NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Outstanding Investigator Award (OIA) (R35 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

This program requires an Internal Vetting Process.


Internal submission deadline: September 1, 2022

See Internal Submission Guidelines for more details.

 Summary

Dr. Steve Artandi, the Director of the Stanford Cancer Institute, has established the following internal vetting process for all Stanford faculty interested in applying for this NCI OIA Award. Dr. Artandi and his internal review committee will review potential applications, which will be judged on the basis of an NIH biosketch with current funding and a 1-2 page outline of background and specific aims for the proposal.

Although the number of applications per institution is not limited, applications must be vetted locally and a two page Letter of Nomination signed by Dr. Artandi is required. Institutional support for the faculty member's effort is also mandated. Applications that are missing a Letter of Nomination will not be reviewed by NCI.

 Timeline

Stanford Cancer Institute internal vetting process deadline: September 1, 2022 
Notification of approval: September 9, 2022
For PIs given the approval to proceed with their full applications:
Letter of Nomination DRAFT to SCI Director: October 1o, 2022
Institutional representative (RPM/RMG or CGO/OSR) deadline: November 1, 2022
Application receipt deadline: November 8, 2022

 Program Guidelines

 Amount of Funding

Awards will be for $600,000 direct costs per year, plus applicable Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs to be determined at the time of award. The total project period may not exceed 7 years.

 Eligibility

Stanford faculty with PI eligibility (UTL, UML, and NTLR appointments)

  • Applications must be submitted by Institutions who have nominated a Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) with outstanding cancer research accomplishments during the last 5 consecutive calendar years.
  • The Institution-nominated PD/PI must have been a PD/PI or Project Leader of a research project (on a NIH-defined multi-project grant e.g., P01, P50, U54) excluding cores, on an eligible NCI research grant(s) continuously since:
    • September 2017 for a November 2022 submission
    • September 2018 for a November 2023 submission
    • September 2019 for a November 2024 submission
  • Continuous funding is defined as receiving a Notice of Award as PD/PI for an eligible NCI-funded research grant in each Federal Fiscal Year beginning in FY 2017 (for Nov 2022 submission), FY 2018 (for Nov 2023 submission) or FY 2019 (for Nov 2024 submission) onward. Continuous funding does not include grants in a funded or unfunded extension. Eligible NCI research grant mechanisms are defined as R01, R15, R33, R35, R37, P01, P50, U01, U54, UM1, U19, U10, DP1, and DP2.
  • Due to the nature of this award, applicants are required to devote at least 6 person months effort to the OIA. Applicants with administrative responsibilities or other duties inconsistent with this time commitment may apply but must reduce those other commitments to accept the award.
  • PDs/PIs with effort on other grant support will be expected to provide, as part of the Just-in-Time information, a detailed explanation describing how effort on his/her other grants will be adjusted, if necessary, to permit 6 person months on the OIA.
  • PD/PIs will need to renegotiate their time and effort on other grant support, if necessary, in order to accommodate the OIA level of effort.
  • In addition, grantee Institutions are expected to:
    • Provide clear and continuing substantial commitment to the PD/PI, for example providing at least 20% salary support for the duration of the award, dedicated space or relief from existing administrative responsibilities.
    • For New (Type 1) applications: agree to relinquish the PD/PI's existing NCI-funded single PD/PI and single project research grants to allow them to be consolidated into the OIA. The NCI may consider allowing a PD/PI to retain one NCI single PD/PI grant if the award is required to maintain longitudinal cohorts or ongoing clinical trials. If NCI approves retention of one existing grant, it will count as one of the two allowable NCI grants as described in NCI OIA administrative policy NOT-CA-21-044.

 Purpose and Award Details

The objective of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Outstanding Investigator Award (OIA) is to provide long-term support to accomplished investigators with outstanding records of cancer research accomplishments who propose to conduct exceptional research. The OIA is intended to allow investigators the opportunity to take greater risks, be more adventurous in their lines of inquiry, or take the time to develop new techniques. It is expected that the OIA would provide extended funding stability and encourage investigators to embark on projects of unusual potential in cancer research. The research projects should break new ground or extend previous discoveries toward new directions or applications that may lead to a breakthrough that will advance biomedical, behavioral, or clinical cancer research. Candidates for the OIA must be nominated by their applicant organization.

 Stanford Internal Submission Guidelines

By September 1, 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 
Please include: NCI Outstanding Investigator Award (R35), Title of Proposal, and PI Contact Information (name, title, department, address, email)

2.    2 page research proposal summary
Format: Arial 11 font, single-spaced, 1 inch margins). References and figures are not included in the page limit.

3.    PI 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:
A small committee at the Stanford Cancer Institute led by Dr. Artandi will decide which proposals should go forward based on merit.  They will select the applicants to represent Stanford University. 

 Contact

For inquiries regarding the internal vetting process, please contact:

Gayle White
Stanford Cancer Institute
gwhite5@stanford.edu