number of physicians capable of moving seamlessly between the laboratory and the patient’s bedside in search of breakthrough treatments.

Definition of Clinical Research

a) Patient-oriented research: Research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator directly interacts with human subjects. This area of research includes: patient-based studies of mechanisms of human disease, diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, clinical trials and development of new technologies for the detection, treatment and prevention of human cancers. 
b) Epidemiologic and behavioral studies. 
c) Outcomes research and health services research.

The applicant must be involved in patient care and be conducting research that has the potential to be translated to impact patients.

Preference will be given to research that adheres to the “Handshake Rule,” meaning that the physician will conduct research studies that directly involve patients. (This rule does not apply to pathologist candidates.)

Research, Training and Development

During each award year, the applicant must commit a minimum of 80% of their full-time professional effort to the conduct of research. [In rare unique circumstances, the CIA Committee may consider an applicant with a very modest reduction of 80% protected time if their Department Chair can provide a compelling reason explaining why a waiver of the 80% requirement should be granted, what percentage of effort will be guaranteed, and what safeguards will be put in place to make sure the individual’s research will not be compromised by their clinical/administrative activities.]

The Mentor’s role is to foster the development of the applicant’s knowledge, technical and analytical skills, and capacity for scientific inquiry in the field of human disease-oriented clinical and translational research.  The Mentor also acts as an advocate for the applicant at the departmental, institutional, and professional levels.

Selection and Review

The Clinical Investigator Award Committee (CIAC) will review applications and select awardees for approval by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation's Board of Directors. CIAC puts a premium on innovation and creativity when reviewing applications.

Selection Criteria

• Excellence of the applicant and Mentor.
• Innovation, creativity, quality and originality of the research proposal.
• The commitment of the Mentor and institution to the development and training of the applicant as an independent clinical, translational, or outcomes based investigator.
• Evidence of the applicant’s commitment to clinical translational and/or cancer prevention research and their ability to apply advances in laboratory research to clinical problems.
• Importance of the proposed research to the field of cancer and/or cancer prevention.
• Adherence of the proposal to the definition of clinical research as set out on this web page.
• Adherence to the “Handshake Rule.” (This rule does not apply to pathologist candidates.)

At the beginning of each review session, the following statement is read aloud: 

As an organization, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has an uncompromising commitment to excellence and values diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its Award Programs. The Foundation seeks to promote gender equality and increase diversity, in all of its forms, throughout our programs. Studies have demonstrated that often subtle and unconscious biases can dramatically affect outcomes in review processes and that by simply acknowledging that unconscious biases exist, we can combat their potential negative impact. To that end, please be aware of your potential unconscious biases when reviewing, scoring and discussing candidates and applications throughout the review process. 

Funding

The $600,000 award will be for a period of three years. Funding in the amount of $200,000 will be allocated to the awardee’s institution each year for the support of the Clinical Investigator.  Funds are intended to be flexible and can be used for a variety of scientific needs including the Investigator’s stipend and/or fringe benefits (up to $130,000 annually), salaries for professional and technical personnel, special equipment, supplies, and other miscellaneous items required to conduct the proposed research.  No part of this grant can be used for indirect costs or institutional overhead.

Other Funding

Investigators may receive funding from other sources to support their research.  However, no other physician-scientist mentored career development award from a private source (non-federal government) may be held concurrently with the Clinical Investigator Award.

Physician-scientist career development awards from the federal government including the National Institutes of Health (e.g., K08, K12, K23), the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are allowed.

Scientific or budgetary overlap with other funded projects is not allowed.  Therefore, it is critical that all current and pending grant support for your research be reported to the Foundation and the relationship of that support to the Damon Runyon-funded project be explained.

Examples of awards that cannot be held concurrently with the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award include (but are not limited to):

• American Association for Cancer Research- Career Development Award
• Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation- A Award Grant
• Conquer Cancer Foundation (ASCO)- Career Development Award
• Burroughs Wellcome Fund- Career Award for Medical Scientists
• Leukemia and Lymphoma Society- Career Development Program, Scholar Awards
• St. Baldrick's Foundation- St. Baldrick's Scholar
• Lymphoma Research Foundation- Clinical Investigator Career Development Award
• Melanoma Research Alliance- Young Investigator Awards

AI Based Application Success Predictor

1. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Exceptional scientific innovation

This is the strongest predictor across the Damon Runyon portfolio.

The Rachleff Innovation Award explicitly states that incremental research will not be funded and seeks exceptionally creative ideas with potential for significant impact on cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment or fundamental understanding.

A strong proposal should introduce something genuinely different:

• New biological mechanism
• New therapeutic concept
• New diagnostic approach
• New technology
• New disease model
• New computational strategy
• New conceptual framework

The key question is:

What is fundamentally different about this research compared with what the field is already doing?

2. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Potential for major impact on cancer

Innovation must translate into significance.

Damon Runyon evaluates whether proposed research could significantly advance:

• Cancer prevention
• Cancer diagnosis
• Cancer treatment
• Basic understanding of cancer biology. 

A competitive proposal should therefore clearly describe the potential consequence of success.

Weak:

"We will identify another pathway involved in tumor growth."

Stronger:

"We will determine whether an unexplored dependency creates a therapeutic vulnerability that could overcome resistance to current treatment."

The reviewer should understand what could change if the project succeeds.

3. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Bold, high-risk/high-reward research

Damon Runyon deliberately funds research that may be too unconventional or insufficiently mature for traditional funding.

The Rachleff Innovation Award is explicitly designed for high-risk/high-reward projects where the investigator has an innovative idea but lacks enough preliminary data to obtain conventional funding.

This means:

High scientific risk + enormous potential payoff

can be a strength.

But:

High risk + no credible scientific rationale

is not.

The proposal needs to show why the risk is justified and what experiments can test the central idea.

4. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Exceptional applicant potential

Damon Runyon is fundamentally an investigator-development funder.

Its eight award programs are designed around identifying and supporting promising young cancer researchers.

The selection committees are composed of internationally recognized scientists who review applications and recommend awardees to the Foundation's Board.

Reviewers therefore consider whether the applicant has the potential to become a future scientific leader, not simply whether the proposed experiment is technically competent.

Important evidence includes:

• Strong publications.
• Original scientific contributions.
• Intellectual independence.
• Clear research trajectory.
• Technical expertise.
• Evidence of unusual scientific creativity.
• Commitment to cancer research.

5. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strong fit between applicant, idea and career stage

Damon Runyon has deliberately differentiated award mechanisms.

For example:

The Foundation's current program portfolio reflects this career-stage structure.

Therefore:

Excellent science + incorrect career-stage mechanism = poor strategic fit.

6. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strong connection between the investigator's track record and proposed breakthrough

The applicant should make a convincing intellectual progression:

Past research → new observation/insight → proposed breakthrough

For the Innovation Award, the Foundation evaluates the applicant's capacity to conduct bold, exceptionally creative research in addition to evaluating the research itself.

The best proposals make reviewers think:

"This particular investigator is unusually well positioned to discover whether this idea works."

7. ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Scientific rigor supporting an ambitious hypothesis

High-risk research does not mean weak methodology.

A competitive proposal should establish:

• Strong scientific rationale.
• Testable hypothesis.
• Appropriate models.
• Appropriate controls.
• Quantitative endpoints.
• Alternative approaches.
• Appropriate statistical methods.
• A logical experimental sequence.

For the Clinical Investigator Award, the Foundation specifically evaluates innovation, creativity, quality and originality of the research proposal along with the importance of the research.

8. ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Translational or clinical significance where appropriate

This predictor is particularly important for the Clinical Investigator Award and translational projects.

The Clinical Investigator Award is intended for young physician-scientists conducting disease-oriented research aimed at improving cancer medicine. Selection includes:

• Commitment to clinical/translational/cancer-prevention research.
• Ability to apply laboratory advances to clinical problems.
• Importance of the proposed research to cancer/cancer prevention. 

Strong translational projects should establish:

Mechanism → biomarker/target → intervention → clinical relevance

Not every Damon Runyon project must immediately reach patients, however; the Fellowship and Innovation programs also support fundamental cancer biology.

9. ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Independence and future scientific leadership

Damon Runyon wants its awards to launch long-term scientific careers.

The Foundation describes its awards as investments in the next generation of cancer researchers, with the objective of enabling scientists to pursue bold research where conventional mechanisms may not provide adequate support.

For early-career applicants, a strong proposal should demonstrate:

• Increasing scientific independence.
• A distinct research niche.
• Ability to lead a research program.
• Appropriate mentorship.
• Long-term cancer research commitment.
• Potential to attract future external funding.

10. ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Need for Damon Runyon funding

This is unusually explicit for the Rachleff Innovation Award.

The Innovation Award evaluates the applicant's lack of resources to pursue the proposed research, and the award is designed for projects that lack sufficient preliminary data for traditional funding.

The proposal should therefore make clear:

Why is this project difficult to pursue through conventional funding right now?

A compelling answer might be:

• Concept is unconventional.
• Preliminary data are insufficient for NIH-style funding.
• Project requires an exploratory proof-of-concept phase.
• Conventional funding mechanisms are too conservative for the proposed risk.