Young Investigator Award (YIA)
The Young Investigator Award is CTF’s longest running award program, and provides two-year salary support to early career NF researchers, such as senior doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers, to help them get established as independent NF investigators. Since its inception, several YIAs have made groundbreaking research findings and notable publications through this program, and many have advanced to become leaders in the NF research and clinical communities. The main function of the YIA program has been to serve as a ‘seeding mechanism’ for researchers to secure larger grants, such as from the NIH and CDMRP NFRP.
Drug Discovery Initiative (DDI)
The goal of the Drug Discovery Initiative (DDI) program is to stimulate NF drug discovery by funding researchers proposing to investigate novel or repurposing therapies for NF or to validate new NF targets. Proposals are expected to be short and concentrated on obtaining key preliminary data needed to quickly advance to the next step of drug discovery.
Clinical Research Award (CRA)
The Clinical Research Award (CRA) program aims to advance the development of effective clinical treatments, interventions, and management of patients living with NF. Priority consideration will be given to proposals that:
- Investigate bold, forward-thinking solutions and treatments that could improve the everyday functioning of people with NF.
- Promote new directions for disease management that would likely progress to future large-scale studies with the potential to compete for additional external funding.
The CRA program provides funding for two years for a maximum of $200,000 total per funded application.