Funding Opportunities

UCSF Limited Submission Opportunities

(Applications through UCSF Limited Submission Program)

  • Internal Deadline: June 20, 2025
    Susan G. Komen Career Catalyst Research Grants

    This program fosters promising breast cancer researchers who are in the early stages of their faculty careers by providing support for up to three years of “protected time” for research career development under the guidance of a Mentor Committee.
  • Internal Deadline: June 20, 2025
    Susan G. Komen Career Transition Awards

    This program aims to help outstanding senior postdoctoral fellows and clinical fellows, working under the guidance of a mentor, launch their competitive, independent breast cancer research careers.
  • Internal Deadline: July 11, 2025
    Mathers Grants Summer/Fall 2025

    The Foundation primarily supports basic science, ideally with potential translational applications, in research areas such as immunology, microbiome, structural biology, cellular physiology, cancer biology, genetics, genomics, and more. 
  • Internal Deadline: July 11, 2025
    Searle Scholars Program

    Supports the independent research of 15 outstanding early-career scientists each year who have recently been appointed as assistant professors (tenure-track). The program is primarily interested in applicants' potential to make innovative and high-impact contributions to research over an extended period of time.
  • Internal Deadline: July 11, 2025
    Rita Allen Foundation Scholars Program

    Supports research scientists in the early stages of their careers. Fields of research are cancer, immunology and neuroscience. Scholars are distinguished by their bold approaches to basic scientific questions that address problems of global concern, as well as their potential for learning, leadership and collaboration. 
  • Internal Deadline: July 18, 2025
    Kleberg Medical Research Program (Fall)

    Seeking highly innovative and groundbreaking medical research proposals in both basic biological and applied research that will have the greatest impact on scientific knowledge and human health.

Intramural Funding Opportunities

For questions about intramural awards, please contact Meredith Donnelly.

  • Deadline: June 30, 2025
    UCSF Prostate Cancer SPORE Awards

    Two funding opportunities are available through the UCSF Prostate Cancer SPORE: (1) Career Enhancement Program RFA and (2) Developmental Research Program RFA.
  • Deadline: June 30, 2025
    Upstream Research Center Pilot Grants

    The Upstream Research Center, co-led by Stanford, UC Davis, and UCSF, is awarding up to $75,000 each for three impact-focused research projects to reduce cancer inequities due to structural and social determinants, including, but not limited to, structural racism, poverty, income inequality, climate change, food insecurity, social isolation, and/or housing insecurity. Projects must focus on research relevant to exposures experienced in persistent poverty areas in Northern California.
  • Deadline: July 7, 2025
    HDFCCC Survivorship and Symptom Science (SASS) Research Hub RFA

    The HDFCCC Survivorship and Symptom Science (SASS) Hub is seeking proposals for seed funding for pilot projects in survivorship and symptoms science.
  • Deadline: July 8, 2025
    HDFCCC Mesothelioma Research RFA

    The cancer center is requesting applications for funding of projects to study mesothelioma. Applications can focus on any aspect of the disease including basic, translational, clinical and population sciences approaches but they should have an expectation to contribute to improved outcomes for the disease in the future.
  • Deadline: July 15, 2025
    Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation 2025

    The Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation (MPPMI) seeks to fuel innovation in precision medicine by fostering creative, high risk, high impact team science projects supporting the precision medicine continuum. The MPPMI invites proposals in four award categories: Seeding Bold Ideas, Transformative Integrated Research, ELSI in Precision Medicine, and IDEA in Precision Medicine Research.
  • Deadline: October 13, 2025
    UCSF Prostate Cancer Program Pilot Awards

    All areas of prostate cancer research including computational, laboratory, translational, clinical, and population sciences are eligible. Please note that this is a call for primary research proposals, and the opportunity is not intended to support resource or infrastructure development.

Foundations/Other Sources

  • Deadline: June 9, 2025
  • NCCN and Pfizer Metastatic Breast Cancer (mBC) Research Grant Opportunity
    A new grant opportunity to support the development of innovative, impactful, scalable, and sustainable quality improvement projects to advance the delivery of quality care to people with mBC.
  • LOI Deadline: June 12, 2025
    AACR Trailblazer Cancer Research Grants for Early-Stage Investigators

    This program aims to empower and support cancer researchers, help launch their careers, and enable them to become thought leaders in the field. These grants are intended to provide talented investigators with the resources and dedicated time to establish innovative, emerging research projects. By funding paradigm-shifting research, these grants are intended to advance the understanding of cancer biology, drive groundbreaking translational discoveries, and/or improve patient outcomes.
  • Deadline: June 18, 2025
    Cancer Grand Challenges

    Founded by Cancer Research UK and the NCI, the Cancer Grand Challenges initiative brings together international research teams to tackle cancer’s toughest challenges. Expressions of interest for seven new challenges are now open.
  • Deadline: June 22, 2025
    Michelson Medical Research Foundation - Next Generation Grants

    These awards support promising researchers applying disruptive concepts and inventive processes to advance human immunology, vaccine discovery, and immunotherapy research for major global diseases. UCSF applicants should email [email protected] to announce your intention to apply, then follow application instructions in RFP, conferring with your Grants Officer as needed.
  • Deadline: July 15, 2025
    NCCN and Novartis Quality Improvement Project: Patient-Centered Quality Improvement Across the Breast Cancer Continuum

    A new funding opportunity to support Quality Improvement projects that will optimize the care and outcomes across the breast cancer (BC) continuum including, but not limited to, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship.
  • Deadline: July 25, 2025
    Concern Foundation Conquer Cancer Now Awards

    By specifically targeting promising early-career scientists and providing critically needed seed money for innovative projects, this program is intended to support the development of the next generation of cancer researchers and thus promote progress in understanding cancer biology and improved approaches to cancer. UCSF applicants should email [email protected] to announce your intention to apply, then follow application instructions in RFP, conferring with your Grants Officer as needed.

NIH Announcements

If you are a Cancer Center member who is interested in applying and receiving grant writing support, please contact Erin Bank.

  • N/A

To view NCI funding opportunities, search here