Mid-Career “Bridge to Breathe” Award

The 2025 Mid-Career “Bridge to Breathe” Research Award program is now open for application submissions.

Mid-Career “Bridge to Breathe” Research Awards support mid-career physician-scientists with a successful track record (as evidenced by publications and previous grant funding) who are seeking bridge funding to sustain their research program while resubmitting a grant application for major federal funding or its equivalent.

Award Guidelines

• Applicants must have a track record of success as demonstrated by holding the rank of associate professor with tenure or its equivalent, previous research funding (NIH R01 or equivalent), and a strong publication history.
• Applicants must demonstrate proof of a prior grant application (NIH R01 or equivalent) within the past six months that was not funded and must not hold any concurrent multi-year sources of support (NIH, DOD, ACS, institutional startup, or retention packages).
• Research projects are restricted to clinical lung cancer research, and the applicant must demonstrate the clinical relevance of the research proposed.
• Awards may be for a maximum of $150,000 ($75,000 per year for 2 years)
• Annual milestones must be met

LUNGevity uses a two-step application process:

1. A letter of intent (LOI), with a brief overview of the proposed project and biographical information
2. A full application with an extended narrative about the project, as well as supporting information and documentation. (Because there are a limited number of awards, only a subset of applicants will be invited to submit a full application after the LOI review is completed.)

Reviewers are drawn from LUNGevity’s Scientific Advisory Board and other lung cancer experts. Awardees have progress and financial reporting obligations during their award term.

A complete description of the award, terms and conditions, and instructions are included in the 2025 Mid-Career “Bridge to Breathe” Research Award RFA. All application materials must be submitted via proposalCENTRAL.

2025 Award Timeline