The American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant Provides "Seed Money" to Support New Investigators
This is the 17th year of an American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant (ACS IRG) that was awarded to the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) to support promising new research by early career faculty members.
The principal investigator of the IRG is Tonya Webb, PhD., Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Marlene and Stewart Greenbaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine.
The new ACS-IRG application deadline is Friday, October 30, 2026.
Investigator Eligibility
IRG pilot grants are intended to support independent, self-directed investigators early in their careers. To be eligible, applicants must:
- Be part of the University of Maryland system.
- Hold an independent faculty or faculty-equivalent appointment and have the facilities, resources, or space customary for an independent investigator.
- Be within six years of their first independent research or faculty appointment.
- Be eligible to apply for independent national competitive research grants.
- May not currently hold an NIH R01 or R01-like grant. For purposes of the ACS Institutional Research Grant Program, an R01-like grant is defined as an award that is more than three years in duration and greater than $100,000 per year in direct costs.
Recipients of IRG pilot grants are not required to be US citizens; however, any applicant who is not a US citizen must hold a visa that will allow him or her to remain in the US long enough to complete the IRG pilot grant.
Those with non-faculty level positions (e.g., residents, fellows) are not eligible.
Research Project Criteria
Applications are requested that focus on one of the two following themes:
- Cancer-Related pilot projects that are relevant to any aspect of basic, translational, and clinical cancer research. ($40,000 maximum per project for direct costs, indirect costs are not allowed.)
- Pilot projects that focus on population health and address a variety of clinical, cancer control, behavioral, epidemiologic, health policy, health services, and basic science issues. ($40,000 maximum per project for direct costs, indirect costs are not allowed.)
Application Process
All applications must be submitted via the application portal:
For questions regarding this application, please contact:
Danielle Stegman
Research Administrator, SOM Oncology Program
Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center
dstegman@som.umaryland.edu
IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT SUBMISSIONS for 2022 and beyond:
- The internal routing form must be included for committee review and signed by the PI.
- Supporting documentation is not required; however should you want to add them (i.e., letters of support, photocopies of VISAS, Green cards, or progress notes), there is a place to upload them in the application portal as a separate combined pdf document.