DoD Breast Cancer, Era of Hope Scholar Award | W81XWH 19 BCRP EOHS

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 19 BCRP EOHS

The DoD Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) Era of Hope Scholar Award is a competitive federal funding opportunity from the Department of Defense (Department of the Army, USAMRAA) designed to support early-career scientists who have already shown unusual promise to make a real, lasting impact on breast cancer. The program is aimed at people who stand out as top-tier researchers in their fields, with clear evidence of exceptional creativity, strong productivity, and an ability to see problems differently. Just as important, applicants are expected to have a track record of building effective collaborations and to show convincing potential to become future leaders in breast cancer research.

A defining feature of this award is that it is centered on the person rather than a conventional project proposal. In other words, reviewers are not only judging whether a set of experiments is technically sound; they are judging whether the Principal Investigator (PI) has the vision and intellectual boldness to push breast cancer research in new directions. The application is expected to communicate a clear, compelling research vision that challenges current assumptions in the field, goes beyond established methods, and explains how the PI will make an innovative contribution toward the overarching goal of ending breast cancer. The award encourages applicants to articulate how their ideas break from tradition or dogma and why their approach could meaningfully change how the field thinks about breast cancer.

Although the award is focused on breast cancer outcomes, prior experience working specifically in breast cancer is not a requirement. This is intentional, since the program actively welcomes outstanding scientists from other disciplines who can bring novel concepts, tools, or perspectives into breast cancer research. However, even if the PI comes from a different research area, the proposed work must clearly and directly focus on breast cancer. In addition, the PI must commit at least 50 percent of their total full-time professional effort during the award period to breast cancer research. That effort can be supported through this award alone or combined with other sources of funding, but the expectation is that breast cancer becomes a major professional focus throughout the performance period.

The opportunity also places strong emphasis on team science and meaningful stakeholder engagement. The PI is encouraged to build a research team with the expertise needed to achieve the program goals, and a specific requirement is that the team include at least two breast cancer consumer advocates. These consumer advocates must be breast cancer survivors who are actively involved in a breast cancer advocacy organization. They must participate as independent lay representatives rather than as part of their employment role, and they cannot be employees of any organization involved in the application. The advocates are expected to have enough knowledge of current breast cancer issues, and appropriate background or training in research, to contribute substantively. Their role is to provide objective, patient-centered input throughout the research effort and to help keep the work aligned with real-world impact for people who have breast cancer or are at risk for developing it.

A further requirement is relevance to military health. The proposed research must be connected to the healthcare needs of military Service members, Veterans, military beneficiaries, and/or the broader American public. This reflects the BCRP mission of funding research that can translate into meaningful health benefits for populations served by the Department of Defense and, by extension, society at large.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary funding opportunity that can be issued as either a grant or a cooperative agreement under CFDA 12.420. Eligibility is described as unrestricted (open to any entity type, subject to any additional eligibility language in the full announcement). The funding opportunity number is W81XWH 19 BCRP EOHS. The posting indicates a very limited number of awards are expected (2), and the award ceiling is listed as 0 in the summary data (which typically signals that applicants need to consult the full announcement for budget structure, allowable costs, and any practical funding limits). The opportunity was created January 22, 2019, with an original closing date of March 28, 2019.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Breast Cancer, Era of Hope Scholar Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 22, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 28, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for W81XWH 19 BCRP EOHS

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