CRDF Global Partners with African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer and U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute

CRDF Global’s January 25 deadline is approaching for accepting Letters of Intent (LOIs) from early career African-based cancer researchers for the Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat). BIG Cat is an African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) program supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI). The grant initiative is administered by CRDF Global, an organization that promotes international scientific and technical collaboration through grants, technical resources, training and services in more than 40 countries. Funding for the research award initiative is provided by NCI. Grant awards will be made up to $50,000 USD to each selected African investigator for two-year research projects.
Application details are here. Institutions must submit a LOI to be eligible to submit a full proposal. Applicants with LOIs that demonstrate best potential to contribute to project goals will be invited to prepare proposals for award consideration. CRDF Global will coordinate the peer review.
The primary objectives of the BIG Cat grant initiative are: 1) Support exploratory data collection by African clinicians and scientists engaged in cancer research. 2) Encourage research that spans the cancer continuum, aimed at forming a basis for reducing the burden of cancer in Africa.
The grants are intended to catalyze subsequent applications for funding from NCI, NIH or other funding agencies. Research areas may include descriptive epidemiology, prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment, including supportive and palliative care and behavioral. The Principal Investigator must be a beginning investigator clinician or scientist who received his or her highest degree of study within the past seven years.
“It is commonly believed that diseases like HIV, tuberculosis and malaria pose the greatest public health burden in low and middle-income countries. However, cancer kills more people each year globally than those three diseases combined,” said Siri Oswald, CRDF Global Director of Research Partnerships. “BIG Cat helps expand the capacity for young investigators who will base their careers in their home countries and impact the world by reducing the burden of cancer in Africa,” said Oswald.
African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) was formed in 1983 by expatriate African cancer care workers, scientists and their friends, and is dedicated to the promotion of cancer control in Africa. For information visit www.aortic-africa.org. The U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the U.S. National Cancer Program. Within the NCI, the Center for Global Health (CGH) seeks to help reduce the global burden of cancer. CGH has partnered with AORTIC to help young cancer researchers in Africa launch their careers.
This funding opportunity was created following a scientific writing workshop implemented by CRDF Global and NCI, at the 2015 AORTIC International Cancer Conference in Marrakech, Morocco. Workshop participants consisted of 30 people from Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.