MGH Physician and/or Scientist Development Award 2025-Reissue

Three- or Four-Year Award for Investigators

*with priority given to individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds*

Deadline: Monday, June 2, 2025 at 5:00pm

*Fundamental, Clinical, Translational, and Health Services investigators are all eligible

 

DESCRIPTION OF THE AWARD

Applications for grants are invited by the Center for Academic Development and Enrichment (CADE) and the Executive Committee on Research (ECOR).  $180,000 plus 20% indirect costs will be awarded to be spent over a three or four-year period, with a maximum of $60,000 plus indirect costs per year for 3-year awards and a maximum of $45,000 plus indirect costs per year for 4-year awards.

The MGH Physician and/or Scientist Development Award (PSDA) is designed for MD and/or PhD investigators at MGH with priority given to individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. Please see below for detailed eligibility requirements. This Award is intended to provide transitional funding for support in the development of physicians and scientists, enhance productivity and growth during the early critical years of an academic career, and thereby increase opportunities for these faculty to advance to senior positions in academic medicine at MGB.  

The Center for Academic Development and Enrichment will evaluate the need for this Award on a regular basis.  We encourage applicants to engage with the Center and learn more about our programs and other initiatives.

 

AM I FROM A DISADVANTAGED BACKGROUND?

Disadvantaged backgrounds may include, but are not limited to:

  1. First generation college graduates
  2. Low-income populations
  3. People with disabilities
  4. Those who experience or have experienced homelessness, the foster care system, and/or grew up in a rural area
  5. Being a past recipient of a Pell Grant, Fee Assistance Program, Loan for Disadvantaged Students
  6. Those who have participated in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) as either a parent or child, etc.
  7. Other unique circumstances not included on the above list. Please respond to the Supplemental Statement to describe any situation that would help us understand these unique circumstances 

Mass General Brigham believes that engaging with different ideas, perspectives, cultures and people leads to growth and innovation.  By enhancing the human variation of the research workforce, we are able to break new ground in fundamental and clinical investigation of disease and deliver innovative, culturally competent care to our patients.


AWARD EXPENDITURES, START DATE AND REQUIREMENTS

  • The Award cycle will commence on October 1, 2025.  
  • $180,000 plus 20% indirect costs will be awarded to be spent over a three- or four-year period, with a maximum of $60,000 plus indirect costs per year for 3-year awards and a maximum of $45,000 plus indirect costs per year for 4-year awards as detailed below:

 °Grant funds of up to $60,000 plus 20% indirect costs per year, which can be used only for laboratory assistance, research endeavors and non-capital equipment, may also be used for Awardee salary only with specific advance approval.  Prior to submitting the application, please email ecor@mgh.harvard.edu to request pre-approval to use funds for PI salary support.

 °Funds can also be used for loan repayment up to a maximum of $15,000 per year. Loan repayment funds must be used to repay qualified educational loans and must be based on documented need.  Any funds awarded to repay outstanding loans are taxable.   

  • The Award is non-transferable.  If the Awardee leaves MGH or MGB institution during the duration period of the Award, the Awardee must notify ECOR and CADE and will forfeit any remaining funding or loan forgiveness of the Award.
  • If applicable, approved human or animal use protocols must be current prior to award of funds.
  • The Awardee will be required to submit a yearly progress report and budget to CADE, which must provide details of how the Award funding is being used and accomplishment of goals. The final progress report will include additonal components related to how the award has impacted the recipient's professional and research objectives.
  • The Awardee must:
    • present a talk at least once following the close or during the tenure of their award to the Chester Pierce Research Society, an interdepartmental forum for researchers at MGH
    • submit a yearly abstract of the research the award recipient is being funded
    • submit a poster or ppt slides that will be part of a general presentation at the MGH  Welcome and Recognition Celebration each year, with the exception of the award year.
    • provide an Annual Progress Report 30 days prior to the end of each budget period and a Final Progress Report at the end of the award period.
  • The award recipient will be expected to serve as a resource, advisor and mentor to students and trainees who are part of CADE initiatives. This includes the Summer Research Trainee Program (SRTP) efforts. 
  • Failure to comply with the above requirements may result in the rescission of this Award.

 

ELIGIBILITY

  • Applicants must have evidence that they have excelled in their academic pursuits and demonstrated academic excellence.
  • Priority will be given to physician-scientists and scientist applicants who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
  • Fundamental, clinical, translational and health services research investigators are encouraged to apply.
  • MD and/or PhD required.  The only exception to this is that clinical psychologists in their final PhD training year are eligible.
  • Must have a primary faculty appointment at the MGH throughout the full period of the Award.  The funds must be relinquished if the awardee is no longer at MGHand does not have a primary appointment at an MGB institution. 
  • Applicants and their Supervisors/Mentors must both have full-time primary appointments at MGH during the entire award period.
  • Since this award is intended to retain faculty, applicant must have an academic appointment at the level of Instructor or Assistant Professor, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. If the applicant's academic appointment or promotion is pending, a signed letter from the applicant's Chief must be included with the application. The letter should explain the status of the applicant's academic appointment. The Instructor, Assistant Professor or Associate Professor appointment must be finalized before the PSDA review committee meeting with the exception of graduating clinical fellows who must have an instructor appointment by October 1, 2025, which is the start of the award period.   
  • At the time of application, applicants must be within 10 years of completion of fellowship training.
  • Previous PSDA recipients are not eligible to apply. 

 

REVIEW PROCESS

Proposals will be evaluated and ranked for funding priority by the Subcommittee on Review of Research Proposals (SRRP), whose recommendations will be submitted to ECOR for final approval.  All applicants will be notified of the results by e-mail. The SRRP evaluates all PSDA applications on a merit basis, and considers, among many factors, the applicant’s academic excellence, the research project’s scientific innovation, the importance of this Award to furthering their career development and advancement in academic medicine,  the viability of completing the proposed research project over the Award period, the career support of the applicant’s mentor and chair, as well as considerations of the applicant’s identified distance traveled and unique circumstances.

 

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

The following thirteen items must be included:

1. Title of Research Project

2. Previous PSDA Application(s).  Have you previously applied for a Physician and/or Scientist Development Award?  If yes, please indicate when and provide the title of each research project.

3. Layman's Description of your work (200 words only)

4. Research Plan (5-page limit, excluding references), including:

  • Specific aims
  • Background and significance
  • Preliminary data
  • Experimental design and methods
  • References

5. Three- or Four-Year Project Timeline, ie Gannt chart - List your project timeline and goals for each year during the duration of the project.  Click here to see an example of a Project Timeline.

6. Grant Proposal budget per year for up to 4 years. (The total budget for grant and debt repayment cannot exceed $180,000 with a maximum of $60,000 plus indirect costs per year for 3-year awards and a maximum of $45,000 plus indirect costs per year for 4-year awards). Up to $15,000/ year can be allocated to the loan repayment component of this Award).

7. Debt information for which you are requesting loan repayment. Please provide appropriate documentation from the loan repayment agency.  If you are not requesting loan repayment, please state this in the uploaded document. Documentation should show that the loan repayment amount requested is equal to or less than the balance of the loan.  Please remove personal information from your documentation, e.g. loan account number.

8. Personal Statement (1-page maximum) - in which the candidate states the importance of this Award to furthering their career development and advancement in academic medicine.

9. Supplemental Statement (1- page maximum) The candidate should describe how their background, identity, and/or lived experiences have impacted their personal, educational or career progress and success, as well as any adversity they faced, how they addressed them, and the significance of this experience.   

10.  Disadvantaged background: Please include if any of the following circumstances describes you (check all that apply):

  • First generation college graduate
  • Low-income populations
  • People with disabilities
  • Those who experience or have experienced homelessness, the foster care system, and/or grew up in a rural area.
  • Being a past recipient of a Pell Grant, Fee Assistance Program, or Loan for Disadvantaged Students
  • Those who have participated in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) as either a parent or child, etc.
  • Other unique circumstances. Please describe.
  • Prefer not to answer

11. NIH Biosketch of the applicant. Please click here to see an example of an NIH Biosketch.  

12. Other Support (if applicable). Include the following:

  • List all current and pending research support using the NIH format (Click here for an example of the NIH format.) Please Include the award amount, funding period and effort.  Pending applications include any internal and external funds you have applied for.  

 

  • List sundry accounts as well as any limitations on these sundry funds. Please also list any start-up funding, if applicable and the fund balance. If the funds have been spent down, please indicate a balance of $0. Include the project start date, initial balance and current balance.

13. Two Letters of support:

  1. Department Chair.  This letter must include:
    • If the applicant's academic appointment or promotion is pending as described in the eligibility section of this call, the letter should explain the status of the applicant's academic appointment. 
    • Commitment to continue to retain and support this individual in their career development over time.
    • Potential role this individual will play in the department/division over time.
    • Statement explaining how the funds supplied by this Award (up to $180,000 over 3-4 years, plus indirect costs) will alter the Awardee’s activities and relate to their career goals.
    • Agreement to meet with this individual bi-annually for career planning meetings.
  2.   Mentor.  This letter must include:
    • Description of the mentor’s role in the project.
    • Commitment from mentor to support the Awardee for a minimum of the 3 to 4- year grant period.

 

FORMAT GUIDELINES

  • Use margins of 0.5 inches or greater and 11 pt font size or greater for the Research Plan, NIH Biosketch, Other Support, Personal Statement, Supplemtal Statement and Three- or Four-Year Project Timeline.
  • Upload PDF documents only.  Limit characters to A-Z, a-z and 0-9 when naming PDF documents.  Do not use periods, commas, or dashes in the file name.

 

HOW TO APPLY

ECOR accepts applications online via the Online Grant Management Portal. This user-friendly system will allow MGH researchers to submit electronic applications to ECOR. The system has been designed to allow users to:

  • Create a personal profile which will auto populate your future ECOR applications
  • Assign a delegate to submit applications on your behalf (optional)
  • View current calls and apply to open opportunities
  • Save and edit current applications in progress
  • Submit completed applications
  • View all your ECOR applications that have been submitted via the online grants system

Instructions for Applying Online

  1. Create your account: Login using your MGB credentials and fill-out the profile information.
  2. Complete the application: once your profile is complete, you will automatically progress through the online application. If you cannot complete the application at one time, “save” the application and return to it at a later time to finish. Before submitting your application, you will have the ability to make changes to the application.
  3. Submit your application: once you have completed the application click on the “submit” button at the bottom of the page. Once you submit it, you will not be able to make further changes unless you send a request to ecor@mgh.harvard.edu (note that once the deadline passes, request to make changes will not be accepted).

Useful tips:

  • To avoid losing your work, remember to save frequently
  • You can only upload PDF documents
  • If you previously created a profile, please ensure your information is current

Click "Apply" below to begin the application.
 

QUESTIONS

Click here for the MGH Physician and/or Scientist Development Award FAQ page.

For further information regarding the application process, please email ecor@mgh.harvard.edu.