DoD, Breast Cancer, Innovator Award | W81XWH 20 BCRP INNOV 2

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 20 BCRP INNOV 2

The Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) Innovator Award is a competitive funding opportunity designed to back rare, highly creative scientific leaders whose ideas have the potential to fundamentally change how the field thinks about and tackles breast cancer. Rather than emphasizing a conventional project plan, this mechanism is built around the person: the central question is what unique, paradigm-shifting contribution the Principal Investigator (PI) can make toward accelerating progress to ending breast cancer. The award is intended to provide both resources and intellectual freedom so an established innovator can pursue bold, high-risk, high-reward concepts that may be too unconventional for standard grant programs.

A key feature of this opportunity is the expectation that the PI has a proven history of challenging the status quo and shifting paradigms, either by changing directions within a research area or by transforming approaches to patient care. Applicants are expected to be able to articulate a clear, visionary end-state for how breast cancer could be solved or substantially changed, and to justify why their perspective goes beyond current dogma. The program is explicitly open to innovators from any discipline; prior breast cancer research experience is not required, as long as the proposed effort is clearly focused on breast cancer and applies novel concepts that could move the field forward.

The award also places strong emphasis on leadership, collaboration, and community engagement. The PI is expected to be established in their field and capable of forming and leading effective partnerships, assembling a research team with the expertise needed to meet the goals. In addition, every application must include a mentoring component for promising junior investigators, reflecting the program's intent to cultivate the next generation of innovative thinkers and to stimulate new ideas through structured guidance and career development.

A distinctive requirement is meaningful consumer advocacy involvement. The PI's research team must include at least two breast cancer consumer advocates who are breast cancer survivors (individuals diagnosed with breast cancer) and who are actively involved in a breast cancer advocacy organization. These advocates must be independent lay representatives: they cannot be employees of any organization participating in the application, and their advocacy role must be separate from any professional employment. They should also have enough familiarity with breast cancer issues and appropriate background or training in research to contribute substantively. Their role is to provide objective input on the relevance of the work and its likely impact on people living with breast cancer or those at increased risk, strengthening patient-centeredness and real-world applicability.

In terms of commitment, the PI must dedicate 50 percent of their full-time professional effort to breast cancer research during the award period. This requirement can be met through a combination of effort supported by this award and effort supported by other current funding, but the overall professional focus on breast cancer research must be maintained at the 50 percent level. This signals that the program is intended for innovators who are willing to make breast cancer a major priority during the funding window, even if they are coming from a different discipline.

Administratively, the opportunity is offered by the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, through the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA). The funding instrument type may be a grant or a cooperative agreement, and the activity area falls under science and technology research and development (CFDA 12.420). Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning it is broadly open to many entity types, subject to any additional clarifications in the full announcement. The posting indicates an anticipated single award (ExpectedAwards: 1). The notice lists an award ceiling of 0, which typically signals that applicants need to consult the full program announcement for budget constraints or that the cap is not specified in this summary record. The original opportunity timeline shown includes a creation date of April 30, 2020 and an original closing date of October 6, 2020, indicating this specific listing reflects the FY2020 cycle for the Innovator Award.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD, Breast Cancer, Innovator Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 30, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 06, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for W81XWH 20 BCRP INNOV 2

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