Career Development Award

About this funding opportunity

Applying for a LUNGevity Award Career Development Award

The 2026 Career Development Award program is now open for application submissions.

The Career Development Award supports future research leaders who will keep the field of lung cancer research vibrant with new ideas. Research projects that will be funded in 2026 are expected to have a direct impact on the early detection of lung cancer and/or individualized lung cancer treatment, including through targeted therapy and immunotherapy. This award is open to applicants in the US only. Award Guidelines Applicants must hold a doctoral degree and be within the first five (5) years of his/her first faculty appointment with any academic institution, including research institutions that are not formally associated with a university and have completed a postdoctoral training fellowship. This is a mentored award. A mentoring plan is required as part of the application. Awards may be for a maximum of $300,000 ($100,000 per year for 3 years). Annual milestones must be met.

Note: LUNGevity will grant only one award per institution.

LUNGevity uses a two-step application process: A letter of intent (LOI), with a brief overview of the proposed project and biographical information A full application with an extended narrative about the project, as well as supporting information and documentation. (Because there are a limited number of awards, only a subset of applicants will be invited to submit a full application after the LOI review is completed.)

Reviewers are drawn from LUNGevity’s Scientific Advisory Board and other lung cancer experts. Awardees have progress and financial reporting obligations during their award term.

A complete description of the award, terms and conditions, and instructions are included in the 2026 Career Development Award RFA"). All application materials must be submitted via proposalCENTRAL"). 2026 Career Development Award Timeline

LOIs due: February 17, 2026, 11:59 pm EST Invitations to apply: No earlier than March 30, 2026 Applications due: May 11, 2026, 11:59 pm EDT Award announcement: Late summer 2026 Award start date: November 1, 2026

Topic areas: Life Sciences and Health, Education and Training.

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 LUNGevity Foundation (LUNGevity), listed via LUNGevity Foundation.