NAAF 2026 Early Career Award

About this program

The National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF) invites applications for the 2026 Early Career Award to fund junior investigators studying alopecia areata across basic, translational, clinical, epidemiologic, health services, technology, and patient-reported outcomes domains, offering up to $150,000 in direct costs over two years ($75,000/year). Priority will be given to applicants without prior NAAF funding and to proposals addressing NAAF priorities such as development of AA-specific patient-reported outcome measures, pathophysiology and animal models, secondary analysis of All of Us data, comorbidities, disease triggers, treatment advances, and burden/psychosocial impact. Eligible applicants must hold an MD, DO, and/or PhD (or equivalent), be authorized to apply for grants by their host institution, and may not have current or prior NIH R-series funding as PI or co-PI on an AA-focused project; IRB or IACUC approval is required as applicable and applicants worldwide may apply. Applications are due by 11:59 PM PT on September 17, 2026 via Proposal Central; awards are non-renewable two-year grants expected to start January 15, 2027 and do not allow indirect costs.