Career Awards for Medical Scientists (CAMS) 2015

Note: We had retracted our call for pre-proposals earlier this year as Burroughs was reconsidering its guidelines. The new guidelines are up, so here is our updated announcement:

The Career Awards for Medical Scientists (CAMS) is a highly competitive program that provides $700,000 awards over five years for physician-scientists, who are committed to an academic career, to bridge advanced postdoctoral/fellowship training and the early years of faculty service. Over its seven-year history, the success rate for this award is nine percent, which makes this program quite competitive. Beginning this award cycle, BWF will make up to two additional awards to clinically trained psychiatrists who focus on research at the interface between neuroscience and psychiatry.  These proposals must clearly demonstrate evidence of integration of neuroscience and psychiatry in project design.  

Eligibility Requirements

The ideal candidate will be two years away from becoming an independent investigator, have at least two years or more of postdoctoral research experience, and have a significant publication record.

Candidates must be nominated by their dean or department chair at the degree-granting institution where they will conduct the postdoctoral/fellowship training under the award. 

• Candidates must hold an M.D., D.D.S., or D.V.M. degree.
• Proposals must be in the area of basic biomedical, disease-oriented, or translational research. Proposals in health services research or involving large-scale clinical trials are ineligible.
• BWF encourages nominations from candidates who work in reproductive science.
• Candidates must be a fellow, resident,  or a postdoctoral researcher and have at least two years of postdoctoral research experience at the time of application.
• Candidates must not be more than 10 calendar years past their most recent earned doctorate degree.  No exceptions will be made.
• Candidates with a clinical degree not awarded in the U.S. or Canada must be fully licensed to practice in the U.S. or Canada or have completed a residency in the U.S. or Canada within the last 10 calendar years.
• Candidates who hold a junior faculty appointment (Lecturer, Instructor, Assistant Professor-non tenure track, etc.) may be eligible if they have been in a faculty position for two years or less at the time of application.  To meet this requirement, the appointment must have begun no earlier than July 1, 2012.
• Candidates must be citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. or Canada at the time of application.  Persons who have applied for permanent resident status but have not received their government documentation by the time of application are not eligible.
• Candidates must be nominated by accredited, degree-granting institutions in the U.S. or Canada.
• Candidates must be committed to a full-time career in research as an independent investigator at a North American degree-granting institution.
• Candidates with tenure-track appointments as an Instructor or Assistant Professor at the time of application are not eligible.
• Candidates that have faculty appointments with institutional start-up funds or hold an R01 grant from the NIH are not eligible.

Application Instructions

Please submit:

1. a two-page letter of intent with a description of proposed aims and approach
2. Biosketch or CV of the PI
3. A letter of support from the Dean or Chair. This letter of support signifies that the Dean or Chair have ensured that the nominee and application are likely to be of sufficient quality to be competitive nationally

to research@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Thursday, July 31, 2014. Full proposals are due to the sponsor on 10/1/14, so you will need to have your materials in to the Office of Sponsored Programs by 9/24/14 for processing, if given the go ahead by the Proposal Review Committee.