Deadlines
Letter of Intent: September 6, 2024
Submission: December 2, 2024
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 Postdoctoral Award (DLR PDA) is designed to support promising underrepresented minority (URM) scientists with an interest in bridging the gap between the bench and the bedside in lupus and autoimmunity research during their mentored postdoctoral training. The DLR PDA provides robust and sustained support (US$100,000 per year for up to two years) for awardees to generate the scientific data and unique research ideas necessary to transition to an independent research role 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 of 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 and application, applicants must have an advanced degree (MD, PhD, DO, or equivalent) from an accredited institution. At the start of the grant term, applicants must hold a postdoctoral or clinical/medical fellowship at an academic, medical, or research institution. Candidates with medical degrees doing basic or translational research are eligible to apply. Applicants must have no more than four years of postdoctoral research experience at the time of full application submission. Time spent conducting clinical training that does not involve research does not contribute to the four-year research training limit. 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 taken leave from their career and thus fall outside the eligibility timeline should contact LRA staff before submitting a letter of intent to confirm eligibility. 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.