DoD Breast Cancer Postdoctoral Fellowship Award | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The DoD Breast Cancer Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (BCRP Postdoctoral Award) is a Department of Defense-funded grant program designed to support outstanding recent MD, PhD, or other doctoral graduates who want to build a long-term career in breast cancer research. The main goal is to fund innovative, high-impact projects carried out during postdoctoral training while also giving the applicant the structured mentoring, research environment, and professional development needed to transition into an independent investigator at the leading edge of the field. The program has a long track record, first offered in FY93, and historically has been competitive: across prior years cited in the announcement, 2,250 postdoctoral applications (including fellowship and traineeship submissions) were received and 603 were recommended for funding.

A distinctive feature of this opportunity is that the postdoctoral fellow is treated as the Principal Investigator (PI). That means the trainee, not the mentor, is expected to take ownership of the proposal and write the project narrative, with appropriate guidance from the mentor. Applicants do not need to have an established background in breast cancer research, but the proposed project itself must be clearly centered on breast cancer. Reviewers are instructed to focus heavily on the applicant's potential to become an independent breast cancer researcher, using evidence such as prior achievements, qualifications, and strong letters of recommendation.

Mentorship is a core requirement and is evaluated closely. The mentor (or mentors) must demonstrate genuine, relevant expertise in breast cancer, including a record of peer-reviewed breast cancer funding and publications, along with a clear commitment to guiding both the research and the career development of the PI. The application is expected to explain the mentor's experience conducting innovative research and to describe, concretely, how the mentor will support the fellow's proposed work and training. If the primary mentor is not already an experienced breast cancer researcher, the program requires a formal co-mentor arrangement with an established breast cancer investigator to ensure the fellow has strong field-specific guidance.

Beyond the science itself, the award emphasizes a comprehensive training and career development plan. Applicants must lay out why the proposed research project and training plan are well matched to the goals of the mechanism, describe the quality and suitability of the research environment, and explain how the training program will position the PI to become an independent, innovative breast cancer researcher. A multidisciplinary approach is encouraged, though not mandatory, and if the project or training includes multidisciplinary elements, those components should be clearly described rather than implied.

From a scientific standpoint, proposals must make a persuasive case for impact and innovation in breast cancer, supported by a strong scientific rationale and a thorough review of prior work. In other words, the program is looking for ideas that are not only technically sound, but also meaningfully advance the field and are clearly differentiated from existing approaches or knowledge.

Administratively, the opportunity listed is Funding Opportunity Number W81XWH-10-BCRP-POSTDOC2, offered by the Department of the Army through USAMRAA under CFDA 12.420 (Military Medical Research and Development). It is categorized as discretionary funding for science and technology and other R and D, using grant and cooperative agreement instruments, with no cost sharing or matching requirement. For the cycle described, the program anticipated about 25 awards with an estimated total funding level of $8.1 million. The posting date was October 12, 2010, with an original and current closing date of December 2, 2010, and an archive date of January 1, 2011. Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning it is broadly open to applicants/entities, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications contained in the full announcement.

For assistance, the announcement provides contacts for program announcement access issues (PA HELP at 301-619-7079 or cdmrp.pa@amedd.army.mil) and electronic submission support (eReceipt HELP at 301-682-5507 or help@cdmrp.org), as well as the CDMRP Help Desk.

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