Pilot Project Program Funding

2025-26 Application Cycle

Women’s Health Research at Yale is delighted to see such energy and interest centered on women’s health. We have received a multitude of Letters of Intent this application cycle. Our team and the Scientific Review Committee Co-Chairs are hard at work reviewing submissions and will be in touch with all potential investigators to share whether or not your Letter of Intent has moved your project through to the full application phase by Thursday, January 15, 2026. Additional guidance regarding the full application and review criteria will be posted on this page in mid-January.

On an annual basis, Women’s Health Research at Yale funds Pilot Project Program studies that provide new approaches to understanding the health of women, and/or the influence of sex differences on health, consistent with the NIH definition.

Women’s Health Research at Yale’s Pilot Project Program application process begins with a Letter of Intent. After reviewing all Letters of Intent, a full application – by invitation only – will be requested from Investigators whose projects are consistent with Women’s Health Research at Yale’s funding priorities.

Letter of Intent

The deadline to submit a Letter of Intent for Women’s Health Research at Yale’s 2025-26 Pilot Project Program has passed.

Letters of Intent should describe a project that advances our understanding of the health of women and/or the influence of sex differences on health. Basic science, translational, and clinical research projects are welcome.

Funding Opportunities

General Annual Pilot Project Awards ($50,000 max) for research designed to meet a clear need in advancing the health of women.

The Wendy U. & Thomas C. Naratil Pioneer Awards ($70,000 max) for highly innovative proof-of-concept research aimed at advancing our understanding of sex-specific or female-specific factors to catalyze discovery or utilization of precision-based diagnostics or therapeutics targeting symptoms or other health outcomes. Proposal may include studies on biomarkers, biologicals, biomes, drugs, devices, digital, behavioral, or community-based interventions.

New! Women’s Health and Cancer Research Award ($70,000 max) Co-funded by Yale Cancer Center, this award is for research assessing sex differences in cancer or female-specific cancers involving variations in incidence, mortality, and treatment outcomes, influenced by a combination of biological factors (like sex chromosomes, hormones, immune response, and obesity) and/or lifestyle/environmental factors (like smoking and nutrition).

To be eligible for funding, you must be a member of the newly formed Women’s Health Research at Yale Collaborative. Learn more and apply at this link.

Application Time Frame

November 24, 2025: Call for Letters of Intent
December 22, 2025 at 5 p.m. EST: Letters of Intent Due
January 15, 2026: Invitations for Full Application Issued
March 2, 2026 at 5 p.m. EST: Full Application Due
April 2026: Scientific Review Committee Meets
May 15, 2026: Award Decisions Communicated to Applicants
July 1, 2026: Projects Begin, Aligned with Yale FY27

Questions? Contact Finance & Grants Program Manager

marco.mutonji@yale.edu

Scientific Review Committee

The Pilot Project Program application review process is led by our Scientific Review Committee Co-Chairs. Effective Fall 2025, Carolyn Fredericks, MD, and Stacy Malaker, PhD, serve as Co-Chairs. Dr. Fredericks and Dr. Malaker previously received Women’s Health Research at Yale Pilot Project Program Awards and offer both basic science and clinical perspectives to the rigorous, peer-informed review process.

People

Carolyn Fredericks, MD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Carolyn Fredericks studied classics and neuroscience at Brown, then completed her medical training at Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and UCSF, culminating in a behavioral neurology fellowship at the UCSF Memory & Aging Center. There, she gained research experience in advanced neuroimaging in dementia and exposure to patients with a wide variety of cognitive and behavioral concerns, including less common dementia syndromes. She joined Yale’s faculty in Fall 2019, where she established The Fredericks Lab, focused on understanding why some individuals are at greater risk of dementia and how diseases including Alzheimer’s progress through functional networks in the brain. She is a member of Yale’s Clinical Neuroscience Imaging Center (CNIC), a multidisciplinary group applying innovative imaging methods to the study of brain disease. Clinically, Dr. Fredericks specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.
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Stacy Malaker
Assistant Professor
Stacy Malaker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Yale University, where her laboratory is focused on establishing methods and technology to study mucins, a class of densely O-glycosylated extracellular proteins, by mass spectrometry. Additionally, her laboratory studies mucins in a biological context, since these proteins play integral, yet poorly understood, roles in numerous diseases. Prior to her appointment at Yale, Dr. Malaker earned her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Virginia in the laboratory of Professor Donald Hunt and then went on to an NIH postdoctoral fellowship in Professor Carolyn Bertozzi’s laboratory at Stanford University.
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Full Committee

In early 2026, we will announce the full Scientific Review Committee. Members are asked to participate based on their subject matter expertise, aligned with the applications received, and manage the peer review process for their assigned applications. In addition, they join the Co-Chairs and participate in an April session to present and review all applications and make a recommendation for funding.