Pilot Programs & Awards

The Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI) is pleased to announce the 2019 round of pilot grants. YCCI’s pilot program is a funding venue for conducting small-scale research projects to generate data that potentially could lead to further research and funding opportunities. Pilot awards are in the following categories:

The Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI) is pleased to announce a new pilot grant mechanism to support junior and early career faculty use of core resources. Recognizing that K and other early career awards provide limited funding to get young researchers off to a good start, YCCI is introducing a new pilot program aimed at increasing first R01s awarded to early-stage investigators by expanding core resource funding. YCCI’s pilot program is a funding venue for conducting small-scale research projects to generate data that potentially could lead to further research and funding opportunities.

The funding is designed to accelerate research by providing rapid, targeted core resource funding to address small but critical gaps in clinical and translational research work with high potential, especially by junior faculty. Examples include, but are not limited to, projects involving critical steps in the device and drug development pathway and projects that address a critical need in translational science that are too small or too preliminary to be suitable for conventional funding. Due to funding constraints, preference will be given to those meritorious projects that can be completed in a nine to twelve-month.

This award is intended to support junior and early career faculty for use of core resource. Only junior faculty who are at an early stage of their careers are eligible to apply. The applicant must have been a faculty member for no more than 10 years by the anticipated start date of the award. This 10-year period is cumulative and includes all appointments as associate/assistant professor, associate research scientist, lecturer, or instructor at any institution (any part time appointments and leaves of absence should be described and will be considered in calculating the total time at a faculty rank).

Since this is a mechanism to partially support only the core resource portion of a research project, applicants must already have funding for the primary project to apply for this pilot. Funding can include an independent K career award, internal pilot, or equivalent support. Faculty with a departmental start-up package with substantial protected time are also eligible to apply; the start-up support must be documented by the applicant’s department.