Application overview

Letters of Intent are accepted on a rolling basis. Application deadlines are scheduled for April 1 and October 1.

Only complete applications will be reviewed. Applications will not be considered as complete until all supporting documents have been received.

Supporting documents may be updated and re-submitted online prior to the application deadline. Applications which are incomplete for any reason will not be reviewed. It is the responsibility of the applicant to monitor the status of ALL required documents.

Program eligibility

  • Candidates must be physician-scientists, possessing an MD, DO or MD/PhD degree. 
  • Be a citizen or non-citizen national of the United States, or a permanent resident
  • Be faculty appointed at the Instructor or Assistant Professor level. Applicants should be no more than 10 years beyond their appointment or promotion to Assistant Professor.
  • Must be currently serving as a principle investigator on an NIH, other federal agency, or foundation-sponsored grant for research project support or career development award.
  • Must be conducting original clinical research on a significant biomedical problem.

Selection of awardees

Applications will be reviewed by a panel of senior faculty who are clinical researchers. Applicants will be notified of outcomes by email.

Application Materials

1. Letter of Intent

Applicants must submit a one-page letter of intent prior to applying to the program. This letter should include a description of the extraprofessional (personal) circumstances that limit the applicant’s ability to be fully engaged in achieving their near-term research career goals.  The letter should also indicate how this award will enable the applicant to continue to advance his/her career as a physician-scientist during the time their work is affected by hardship.  All letters will be kept confidential to ensure the privacy of applicants.  Letter of Intent’s are accepted year-round. However, a formal application review will only take place twice per year.

Applicants can proceed with their application to the program immediately following the Letter of Intent submission. Please submit your Letter of Intent to the CRTC Office.

2. Online Stress and Adversity Inventory (STRAIN)

Applicants will be sent instructions for completion of a confidential online stress assessment system that will help quantify the burden posed by extraprofessional demands.  This Stress and Adversity Inventory, known as STRAIN, was developed by investigators at UCLA to quantify the burdens and scope of stressors in different life domains.  Specific responses will remain strictly confidential.  Summary scores in different domains covered by the assessment will be used by the review committee, but the committee will not have access to item level detail.

3. Application Form and Budget

Application deadlines are scheduled for April 1 and October 1.

The application form includes a section for your budget and justification. The budget should be for one year for direct costs ranging from $31,500 to $56,500. Funds may be requested for personnel support, grant writing support, or research supplies or services. Up to 25% salary support for the applicant may be included or the applicant may request funds for buy-out of clinical time in order to devote greater effort to research. Each expense must be supported by a brief justification. Funds may not be used for animal research.

4. Current Biosketch and Other Support

The personal statement for the Biosketch should focus on current career development and goals (both near and long-term)

NIH Biosketch Template »

Download NIH Other Support Template (doc) »

5. Research Plan

The Research Plan should be a maximum of 3 pages (references not included in your 3-page limit) and should focus on the project to be supported by the DDFRCS grant, and addresses the following:

  • Specific Aims (1/2 page)
  • Significance (including impact) and innovation (1/2 page)
  • Approach (2 pages)

DDFRCS funds may be used to supplement support of a study already funded by other mechanisms, but for which the applicant’s extra-professional demands are limiting progress. Or, the DDFRCS funds may be used to extend studies already funded, but for which new efforts by the applicant are difficult because of extra-professional demands. In these instances, the DDFRCS Research Plan is expected to be similar to that of the originally proposed study.

6. Abstracts of Funded Grants

Applicants must submit abstracts from each of their currently funded grants that they are serving as a principle investigator on.  These grants can be an NIH, federal agency or foundation-sponsored grant.

7. Department Chair Recommendation Letter

Applicant’s Department Chair or Division Chief is required to submit a letter of support describing the applicant’s career potential as a clinical investigator and the willingness of the department to commit matching funds to support the applicant.

8. Additional Recommendation Letter

Each applicant has the option to have a second letter of recommendation submitted by a reference in addition to the Department Chair or Division Chief.  This letter should describe the applicant’s potential to succeed as a researcher. This letter does not need to be from a faculty member at Washington University.

Required Format Documents Other than Letters of Support

  • Black font of either Arial or Helvetica
  • Font size of 11 points or larger (a symbol font may be used to insert Greek letters or special characters; the font size requirement still applies.)
  • Type density, including characters and spaces, must be no more than 15 characters per inch
  • Single spaced paragraph type
  • Margins should be at least one-half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages
  • PDF versions are required
  • Appendices are not allowed

Responsibilities of recipients

Applicants will meet with the Program Directors annually. Applicants must present their work annually at a DDFRCS program. All presentations and publications related to research funded by the DDFRCS must cite the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. View Citation Guidelines for more details.