Deadlines
Letter of Intent: September 6, 2024
Submission: December 2, 2024
Award Amount
$600,000 over 4 years
Background
The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) is the largest private funder of lupus research worldwide. The organization aims to transform lupus treatment while advancing towards a cure by funding cutting-edge, innovative research and fostering diverse scientific talent. Addressing the challenges of lupus requires a talented and tenacious workforce capable of decoding the inherent complexity of the disease and devising innovative medicines.
Program Description
The LRA Diversity in Lupus Research Career Development Award (DLR CDA) is designed to foster the development and productivity of outstanding independent, early career underrepresented minority (URM) investigators, who will ideally bridge the gap between the bench and the bedside in lupus and autoimmunity research. The DLR CDA provides robust and sustained support (US$150,000 per year for up to four years) for awardees to establish a competitive research program in areas that reflect the LRA’s strategic priorities, which include 1) defining human lupus heterogeneity by molecular pathology to stratify patients by active disease mechanisms and 2) integrating the research continuum to bring advances to patients. For researchers whose work is outside lupus, the proposed project must be translatable to lupus and focus on how it can cross over to lupus.
Eligibility
At the time of submission of the letter of intent, applicants must hold an MD, PhD, DO, or equivalent academic degree with a faculty or equivalent position and lead an independent research team at an academic, nonprofit, or government research institution.
Applicants must be Early-Stage Investigators. For the purposes of this grant mechanism, an Early-Stage Investigator (ESI) is a Program Director (PD) or Principal Investigator (PI) who has completed their terminal research degree or post-graduate clinical training, whichever date is later, within the past ten years. PDs/PIs holding R01-type awards are eligible to apply. The LRA recognizes that personal circumstances can impact career timelines (e.g., care of a parent/spouse/child/dependent or personal health issues). Applicants who have any questions about their eligibility should contact LRA staff before applying.
Applicants must be members of a racial or ethnic group underrepresented in the science and engineering fields compared to their representation in the US population. For the purposes of this grant mechanism, these racial and ethnic groups are Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, Indigenous American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders. There is no citizenship requirement. Applicants who have previously received LRA funding must also be up to date with all progress and financial reports and other Terms and Conditions of the original award(s) at the time of applying.
For more information about LRA funding opportunities, please see their website.