Career Development Award

About this funding opportunity

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APPLICATION Q&A RFP Quick Facts American Heart Association offers career development funding to support healthcare and academic professionals that hold an MD, PhD, DO, DVM or DDS in their first years in basic, clinical or population research science. Awardees will receive $231,000 over a three-year period for salary, fringe benefits and project costs. Career Development proposals are due Tuesday, December 1, 2026 by 3 p.m. CT. Key Dates

RFP posted April 28, 2026 ProposalCentral open: Oct. 1, 2026 Proposal deadline: Tues., Dec. 1, 2026 Award notification: March 2027 Award start: April 1, 2027

Downloadable Career Development Award Request for Proposals (PDF) Important Notes Purpose Eligibility Requirements Budget Restrictions Peer Review

Important Notes Important Notes Proposals must be received no later than 3 p.m. Central Time on the deadline date. Early submission is encouraged. The American Heart Association does not accept late proposal submissions, grant extension requests, or have an appeals process. Before beginning an application, see the Heart Association Application Resources page for requirements that apply to all Association research awards. Also view research Policies and Statements. Proposals must be submitted electronically via ProposalCentral. The system will open eight weeks prior to the application deadline to complete the proposal and upload required documents. Applicants can create required documents in advance; refer to the Application Instructions (PDF). All submissions require the signature of a designated institutional representative. Applicants must be American Heart Association Professional Members at the time of proposal submission. Join or renew when preparing an application in ProposalCentral, or by phone at +1-888-242-2453 or 214-570-5935. Membership processing may take 3-5 days; do not wait until the application deadline to renew or join. The Association expects all mentors associated with training/mentored research awards to maintain active Association Professional Membership, as well.

Purpose Purpose

This grant supports highly promising healthcare and academic professionals, in the early years of one’s first professional appointment, to explore innovative questions or pilot studies that will provide preliminary data and training necessary to assure the applicant’s future success as a research scientist.

The award will develop the research skills to support and greatly enhance the awardee’s chances to obtain and retain a high-quality career position.

Within this award, additional collaboration money has been designated through the California Walnut Commission and the VIVA Physician Research Award. See co-funded opportunities details.

Eligibility Eligibility At the time of application, the applicant must hold an MD, PhD, DO, DVM, DDS, or equivalent post-baccalaureate doctoral degree. Postdoctoral fellows are eligible to apply but must have attained faculty appointment by the time of award activation. Investigators who have been awarded NIH K99/R00 or R01 grants are not eligible to apply. The Association will permit a Career Development Awardee to concurrently hold an NIH K award (other than K99/R00) if there is no budgetary overlap. The awardee must devote at least 10% effort to the Career Development Award. Recognizing the unique challenges that clinicians, in particular, experience in balancing research and clinical activity, this award mechanism aims to be as flexible as possible to enable applicants to develop academic careers in research alongside fulfilling clinical service commitments.

In limited cases, a delay of the award start date may be allowable up to six months. This includes applicants with clinical appointments. Applicants must indicate their intent to delay the start date in the Personal Statement section of their biosketch. All applicants are required to…

Topic areas: Life Sciences and Health, Workforce Development.

Funding amount

This grant provides Varies in funding.

Deadline

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis; there is no single fixed deadline.

Who can apply

This opportunity is open to the following applicant types:

• Not specified by the program.

Eligibility

The program did not publish a separate eligibility statement. See the official opportunity page for the full eligibility criteria.

Agency

Career Development Award is administered by American Heart Association (AHA), listed via American Heart Association.