Award amountStipends of $66,000, $68,000, and $70,000 per year
Last checkedJun 24, 2026
Application
American Cancer Society (ACS) Catalyst Awards
Official Request for Applications (RFA) for the ACS Catalyst Award, designed to support early-stage investigators with high-scoring but unfunded research projects.
Must have a doctoral degree; Must work at a US academic institution or eligible nonprofit; Must have an independent faculty appointment or equivalent; Must be within 10 years of initial independent research/full-time faculty appointment; Must not be the PI of more than 1 R01/R01-equivalent award; Must have applied for an ACS Research Scholar Grant in 2024-2025 (scored Outstanding but unfunded) OR an NIH R01 to the NCI in 2024-2025 (scored at or below 15th percentile but...
Requirements
Requested funds must support the project and fall within the scope of the initially submitted grant; Scope of submission cannot be currently funded by another agency
Application materials
Application materials are located on ProposalCentral; Access to materials is granted by the ACS after discussion
How to apply
Discuss applying with the ACS to receive access to application materials on ProposalCentral; ACS Research Scholar Grant applicants should work with their ACS scientific program office; NIH R01 applicants may contact Doug Hurst, PhD, at doug.hurst@cancer.org
Important dates
Application Deadline: Jan. 5, 2026; Application Review: Feb. 2026; Notification: March 2026; Anticipated Grant Start: May 1, 2026
Documents
Catalyst Award Application Instructions; Catalyst Award Policies
Contact
Doug Hurst, PhD: doug.hurst@cancer.org; ACS scientific program office
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