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Damon Runyon Fellowship Award

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation

The Foundation encourages all theoretical and experimental research relevant to the study of cancer and the search for cancer causes, mechanisms, therapies and prevention including molecular approaches to cancer prevention for inherited cancers.

Candidates must apply for the fellowship under the guidance of a Sponsor—a scientist (tenured, tenure-track or equivalent position) capable of providing mentorship to the Fellow. In addition to aiding in the planning, execution and supervision of the proposed research, the Sponsor’s role is to foster the development of the Fellow’s overall knowledge, technical and analytical skills, and capacity for scientific inquiry. The Sponsor is also expected to assist the Fellow in attaining their career goals.

Awards are made to institutions for the support of the Fellow under direct supervision of the Sponsor. Candidates who have already accepted a postdoctoral research fellowship award are not eligible. (Candidates may hold a T32 at the time of application, but not concurrently with the Damon Runyon Fellowship Award.)

Selection and Review

The Fellowship Award Committee will review applications and select awardees for approval by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation’s Board of Directors.

The primary criteria used to evaluate applicants are:

the quality of the research proposal (importance of the problem, originality of approach, appropriateness of techniques and clarity of presentation)
the qualifications, experience and productivity of both the candidate and the Sponsor
the quality of the research training environment in which the proposed research is to be conducted and its potential for broadening and strengthening the candidate's ability to independently conduct innovative and substantive research. The proposed research and training environment should represent a new opportunity for the candidate to expand their scientific skill set. Direct extensions of the candidate's graduate work (in approach, technique or exact area of study) will not be funded.

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.

Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Research Fellowships are granted for a four-year term with second-, third- and fourth- year funding contingent upon satisfactory progress reports. Fellows in their first and third years of funding will attend Damon Runyon Fellows' Retreats designed to foster collaboration and interaction between scientists working in different fields relevant to cancer.

Please note that it is the policy of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation not to share reviewers' written comments.

Expense Allowance

The $2,000 expense allowance is awarded to the laboratory in which the Fellow is working and can be used by the Fellow for their educational and scientific expenses. With written request to the Foundation from the Fellow, the expense allowance may be used to defray the cost of health benefits. The Fellow determines how they would like to spend the money with approval from their sponsor. It is not an allowance for institutional overhead, postdoctoral scholar registration fees or postdoctoral fellowship taxes. Institutions may not automatically deduct any fees from this allowance without the Fellow’s approval. Pre-award and/or pre-fellowship award year spending is not allowed. If you have any questions on how the money may be spent, please contact the Foundation (awards@damonrunyon.org).

AI Based Application Success Predictor

1. Exceptional Innovation (Strongest Predictor)

Damon Runyon explicitly prioritizes bold, creative, high-risk/high-reward science. The Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award is specifically intended for "novel, exceptionally creative" projects with the potential for major impact rather than incremental advances.

Successful applicants often propose:

New biological concepts
Transformative technologies
Unconventional approaches
Paradigm-shifting hypotheses

2. Outstanding Applicant Productivity

Review committees place major emphasis on the candidate's:

Publications
Scientific accomplishments
Research productivity
Evidence of creativity and independence

For Fellowship Awards, the qualifications and productivity of both the applicant and sponsor are among the primary review criteria.

3. High-Impact Cancer Question

Competitive projects address fundamental or clinically important problems in:

Cancer biology
Cancer prevention
Cancer diagnosis
Cancer therapeutics
Tumor evolution
Immuno-oncology

Reviewers evaluate the importance of the scientific question as a core criterion.

4. Outstanding Sponsor and Research Environment

For fellowships and training awards, Damon Runyon strongly evaluates:

Sponsor quality
Mentorship record
Research environment
Institutional strengths

The Foundation specifically states that the training environment should broaden and strengthen the applicant's ability to become an independent investigator.

5. Evidence of Independence

One recurring feature of funded applicants is movement toward scientific independence.

The Foundation specifically discourages projects that are simply direct extensions of graduate work and prefers proposals that help investigators expand their expertise into new areas.

6. Interdisciplinary and Quantitative Approaches

Recent Damon Runyon initiatives have heavily supported:

Computational biology
Artificial intelligence
Quantitative biology
Engineering approaches
Systems biology
Mathematical modeling

Researchers who combine multiple disciplines often align well with Damon Runyon priorities.

7. Leadership Potential

Damon Runyon seeks scientists likely to become future leaders in cancer research.

For the Breakthrough Scientist Award, reviewers explicitly assess:

Leadership potential
Ability to transform the field
Long-term scientific trajectory

These same themes appear throughout the Foundation's award portfolio.

8. New Scientific Direction

For Fellowship applicants, one of the clearest published criteria is that the proposed research should provide a new training opportunity and not simply continue prior graduate work using the same approaches and questions.

9. Cancer Relevance and Translational Potential

Although Damon Runyon funds both basic and translational science, successful projects generally maintain a clear connection to improving cancer prevention, diagnosis, or treatment.

10. Proposal Quality

Reviewers explicitly evaluate:

Clarity of presentation
Appropriateness of methods
Feasibility
Logical design

Even highly innovative projects must be presented with a rigorous and convincing research plan.

Specialties

Cancer

Oncology

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must have completed one or more of the following degrees or its equivalent: MD, PhD, MD/PhD, DDS, DVM, DO. The applicant must include a copy of their diploma to confirm date of conferral. (If an applicant has not yet received their PhD diploma but has successfully completed all PhD requirements, including PhD defense, they may submit a letter from the graduate school explicitly stating such, with the date of the successful PhD defense and date of degree conferral.)

Level 1: Basic scientists must have received their degrees no more than 18 months prior to the application deadline date. Applicants must not have been in their Sponsors' labs for more than one year prior to the application deadline date and are expected to devote 100% of their time to Damon Runyon-supported research activities.

Level 2: Physician-scientist applicants (MD, MD/PhD, DDS, DVM, DO or the equivalent) must have completed their residencies and clinical training, must be board eligible in the United States at the start date of the Damon Runyon Fellowship, and be able to devote at least 80% of their time to Damon Runyon-supported research activities. Applicants may apply at any time prior to their initial assistant professorship appointment (or equivalent); postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows and clinical instructors are eligible to apply. Candidates holding or awarded NIH K awards at the time of application are not eligible to apply. Candidates holding institutional K12 awards may apply, but must turn-back K12 funding if they are awarded a Damon Runyon Fellowship.

All applicants must include a copy of their diploma to confirm date of conferral. (See Deadlines chart.)

The proposed research must be conducted at a university, hospital or research institution.

Candidates working in a structured postdoctoral research program at a for-profit institution may apply. If awarded, the for-profit institution will pay the Fellow's salary directly. (If the institutional salary is less than that received by Damon Runyon Fellows, Damon Runyon will supplement that amount to equal the stipend of other Damon Runyon Fellows.) Awardees will have all the privileges and responsibilities extended to other Damon Runyon Fellows, and are required to adhere to the guidelines and policies of the Fellowship Award.

No more than two Damon Runyon Fellows will be funded to work with the same Sponsor at any given time (including Co-Sponsors).

Only one fellowship application will be accepted from a Sponsor or Fellow per review session (including Co-Sponsors); there is no limit, however, to the number of applications from an institution.

Postdoctoral training in the same institution in which the applicant received their degree is discouraged, particularly if it is in the same department. (If either situation applies, the applicant must address the reason(s) in their application.) Proposals to continue training in the laboratory where the applicant received their PhD will not be considered. Proposals that are direct extensions of graduate work will not be funded.

Candidates who have already accepted a postdoctoral research fellowship award are not eligible. (Candidates may hold a T32 at the time of application, but not concurrently with the Damon Runyon Fellowship Award.)

Candidates who are pursuing a degree are not eligible.

Candidates applying to work in foreign-based or United States government laboratories may be awarded a fellowship if the program represents an unusual opportunity for postdoctoral training.

Foreign candidates may apply to do their research only in the United States.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: One Exchange Plaza 55 Broadway, Suite 302 New York, NY 10006

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