Medical Research Foundation Early Clinical Investigator (ECI) Award

About this program

Medical Research Foundation (MRF) offers Early Clinical Investigator (ECI) awards of up to $30,000 to support post‑doctoral trainees developing careers in clinical or clinical‑translational research involving human subjects or human‑derived materials. Research on animal models is only acceptable with a strong justification linking it to near‑term human studies; awards are not intended for costly individual equipment. Applicants must be post‑doctoral trainees who write the proposal, and must submit separate mentor and department chair letters (with the mentor’s biosketch and Applicant Qualifications Form) via the InfoReady portal within seven days of application submission; institutional approval and required IRB/IACUC/IBC approvals are required before funds are released. Preference is given to projects that include explicit career and training plans and a clear path toward future national career‑development funding; incomplete or late applications will not be reviewed.