Greetings,
We are excited to share this early career funding opportunity from Health Resources in Action (HRiA). The Smith Family Awards Program for Excellence in Biomedical Research aims to launch the careers of newly independent biomedical researchers with the ultimate goal of achieving medical breakthroughs. More information about the award can be found in the synopsis and links below. For a full list of currently open opportunities that have been announced through our office, please visit our new Current Opportunities web page. As a reminder, our Research Development team is available to provide proposal development support to FAS ladder faculty.
- OSP Deadline: June 17, 2026 at 9 AM ET
Departments or areas may require additional time for proposal review and submission. Please discuss a timeline with your departmental or FORA grants administrator.
- Sponsor Deadline for Initial Applications: June 23, 2026 at 12 PM ET
- Award Amount: $400,000 over three years
- The award total is inclusive of 5% overhead per year. This falls short of the 15% overhead required by FAS/SEAS policy; however, because these are early career awards, FAS/SEAS recognizes this indirect cost limit and does not require further action, such as a waiver or direct charge of other costs.
- Expenses eligible for support include the recipient’s salary and fringe benefits; salaries and fringe benefits of personnel essential to the project for their work as it directly relates to the project; publication of scientific data; travel to scientific meetings; laboratory and data processing supplies; and other direct expenses such as equipment essential to the project. Award funds may only be used for salaries in proportion to the percent effort on the project. However, percent effort may exceed the percent of total remuneration requested.
Program Overview
The Smith Family Awards Program for Excellence in Biomedical Research, sponsored by the Smith Family Foundation, is managed by Health Resources in Action (HRiA). HRiA is a non-profit organization that partners with individuals, organizations, and communities to transform the practices, policies, and systems that improve health and advance equity. The mission of the Smith Family Awards Program is to launch the careers of newly independent biomedical researchers with the ultimate goal of achieving medical breakthroughs. Applications focus on all fields of basic or translational biomedical science and may also be submitted by investigators in physics, chemistry, and engineering. While basic research projects involving human subjects, data, and samples are eligible, clinical trials research is beyond the scope of this program. Studies in a wide range of problems in diverse biological systems will be considered.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be based at a nonprofit academic, medical, or research institution in Massachusetts or at Brown University or Yale University and their affiliate research hospitals. Research projects must be conducted within the entity that is submitting the application.
- Full-time tenure-track (or equivalent) research faculty who have received or will receive their first independent research faculty appointment (normally tenure-track Assistant Professor) on or between October 1, 2024 through April 1, 2027 are eligible to apply.
- United States citizenship is not required.
- Collaborations with researchers within and/or outside the applicant’s institution are welcome but not required.
- Applicants are ineligible if, at the time of application, they have combined federal and non-federal funding totaling $350,000 or more in direct costs in either of the first two years (4/1/27-3/31/28 or 4/1/28-3/31/29) of the three-year Smith Award. This figure refers to external funding only and not an Applicant’s start-up package, other intramural support, or the Smith Award.
- If an applicant is notified on or prior to 12/1/2026 that they have been successful in securing federal or non-federal grant support which, when combined with other support, totals $350,000 or more in direct costs in either of the first two years of the Smith Award, the application to the Smith Excellence Program will be ineligible for review. Notification of funding after 12/1/2026 will not impact eligibility for a Smith Family Award.
- Applicants are also ineligible if they were previously or are currently a Principal Investigator or Multiple PI (NIH), Co-PI (NSF), or equivalent on an R01, P01, Pioneer Award, New Innovator Award or similar large awards from other federal agencies or national foundations.
- Award recipients must have at least 75% time protected for research.
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Interested PIs from SEAS are asked to please contact Diane Schneeberger (dls@seas.harvard.edu), and interested PIs from FAS Science should contact Laura Wipf (laura_wipf@fas.harvard.edu), to discuss this requirement before preparing an application.
Initial Application Materials
Selection Criteria
Review committees have traditionally been composed of researchers from diverse disciplines including bacterial and eukaryotic geneticists, immunologists, neurobiologists, developmental biologists, cancer biologists, and transcriptional regulation experts, who can assess a wide range of biological proposals. Review criteria include:
- Impact - high potential to lead to a fundamental advance in basic biology or a substantial advance in translational biology
- Applicant - capacity to develop a sound research plan and carry out the proposed project, plus demonstrated institutional commitment
- Research Project - clear research question and hypothesis, based on sound precedents and a clear rationale, and an appropriate, feasible study design
Additional Information and Resources
Applicants are encouraged to review the 2027 Smith Excellence Initial Stage Guidelines (which include proposal writing tips), Terms of Award, and Initial Stage FAQs. Initial proposals must be submitted through HRiA's application portal. The HRiA Award Manager User Guide is available as a reference.
This program follows a two-stage application process. All eligible candidates may submit an initial proposal, and the program's Scientific Review Committee will invite a subset of applicants to submit full proposals due in October 2026. Final notifications will be made in February 2027. Up to five awards are anticipated. The project period will be April 1, 2027 through March 31, 2030.
Last year’s Smith Excellence Awardees are featured on HRiA's website. Applicants may also view the program's full Alumni Directory. Recent Harvard recipients include: Carolyn Elya (MCB, 2025), Ryan Nett (MCB, 2024), Richard Liu (CCB, 2023), Kara McKinley (HSCRB, 2021), Mansi Srivastava (OEB, 2016), Ya-Chieh Hsu (HSCRB, 2014), Ethan Garner (MCB, 2012), Emily Balskus (CCB, 2011).
Questions from FAS or SEAS faculty about this opportunity may be directed to research_development@fas.harvard.edu. |
