Drug Discovery Predoctoral Fellowship

About this program

The PhRMA Foundation offers Predoctoral Fellowships in Drug Discovery providing $30,000 annually for 12–24 months to support innovative, early-stage thesis research with clear potential for translation to human therapeutics. Eligible applicants may be U.S. or non-U.S. citizens but must be full-time, in-residence PhD candidates at accredited U.S. universities who have completed at least two years of coursework, begun thesis research, and authored a publication or presented a poster. Applicants must not expect to complete their PhD before December 1, 2027, and projects must articulate a therapeutically relevant hypothesis; chemistry-only, assay-development-only, and clinically uncontextualized biomarker or diagnostic studies are nonresponsive. Letters of intent are due April 15, 2026, with full applications by invitation due August 26, 2026.