Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellowship Award Overview

PROGRAM SUSPENDED

Effective in 2021, Damon Runyon will no longer offer new awards through the Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellowship Award program. We are restructuring our award programs portfolio and encourage eligible postdoctoral pediatric cancer research applicants to submit applications for the Damon Runyon Fellowship Award.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation remains committed to supporting all theoretical and experimental research that has the potential to provide insights into cancer and improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of all types of cancer.

INFORMATION FOR CURRENT DAMON RUNYON-SOHN PEDIATRIC FELLOWS

Quick Links:

Funding | Terms of the Award | Confidentiality Agreements
Reporting | Publications | Forms for Awardees 

Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellowships are granted for a four-year term with second-, third- and fourth-year funding contingent upon satisfactory progress reports.  Fellows in their first and third years of funding will attend Damon Runyon Fellows’ Retreats designed to foster collaboration and interaction between scientists working in different fields relevant to cancer.

Please click here for a listing of members of the Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellowship Award Committee.

Funding

No part of this grant can be used for indirect costs or institutional overhead. 

Award Stipends

Expense Allowance

The $2,000 expense allowance is awarded to the laboratory in which the Fellow is working and can be used by the Fellow for their educational and scientific expenses. With a written request to the Foundation from the Fellow, the expense allowance may be used to defray the cost of health benefits. The Fellow determines how they would like to spend the money with approval from their sponsor. It is not an allowance for institutional overhead, postdoctoral scholar registration fees or postdoctoral fellowship taxes. Institutions may not automatically deduct any fees from this allowance without the Fellow’s approval. If you have any questions on how the money may be spent, please contact the Foundation (212.455.0520 or awards@damonrunyon.org).

Dependent Child Allowance

The Foundation also provides a Dependent Child Allowance of $1,000 per child per year. (There is no allowance for a spouse.) Eligible Fellows must submit a dependent child allowance form and a copy of the birth or adoption certificate for each child.

Terms of the Award

All awardees must adhere to the terms of both our award statement and our invention policy.

Please note: The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation will not modify the terms of its policies at the request of individual institutions. Policies have been approved by our Board of Directors, and we do not have the resources to negotiate separately with the many institutions that receive our support.

All awards are made to the sponsoring institution for support of the designated Fellow. An award does not constitute an employer-employee relationship between the Foundation and the recipient. Supplementation of stipends is permitted from either the host institution or sponsor’s grants, but not by any other fellowship awards or grants. The total stipend should not exceed the level of support for other professionals at the same level of training in that institution.

Fellows are permitted to obtain additional awards or grants to cover research expenses only. Fellows are not permitted to hold any other award or grant that supplements their stipend. Fellows are required to seek approval from the Foundation before applying for any other award or grant. Budgetary overlap is not allowed. Therefore, it is critical that all current and pending grant support for your research be reported to the Foundation and the relationship of that support to the Damon Runyon funded project be explained.

Damon Runyon-Sohn Fellowship awards are intended for full-time research. Physician-scientists must devote their principal time (at least 80 percent) to Damon Runyon-supported research activities. Activities constituting the remaining 20 percent of time should be clearly specified in the application and in the annual progress report. Damon Runyon-Sohn Fellows are not permitted to pursue additional degrees during the course of their fellowship.

Medical and Family Emergency Leave Policy

The Damon Runyon Foundation will allow up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for illness or a family emergency consistent with their institution's policy. The Foundation must be notified in advance of the leave. The scientist's Damon Runyon Award will be extended to compensate for the time on leave. For example, if an unpaid leave of absence for 3 months is taken, the award will be extended for 3 months in the award year the leave is taken.

Please contact your Institution’s Human Resources Department to find information on Short-Term Disability, State Paid Family and Medical Leave, and/or other resources.

Parental Leave

The Damon Runyon Foundation will allow up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for birth/adoptive parents consistent with their institution’s policy. The Foundation must be notified in advance of the leave.

Visa Status

It is the responsibility of the host institution to make every effort to ensure that awardees are in compliance with federal immigration policy. If a Fellow’s visa status changes and/or expires, preventing the Fellow from working at their designated institution, Damon Runyon must be notified immediately. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in immediate termination of the award and may jeopardize any future awards to the institution and/or Sponsor by the Foundation.

Confidentiality Agreements

Fellows may not enter into confidentiality agreements that prevent or delay them from publishing and/or presenting their Damon Runyon-supported research.

Reporting

SCIENTIFIC

Second-, third- and fourth-year funding of awards is contingent upon satisfactory review of the annual progress reports.  All reports are kept strictly confidential.  The reports serve as an auditing tool to monitor research progress and assure that the Fellow’s research is on target with the funded project.

At the end of the 11th, 23rd and 35th months of funding, the Fellow must submit a detailed progress report, not to exceed three pages, that includes:

1. A summary of research performed during the award year and evaluation of the results. The summary should be technical, but targeted to a general scientific audience.  It should be sufficiently detailed such that the Fellow’s research activities over the award year are clearly articulated.  Figures and references may be included if appropriate.  If the research differs from the originally funded proposal, please provide an explanation.  The report must be signed by both the Fellow and the Sponsor.
2. A brief, lay abstract of research performed during the award year, including how the research is relevant to pediatric cancer.  The lay summary should not exceed one page.
3. A bibliography of publications from the award year (please submit pdf copies of publications).
4. A list of confrences and seminars attended and presentations given during the award year.
5. A brief description of collaborations and partnerships related to the Damon Ryunon-funded research, with either academic and/or industry scientists. Please identify your collaborator(s) and their academic/industrial affiliation(s).
6. A brief description of your participation in any community-based educational mentorship program (e.g. STEM or Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives). 
7. A brief statement describing how COVID-19 pandemic lab closures and/or limited lab access affected your research productivity.
8. A brief summary, from the Sponsor, assessing the Fellow’s scientific progress and professional development.
9. A completed intellectual property disclosure form.
10. A completed expense allowance usage form.
11. A request for Open Access fee reimbursement, if applicable. 

At the completion of the fellowship, the Fellow must submit a detailed progress report that includes:

1. A summary of research performed during the period of the Fellowship and evaluation of the results. The summary should be technical, but targeted to a general scientific audience. It should be sufficiently detailed such that the Fellow’s research activities over the award period are clearly articulated. Figures and references may be included if appropriate. The report must be signed by both the Fellow and the Sponsor. The report should not exceed three pages.
2. Two abstracts (one lay and one scientific) of their accomplishments over the term of the award, including how the research is relevant to pediatric cancer.
3. A bibliography of all publications resulting from the research (submit pdf copies of publications).
4. A list of conferences and seminars attended and presentations given during the award year.
5. A brief description of collaborations and partnerships related to the Damon Runyon-funded research, with either academic and/or industry scientists.  Please identify your collaborator(s) and their academic/industrial affiliation(s).
6. A brief description of your participation in any community-based educational mentorship program (e.g. STEM or Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives). 
7. A brief statement describing how COVID-19 pandemic lab closures and/or limited lab access affected your research productivity.
8. A statement indicating how the Damon Runyon-Sohn award made a difference to the Fellow.
9. If you received COVID-19 extension funding, a statement addressing how this additional support impacted your research career.
10. A statement of future plans.
11. An up-to-date curriculum vitae.
12. A brief summary, from the Sponsor, assessing the Fellow’s scientific progress and professional development.
13. A completed intellectual property disclosure form.
14. A request for Open Access fee reimbursement, if applicable. 

Financial

The institution’s financial officer must maintain a separate account including receipts for each fellowship, and this account must be available for audit by representatives of the Foundation.  Reports of expenditures on forms provided by the Foundation must be submitted within 60 days of the end of each award year.  Any unexpended expense allowance may be carried over to the next award year, but any unexpended stipend must be returned to the Foundation at the end of each fellowship year.  Upon termination or expiration of the fellowship, a final report of expenditures, with the refund of any unexpended balance, must also be submitted within 60 days.

Financial Expenditure Report Preparation Guidelines:

1. Please use the Damon Runyon Fellowship Financial Expenditure Report form.
2. Indicate any carry-over of the previous year’s expense allowance in the second row as an amount received in addition to the current year’s $2,000 allowance.
3. If the expense allowance was used for travel, please provide the following details:
   a.  name and location of scientific meeting or conference attended
   b.  dates of meeting/conference
   c.  use of funds; restricted to registration fee, lodging, meals, transportation (if by train or plane, must be coach class ticket only).
4. If the expense allowance was used for supplies, please provide a list of the general categories of the supplies.  If any one piece of equipment purchased costs $1,500 or more, please provide the name of the item, date of purchase, and price.
5. The only allowable purchases that may be listed in the “other” category are:
   a.  health insurance (if requested by the Fellow)
   b.  scientific subscriptions
   c.  contact our office for approval of any items not listed here
6. The Foundation requires that the Dependent Child Allowance be reported as received in the annual financial report, but does not require reporting on how the allowance is spent.

Publications, Presentations and Websites

Publications (including abstracts of presentations at scientific or clinical meetings) resulting from projects supported by the Foundations must carry the following acknowledgment: “[Name of Awardee] is a Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellow supported by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and The Sohn Conference Foundation (DRSG-#[___]).”

Contact awards@damonrunyon.org if you do not know your DRSG.

Awardees should identify themselves as Damon Runyon-Sohn Fellows, particularly when presenting their work at professional conferences.  Download a copy of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation logo for inclusion in Power Point presentations or posters.

Damon Runyon-Jake Wetchler Award for Pediatric Innovation

The Damon Runyon-Jake Wetchler Award for Pediatric Innovation is given annually to a third-year Damon Runyon Fellow whose research has the greatest potential to impact the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of one or more forms of pediatric cancer. The research can be focused on basic mechanistic or translational studies, as long as it has the potential to impact pediatric cancers. The award is a one-time $5,000 prize and the winner will be announced at the Fellows’ Retreat in September. The application is due on or before August 15, 2022. 

Damon Runyon-Jake Wetchler Award for Pediatric Innovation Application Guidelines

Damon Runyon-Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists

At the end of the Fellowship, there are often a select few Damon Runyon Fellows who have greatly exceeded the Foundation’s highest expectations.  To catapult their research careers—and their impact on cancer—the Foundation will make an additional investment in these exceptional individuals by selecting them as recipients of the Damon Runyon-Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists. Damon Runyon-Sohn Fellows are eligible to apply for the Dale F. Frey Award one time only, in the fourth year of their award.

Forms for Awardees

Award Statement
Award Acceptance Form
Loan Repayment Form
Dependent Child Allowance Form
Expense Allowance Usage Form
Expenditure Report Form
Invention Policy
Intellectual Property Disclosure Form
Progress Report Form- Year 1
Progress Report Form- Year 2
Progress Report Form- Year 3
Progress Report Form- Final

Contact Information

Award Programs | 212.455.0520 | awards@damonrunyon.org