DoD Lung Cancer, Career Development Award | W81XWH 20 LCRP CDA

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 20 LCRP CDA

The DoD Lung Cancer Research Program (LCRP) Career Development Award (FY20) is designed to help early-career investigators build independent research careers in lung cancer while completing a high-impact, discovery-focused project under the guidance of an established mentor. The intent is not only to fund a specific study, but also to provide the structure, mentoring, and protected time that can accelerate a promising researcher toward long-term productivity and leadership in the lung cancer field. Applications that include collaborations with Department of Defense (DoD) military treatment facilities or laboratories, as well as Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers and research laboratories, are strongly encouraged, reflecting the program's interest in research that connects to military and Veteran health needs.

A central feature of this opportunity is its emphasis on supporting investigators who are genuinely early in their independent careers. The Principal Investigator must be a research-scientist or physician-scientist within five years of their first faculty appointment (or an equivalent independent position). This requirement signals that the award is meant to serve as a launching point for independence rather than a supplement for already-established labs. Alongside this, the program places real weight on mentorship: the Mentor is expected to be an experienced lung cancer researcher with a strong record of funding and publications, and they must show clear commitment to developing the PI's career. In practical terms, the proposal should make it obvious that the mentor relationship is active and intentional, not just a name on the application.

Career development is treated as a core deliverable, not an afterthought. Applicants must include a detailed Career Development Plan created with mentor input that lays out a coherent strategy for building the skills, expertise, and professional positioning needed to work at the forefront of lung cancer research. The plan should explain how the PI will gain new research experience, strengthen technical or conceptual capabilities, and move toward scientific independence. Because the award is structured around development, the institution must also demonstrate commitment by guaranteeing at least 40 percent protected time for the PI to conduct the proposed lung cancer research, with the program noting that more protected time is highly desirable. This protected time requirement is a key signal that the award is meant to meaningfully shift the PI's day-to-day workload toward building a sustained lung cancer research trajectory.

The research component is expected to be impactful and discovery-oriented, with the goal of catalyzing major advances that could meaningfully accelerate progress toward reducing deaths and suffering from lung cancer. Notably, preliminary data are not required, which lowers a common barrier for new independent investigators and encourages well-reasoned, innovative proposals. That said, the application still must demonstrate logical reasoning and a strong scientific rationale, meaning reviewers will be looking for clear hypotheses or objectives, a persuasive explanation of why the approach is likely to work, and a thoughtful plan for executing the research.

Relevance to Military Health System beneficiaries is explicitly required. Applicants should clearly explain how the work matters to Service members, Veterans, and their families, whether through risk factors, exposure histories, screening and diagnosis challenges, treatment responses, survivorship issues, or other military- and Veteran-relevant contexts. This relevance statement is not just a formality; it is part of the program's mission alignment and should be integrated into the framing of the problem and the anticipated impact.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a Department of Defense opportunity managed through the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA). The funding opportunity number is W81XWH-20-LCRP-CDA, listed under CFDA 12.420, and it allows funding through either a grant or cooperative agreement mechanism. Eligibility is described as unrestricted (open broadly to applicant organizations, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications in the full announcement). The original posting date was March 23, 2020, with an original closing date of August 3, 2020, and the program anticipated making three awards. The award ceiling is listed as 0 in the source record, which typically indicates that applicants need to rely on the full announcement for the specific budget limits and constraints rather than assuming a published cap.

• 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 Lung Cancer, Career Development 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 Mar 23, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 03, 2020. (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 3 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 20 LCRP CDA

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