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Individual Biomedical Research Awards

The Hartwell Foundation

The Hartwell Foundation provides funding to individual researchers at eligible research institutions in the United States. The Individual Biomedical Research Awards offer each Hartwell Investigator support for three years at $100,000 direct cost per year.

Each year The Hartwell Foundation announces its Top Ten Centers of Biomedical Research, inviting each center to participate in nominating three individuals for a Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award. From time-to-time, the Foundation may also invite institutions at-large for limited participation in nominating two individuals for the Award. Through a unique and selective funding process, The Hartwell Foundation seeks to inspire innovation and achievement by funding early-stage, transformative biomedical research with the potential to benefit children of the United States. It seeks to fund innovative and cutting-edge applied research that has not yet qualified for funding from traditional outside sources. All Nominees for the Award must hold U.S. citizenship.

Each participating institution in the Hartwell process agrees to identify Nominees by holding an open internal competition of their own design that meets Foundation guidelines. Nominees must be chosen from faculty and research staff drawn from appropriate areas of basic and applied life sciences, including engineering focused on biomedical applications.

As part of the evaluation process, all Nominees submit a formal proposal to the Foundation. A limited number of Nominees will be subsequently invited for a personal, closed interview at the Foundation offices in Memphis, TN. Nominees will be selected for interviews based upon the compelling nature of their research proposal describing innovative, early-stage, cutting-edge biomedical research with the potential to benefit children of the United States. At the interview each candidate will make a concise presentation describing their proposed research.

From the nominees considered in interviews, the Foundation will select at least ten of the most outstanding candidates to receive a Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award, which will be funded in April of the following year.

A unique feature of the Individual Biomedical Research Award is that each Hartwell Investigator receives a video conferencing system to enhance communication with the Foundation and encourage collaboration between other researchers.

All Hartwell Investigators attend the Foundation's Annual Meeting Biomedical Research to present their research results. The annual meeting is typically held the last week of September or the first week of October.

Only investigators nominated by the chief executive of an invited research institution are eligible for consideration for the Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award. Institutions that desire selection consideration should contact The Hartwell Foundation for further information.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

1. Clear potential to benefit children's health (highest predictor)

This is the defining criterion.

Hartwell repeatedly states that funded projects must have the potential to benefit children in the United States. The benefit can be direct (e.g., pediatric diseases) or indirect through technologies, diagnostics, therapies, or biomedical innovations that ultimately improve children's health.

Strong topics often involve:

Pediatric diseases
Genetic disorders
Developmental biology
Pediatric diagnostics
Novel therapeutics
Biomedical engineering for child health
Technologies with future pediatric applications

2. Transformative, high-risk innovation (very high predictor)

Hartwell specifically seeks:

Early-stage research
Transformative ideas
Cutting-edge biomedical innovation
Projects not yet competitive for conventional funding

The Foundation is designed to support work that may be too risky or preliminary for NIH or other traditional funders. Projects that challenge existing paradigms or introduce entirely new approaches are especially attractive.

3. Strategic or translational research orientation

A distinctive Hartwell feature is its emphasis on applied biomedical research rather than purely basic science.

The Foundation identifies two preferred categories:

Translational research that addresses unmet medical needs and could directly affect healthcare outcomes.
Strategic research that solves technical barriers and accelerates future clinical translation.

Projects with a realistic path toward diagnosis, intervention, prevention, or treatment tend to score highly.

4. Early-career investigator with strong independence

Hartwell is essentially a career-accelerating award.

Although senior investigators are eligible, institutions consistently note that mid- and late-career investigators are generally less competitive. Assistant Professors and recently independent investigators are often favored.

Strong applicants typically demonstrate:

Independent laboratory space
Independent research direction
Emerging national reputation
Evidence of scientific leadership

5. Compelling proposal rather than extensive preliminary data

An unusual Hartwell feature is that preliminary data are not required. Instead, reviewers focus heavily on:

Originality
Vision
Scientific rationale
Potential impact
Transformative nature of the idea

This makes Hartwell more similar to programs like the Keck Foundation than to traditional NIH-style funding.

6. Strong translational pathway and unmet need

Successful proposals usually identify:

An important unmet medical problem
Why existing approaches are insufficient
How the proposed innovation could change practice

The Foundation repeatedly highlights projects that accelerate clinical application and improve outcomes for children.

7. Institutional support and nomination strength

Only investigators nominated by invited institutions may apply.

Review criteria include:

Institutional commitment
Technical support
Research environment
Encouragement provided by the institution

Because institutions can nominate only a few candidates annually, winning the internal competition is itself a significant predictor of eventual success.

8. Collaborative advantage

The Foundation explicitly considers:

the extent of collaboration in the proposed research

Projects that combine complementary expertise (e.g., engineering + pediatrics, genomics + clinical medicine, AI + biomedical science) often align well with Hartwell priorities.

Specialties

Biomedical Engineering

Eligibility Requirements

The Hartwell Foundation provides funding to individual researchers at eligible research institutions in the United States.

Eligible Countries:

United States

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: The Hartwell Foundation

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: 6000 Poplar Ave Suite 250, Memphis, TN 38119

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