Brief Description:

The Smith Family Foundation: Odyssey Award was created to fuel creativity and innovation in junior investigators in the basic sciences. The award supports the pursuit of high impact ideas to generate breakthroughs and drive new directions in biomedical research. The awards will fund high-risk, high-reward pilot projects solicited from our brightest junior faculty in the region. Faculty who are between 4 and 9 years from their initial faculty appointment who have not received tenure are eligible to apply.

The two-year Award supports established junior faculty engaged in basic biomedical research. Investigators in the physical sciences (physics, chemistry and engineering) whose projects focus on biomedical science are also encouraged to apply. Clinical research will not be supported

Description:

Application Information:

In support of your application, please upload the following as one single PDF document:

Summary of proposed research (Limit 2 pages. May include an additional page for references and additional figures).
Statement of resources/facilities available for the project as is standard for NIH grants (Limit 1 page)
Nominating letter signed by your department or division head AND co-signed by a research sponsor or mentor. If your department head is your research mentor then only one signature is required (Limit 2 pages).
Current NIH biosketch including publications and current and pending sources of funding. (Limit 5 pages)

Style requirements:
Font size must be 11 points or larger.
Type may be no more than six lines per inch.
All copies will be printed in black and white, no exceptions.

Eligibility Criteria:

Applicants must be full-time, independent faculty at academic research institutions who have not yet achieved tenure or its equivalent by the funding start date of July 1, 2020.
Applicants must have received their first independent faculty appointment on or between July 1, 2011 and July 1, 2016.
If an applicant has been on medical or family leave, or if research was interrupted for other reasons, this period of absence does not count towards eligibility. In these cases please address any gaps in work history in the Personal Statement on the Biosketch. The chair’s letter must also confirm the leave of absence as well as applicant eligibility.
Applicants are ineligible if, at the sponsor deadline, they have combined federal and non-federal funding totaling $750,000 or more per year in direct costs. This figure refers to external funding only and not an applicant’s start-up package, other intramural support, or the Smith Award.

Review Criteria:

The HMS Foundation Funds Committee advises department heads, mentors, and candidates to be particularly aware of the Committee’s selection criteria when making nominations:

Research proposal--clarity and feasibility
Relevance to award/area of research
Career trajectory
Letter of support
Publications
Current funding

Additional Information, Related Websites, and Proxy Instructions:

Only HMS Quad located faculty may apply through the Foundation Funds Program. Faculty at HMS affiliated hospitals are invited to submit separate nominations for this award.

Search Filters:

Institution

Harvard Medical School (Quad)

Position

Assistant Professor

Type of Competition

Limited Submission

Discipline

Basic Science
Translational Science

Type of Award

Early Career
Prize/Award