Melanoma Research Alliance Grants – Overview
The Melanoma Research Alliance is an independent organization dedicated to funding melanoma research, not a funding arm of the American Cancer Society.
These grants aim to fund innovative and high-impact cancer research performed by hundreds of aspiring scientists and expert healthcare professionals, especially those early in their careers.
These cancer research grants are offered to educational and research institutions throughout the United States.
Aim of Melanoma Research Alliance Grants
The Melanoma Research Alliance, under the guidance of the ACS, funds various types of research activities related to cancer.
For instance, the Extramural Discovery Science (EDS) team is formed to review and fund research programs at eligible research institutions in the US that can help cancer patients and their loved ones.
The main aim of the grant department is to identify the most creative aspiring investigators from across the US.
The department supports the investigators engaged in the most innovative cancer discovery research by using an independent, rigorous, highly competitive and utterly anonymous peer-review process.
The grant department is committed to maintaining a cancer research portfolio with all types of cancers. It covers the cancer research continuum and is aligned with the department’s research priorities.
The main priority is to focus on health equity with particular emphasis on solving the social determinants of health that result in cancer health disparities. The priority also includes funding innovative solution-centric health equity research.
Melanoma Research Alliance Grants
The focus of Melanoma Alliance Research Grants
The main focus of Melanoma Alliance research grants is to fund research studies that concentrate on four distinct points:
1 – Discovery Research
This involves experiments about cells, animals, people, and genes to find new or improved understanding of an action, process technique, health behavior, technology or model to improve care.
2 – Research continuum
This includes the entire scope of research, called “bench to bedside”. The study can be performed at a research lab, in clinical trials, with healthcare providers and healthcare systems as well as within communities.
3 – Social determinants of health
These include studies to identify non-medical factors influencing health and healthcare services. These include the condition and environment people are born into, live, work, play, and age.
These are factors that affect a wide range of health, quality of life, and functioning along with outcomes and risks, as well as the economic, social, and political systems that shape the conditions of daily lives.
4 – Structural/Systemic racism
The grant studies may also focus on normalized cultural, historical, political and institutional practices that govern society and benefit Caucasians and are disadvantageous for people of color.
These can include educational systems, housing policies and employment practices that reinforce and perpetuate inequalities among racial groups.
Top 3 Melanoma Research Alliance Grants
Here is a list of grants offered by the Melanoma Research Alliance:
1 – Discovery Boost Grants (DBG)
The Discovery Boost grants (DBG) support high-risk, high-reward exploratory cancer research across the research continuum.
These include research where investigators are focused on developing research methodologies, leading pilot tests and establishing feasibility.
The grantee expects the research’s preliminary data to have the potential to secure additional grant funding to advance their study and open new and highly innovative areas for cancer research.
This grant’s eligibility criteria require applicants to work at a US-based, eligible non-profit organization or an academic institution besides having an independent faculty appointment.
Successful applicants can receive awards of US$ 100,000 for up to 2 years of direct research costs, including 20% allowable indirect expenses.
To find out more details about this melanoma research grant, you can visit the official website at https://www.cancer.org/research/we-fund-cancer-research/.
2 – Institutional Research Grants
Institutional research grants are awarded to academic institutions as block grants. This provides the seed money for newly independent investigators to start cancer research projects.
This grant aims to support junior faculty in beginning cancer research projects to obtain preliminary data that will allow them to compete effectively for national research grants.
This grant’s eligibility criteria require applicants to work at a US academic institution or an eligible non-profit organization.
The applicant should have attained the Associate or Full Professor rank and have a track record of mentoring junior investigators and publishing medical articles.
Besides this, the applicant should have leadership and administrative experience as a director or deputy director of a research program, research center, or research department.
Under this grant, successful applicants can receive around US$ 120,000 for up to 3 years to cover direct costs only. Besides this, applicants can also receive 3 pilot grants of US$ 40,000 each for one year.
To learn more about this research grant from the Melanoma Research Alliance, you can visit the official website at https://www.cancer.org/research/we-fund-cancer-research/apply-research-grant/grant-types/institutional-research-grants.html.
3 – Diversity in Cancer Research Institutional Development Grant (DICR IDG)
The Diversity in Cancer Research (DICR) program by the American Cancer Society aims to enhance diversity in the cancer research workforce by improving the number of under-represented minorities in the bio-medical field.
The DICR offers the Institutional Development Grant (IDG) to enhance faculty competitiveness at minority-serving institutions.
This is to help and support faculty development and retention when they apply for nationally competitive grants.
The eligibility criteria for this grant require applicants to be instituted into 4-year degree-granting institutes.
These include accredited medical schools, colleges, and universities in the United States designated federally as Minority-Serving Institutes (MSI).
Apart from this, individual applicants should be full-time faculty at a federally designated MSI, Associate or Full Professor, and have a track record of extramural cancer research funding, mentoring junior investigators and publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Under this funding scheme, a total budget of US$ 2.63 million has been assigned for a 4-year project to support 26 trainees and junior faculty members. For additional information, you can visit the official website at https://www.cancer.org/research/
Conclusion
The American Cancer Society (ACS) offers funds and grants to promote better cancer research.
These grants are meant to boost the competitiveness and research efforts of investigators actively involved in finding new and innovative ways to combat the cancer threat.
See Also
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Grants
Does Medicare Cover Cancer Treatment
Chemotherapy Patient Education
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