Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease

BWF uses an outside advisory committee composed of distinguished scientists from relevant pathogen and human biology fields to review applications and make recommendations for approval by the Fund’s board of directors. BWF does not provide critiques of unfunded proposals.

Selection is based on a number of factors, including:

• Candidate’s qualifications and potential to conduct innovative research.
• Quality and originality of the proposed research and its potential to advance understanding of fundamental issues of how infectious agents and human hosts interact. Proposals that bring new, solid experimental approaches to under-studied questions will be considered more competitive than proposals that primarily extend work under way.
• Demonstration of an established record of independent research.  Most awardees have demonstrated independence by publishing work without their advisors.  It is not necessary to have an R01 to apply, but successful applicants have frequently obtained independent K or R-series NIH grants or early career grants from other funders.
  

This award can be used to stimulate multidisciplinary work tying together related fields that often have been isolated from one another in practice. For multidisciplinary proposals, applicants should describe how the work proposed takes advantage of prior multidisciplinary training, or should develop a plan for acquiring requisite expertise. This plan might involve collaboration, cross training, or strategies for developing productive ties to researchers in disciplines relevant to this multidisciplinary approach.

This is a career development program as well as a program in support of basic research. It is aimed only at researchers relatively early in their careers. BWF will give considerable weight to applicants’ institutional environments. Institutions should provide detailed evidence that their facilities are adequate for the proposed research, that they are committed to research in areas in which the candidate will work, and that they have taken, or are prepared to take, exceptional steps toward fostering the candidate’s career development.

Candidates will be notified mid-February 2009, about interviews, which will be conducted during the program’s advisory committee meeting in April. Award recipients will be notified and announced in mid-May 2009 and grants will begin on July 1, 2009.