DoD Breast Cancer, Era of Hope Scholar Award | HT942524BCRPEOHS2

Opportunity Information: Apply for HT942524BCRPEOHS2

The DoD Breast Cancer Era of Hope Scholar Award is a highly competitive grant opportunity from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) that is designed to back early-career researchers who look like future leaders in breast cancer research. The emphasis is on the person rather than a single project: applicants are expected to show they are unusually creative and productive scientists with a track record of innovative thinking, strong vision, and the ability to build effective collaborations. The core idea is to identify investigators who can push the field in new directions, challenge current dogma, and make distinctive, high-impact contributions that move the needle toward ending breast cancer.

While prior breast cancer experience is not required, the proposed work must be clearly focused on breast cancer, and the Principal Investigator must commit at least 25 percent effort to breast cancer research during the award. The program explicitly encourages applicants coming from other disciplines who can bring fresh concepts, tools, or perspectives into breast cancer research. Applicants are also encouraged to assemble a team that provides the expertise needed to reach their goals, with collaboration treated as a key strength rather than an optional add-on.

A major structural requirement is meaningful consumer advocacy involvement. The research team must include at least two breast cancer consumer advocates who are breast cancer survivors and are actively involved in a breast cancer advocacy organization. These advocates must be independent lay representatives (their advocacy role cannot be tied to employment), and they cannot be employees of any organization participating in the application. The program expects these advocates to have enough knowledge of current breast cancer issues, plus appropriate background or training, to contribute constructively. Their job is to provide objective input throughout the research effort, particularly around relevance, feasibility, and potential impact for people living with breast cancer or at risk for it.

The opportunity also highlights several priority-aligned directions the DoD wants to see. Applicants are encouraged to consider the recommendations of the Metastatic Cancer Task Force, which focuses on accelerating clinical and translational research to extend the lives of patients with advanced-stage and recurrent cancer, and to propose ideas that fit those recommendations as long as they remain within the scope of this funding mechanism and the FY24 Breast Cancer Research Program priorities. The announcement also encourages innovative work involving nuclear medicine and related techniques, especially where it could improve early diagnosis, enable more effective treatment, and strengthen health outcomes for active-duty Service Members and their families through noninvasive diagnostics, precision imaging, and advanced targeted therapies. In addition, CDMRP signals interest in research that addresses conditions affecting women uniquely, disproportionately, or differently than men, including studies that analyze sex as a biological variable and connect anticipated findings to improved womens health outcomes or to advancing knowledge specific to womens health.

Relevance to the military community is required in a broad sense: the proposed research must be applicable to active-duty Service Members, Veterans, military beneficiaries, and/or the American public. Collaborations between military or Veteran institutions and non-military institutions are strongly encouraged because they can combine complementary infrastructure, expertise, and access to unique clinical populations, ultimately improving the chances that the research will translate into real-world impact for the Warfighter, military families, and the broader public.

From a study design standpoint, clinical trials are allowed, using the federal definition under 45 CFR 46.102 (human subjects prospectively assigned to interventions to evaluate effects on health-related outcomes). The announcement also clarifies how it distinguishes clinical trials from broader clinical research. Observational studies using human data, specimens, or interactions that do not test intervention safety or efficacy are considered clinical research (for example, studies of disease mechanisms, biomarker and imaging diagnostics, health disparities, technology development, epidemiology, behavioral research, and certain outcomes or health services research). Certain in vitro studies using de-identified specimens that cannot be linked to living individuals may be excluded if they meet Common Rule exemption criteria.

This is a discretionary grant opportunity administered by the Department of the Army, USAMRAA, under CFDA 12.420, with unrestricted eligibility listed. For FY24, the anticipated direct costs for the full period of performance should not exceed $3.5 million. CDMRP expects to allocate about $5.4 million total to make roughly one award, so the program is structured as a single, flagship-style investment in a standout investigator. Awards using FY24 funds are expected to be made no later than September 30, 2025, and those funds are anticipated to remain available for use until they expire on September 30, 2030. The original application closing date for this opportunity is August 6, 2024 (Funding Opportunity Number: HT942524BCRPEOHS2).

• The Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Breast Cancer, Era of Hope Scholar Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-06-11.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-08-06. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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