What Is an Outside the Box Grant? Outside the box thinking is critical for progress in any field. For childhood cancer, outside the box thinking may pave the way to finding better treatments and ultimately cures. Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research (Rally) sees itself as a philanthropic seed investor in the next great discovery — we like to invest early and are willing to take risks. Outside the Box Grants provide seed funding for brand new ideas. RESEARCH GRANTS Rally helps fund the most promising research initiatives through research grants including our Outside the Box Grant. A Rally research grant is a financial award provided to universities, hospitals and private research institutions to support a specific research project. Rally grants are awarded based on a competitive dual peer-review process conducted by our Medical Advisory Board, which is made up of leading...

Career development awards are important. But why? Investigators in their first independent faculty appointment are at a critical career stage where they must establish themselves through research, publications and grant funding. It is important to support the development of independent research by these individuals to move them from mentorship to independence. Career development awards provide the opportunity for investigators to develop independent research by funding a significant portion of their salary to ensure protected research time. RESEARCH GRANTS Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research (Rally) helps fund the most promising research initiatives through research grants including the Rally Career Development Award. Invited institutions may nominate one researcher for the Rally Career Development Award. A Rally research grant is a financial award provided to universities,...

What exactly is a consortium? Let us explain. Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research (Rally) defines a consortium as three or more institutions (i.e., university, hospital) collaborating on a grant-supported research project. A principal investigator from the lead institution applies with the support of at least two other collaborating institutions. The success of the project depends on the unique contributions of each collaborating institution. RESEARCH GRANTS Rally helps fund the most promising research initiatives through research grants including our Consortium Grant. A Rally research grant is a financial award provided to universities, hospitals and private research institutions to support a specific research project. Rally grants are awarded based on a competitive dual peer-review process conducted by our Medical Advisory Board, which is made up of leading childhood...

Independent Investigator Grants are awarded to principal investigators. Let’s begin by explaining the role of a principal investigator. Principal investigators are typically faculty members (e.g., professor, associate professor, assistant professor) who lead a research lab as an expert in their field. As the lab leader, they are responsible for developing the research agenda, designing research projects, securing funding (often through grants like Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research’s (Rally)), and mentoring lab members (e.g., graduate students, fellows). Once researching independently as a principal investigator, also known as a PI, you are typically considered an early career investigator (i.e., young investigator) or fully independent. Young investigators are at a critical career stage where they must establish themselves through research, publications and grant funding....

Before we get to that, let’s first address the difference between a postdoctoral fellow and a clinical research fellow. It can definitely be confusing. A postdoctoral fellow, also called a postdoc, is someone who completed a Ph.D. program and is now conducting research under the guidance of a principal investigator (mentor) with the goal of one day having their own lab. A clinical research fellow is someone who graduated from medical school and completed their residency. The fellowship provides subspecialty training. In Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research’s (Rally) case it would be a subspecialty in pediatric hematology/oncology (hemoc) that includes both clinical and research training. Typically, hemoc fellows spend their first year in the clinic doing patient care, the second year doing research, and the third year doing both. RESEARCH GRANTS Rally helps fund the most...