The Pew Charitable Trusts
Pew-Stewart Scholars Program for Cancer Research

Limited $300,000 funding opportunity for Stanford assistant professors with UTL, UML, and NTLR faculty appointments of outstanding promise in science relevant to the advancement of a cure for cancer. The candidate must not have been appointed as an assistant professor at any institution prior to June 13, 2018 and it is expected that they will spend at least 80 percent of their time in work or activities related to the accomplishment of their overall research goals. A university-wide internal selection process is required.

Internal Stanford Cancer Institute Deadline: May 4, 2022 (see internal submission guidelines below) 
Date applicant will be notified by SCI: May 11, 2022
Nomination form will be submitted to the sponsor: May 18, 2022
Once the Pew program office has received the online nomination, login information will be emailed directly to the applicant.  The online application will be open June 13, 2022.
If invited to submit a full proposal, please alert your institutional representative asap.
Institutional representative (RPM/RMG or CGO/OSR) deadline: August 25, 2022
Full proposal deadline: September 1, 2022

Program Details

Pew-Stewart Directory of Scholars

How to Apply

The award provides $300,000 in flexible support—$75,000 per year for a four-year period.

Not more than 8 percent ($24,000) of the total award value may be allocated for facilities and administration (F&A) charges or indirect costs (IDCs).

Candidates must meet all of the following eligibility requirements:

• Hold a doctorate in biomedical sciences, medicine, or a related field.
• As of September 1, 2022, hold a full-time appointment at the rank of assistant professor. (Appointments such as research assistant professor, adjunct assistant professor, assistant professor research track, visiting professor, or instructor are not eligible.) 
  • This is a sponsor requirement - if the candidate's formal assistant professor appointment will not be finalized by the Provost’s Office until AFTER September 1, 2022, the candidate will not be eligible and will have to wait until next year to submit an internal proposal.
  • Stanford eligibility clarification: Stanford assistant professors with UTL, UML, NTL-Research appointments are eligible. Note: in light of the above comment, it has been confirmed with the sponsor that our assistant professors NTL-Research appointments are eligible. The program official indicated that statement above reflects that at some institutions research assistant professors are embedded in another lab and are not fully independent. That does notapply to Stanford NTLR faculty.
  • Not eligible: Clinician Educator (CE) assistant professors are not eligible. Per correspondence with the sponsor, applicants must run their own independent research program and have a lab with graduate students/postdoctoral fellows. Per Dr. Harry Greenberg, CE faculty are not allowed to have graduate students and not allowed to do lab (bench-based) work so they are not eligible for this program.
  • Not eligible: Clinical Instructors, Instructors, Postdocs, Academic Staff-Research (i.e, research associates) are not eligible because Stanford does not consider them to hold independent or faculty-level appointments.
• Must not have been appointed as an assistant professor at any institution prior to June 13, 2018, whether or not such an appointment was on a tenure track. Time spent in clinical internships, residencies, in work toward board certification, or on parental leave does not count as part of this four-year limit.
• See program guidelines for additional requirements.

The Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research supports assistant professors of outstanding promise in science relevant to the advancement of a cure for cancer. In line with The Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust’s mission to invest in innovative, cutting-edge cancer research that may accelerate and advance progress toward a cure for cancer, applications are invited from nominees conducting cancer research. Based on their performance during their education and training, candidates should demonstrate outstanding promise as contributors in science relevant to the field of cancer. This program does not fund clinical trials research. Strong proposals will incorporate particularly creative and pioneering approaches to basic, translational, and applied cancer research. Candidates whose work is based on biomedical principles but who bring in concepts and theories from more diverse fields are encouraged to apply.

By May 4, 2022, please submit an internal proposal to the Stanford Cancer Institute HERE. Please upload a single pdf file containing these required documents:

1) Cover Page
Pew-Stewart Scholars Program for Cancer Research
Title of proposal
PI name, title, type of faculty appointment (UTL, UML, or NTLR), date of faculty appointment approval, department, email address

2) Nomination (recommendation) letter addressed to Stanford Cancer Institute Review Committee Members, printed on department letterhead, and signed by division chief and/or your department chair.
Please include the date the Provost’s Office formally approved the candidate’s appointment as an assistant professor (UTL, UML, or NTLR).
As the sponsor gives considerable weight to evidence that the candidate is an independent investigator and to significant published work, the nomination letter should provide evidence of the creativity and a brief publication list of the nominee. This letter should also confirm that the candidate will devote at least 80% of his or her time conducting research.

3) 4 page scientific abstract/research proposal (figures and references not included in the page limit) 
Format: Arial or Helvetica font (no smaller than size 11), half-inch margins, single spaced.

4) NIH-format biosketch

Institutional representative: not applicable. You do not need to submit your internal proposal through your institutional official for approval. You may submit your internal proposal directly to SCI via the online submission portal. 

Selection process:
Proposals will be reviewed by a Stanford Cancer Institute review committee. That committee will select the applicants to represent Stanford.

Institutional representative: not applicable. You do not need to send your internal proposal to your RPM/RMG or your CGO/OSR for institutional review and approval. For inquiries regarding the internal selection process, please contact:

Gayle White
Stanford Cancer Institute
gwhite5@stanford.edu