Pew-Supported Scientists Awarded NIH Grants for High-Risk, High-Reward Research

The National Institutes of Health announced the recipients of awards Oct. 6 for researchers demonstrating exceptional creativity. The additional funding will help the scientists conduct investigations in cancer, neuroscience, structural biology, immunology, and bioengineering.

Alexander Gimelbrant, a 2010 Pew scholar and assistant professor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, was one of eight recipients of the NIH Transformative Research Award. The grant is awarded to investigators who propose creative, crosscutting, interdisciplinary approaches.

Five Pew scholars were among the 29 recipients of the NIH Director’s New Innovator Awards, which support early-career investigators: 2013 Pew scholar Mark Andermann, 2014 Pew scholar Lindsey Glickfeld, 2014 Pew scholar Gabriel Lander, 2013 Pew scholar June Round, and 2013 Pew scholar Leo Wan. The award was also given to Roberto Zoncu, a member of the inaugural class of Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research, a national initiative—funded by The Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust and administered by Pew—to support promising early career scientists whose research will accelerate discovery and advance progress to a cure for cancer.

In a news release, NIH Director Francis Collins lauded the new grantees as “innovative investigators with the potential to transform scientific fields.”

“This program allows researchers to propose highly creative research projects across a broad range of biomedical and behavioral research areas that involve inherent risk but have the potential to lead to dramatic breakthroughs,” he said.

Learn more about Pew’s biomedical programs.