The Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD) at NCI is planning to issue two new Notice of Funding Opportunity announcements (NOFO), the NCI Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (CURE) Academic Career Excellence (ACE) Award (K32), which will be published in two versions: Independent Clinical Trial Required and Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed.Beginning with the June 12, 2025, due date, the CURE ACE Award will support research training for early postdoctoral fellows in cancer research. The funding program aims to enhance the pool of qualified individuals for careers that have a significant impact on the health-related research needs of the Nation and enrich the scientific cancer research experience of trainees as they transition from pre-doctoral to post-doctoral training. This Notice is being provided to allow sufficient time for applicants to develop strong applications.The NCI CURE ACE funding program supports post-doctoral training for candidates from diverse backgrounds in cancer research. It allows them to apply during the late pre-doctoral or early postdoctoral stages, even without preliminary data. Applicants must identify a postdoctoral research mentor and establish a comprehensive research and training plan before or soon after beginning with the postdoctoral mentor. The program is open to pre- and post-doctoral scientists conducting research across all areas of cancer research.�Applicants must identify their postdoctoral mentor and submit their application through the institution where they plan to conduct their postdoctoral research.The NCI CURE Academic Career Excellence (ACE) funding program supports�early post-doctoral fellows from diverse backgrounds, including individuals from underrepresented backgrounds (NOT-OD-20-031) who bring life experiences, geographic location, socioeconomic status, academic training, professional experience, disability status, military service, career stage, institutional affiliation, cultural background, and other factors that may contribute to unique perspectives to the research workforce, and who are committed to a career in basic biomedical, clinical, behavioral or Translational cancer research, including research on cancer health disparities.

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