Deadline: 26-Mar-25
The Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance is requesting Letters of Intent (LOI) for the 2026 Health Equity Research Grant to support research projects that promote equity, inclusivity, and evidence-based approaches to overcome the barriers faced by marginalized communities with a focus on ovarian cancers and/or related gynecologic cancers.
For the purposes of this grant, marginalized communities are defined as groups that have historically struggled with equal access to care due to gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability status, and language barriers. They encourage researchers that are from groups underrepresented in sciences to apply, but this is not a requirement of the grant.
Research Areas
- Research Projects may encompass a wide range of research areas, including but not limited to:
- Identifying and addressing social, cultural, and economic factors that contribute to health disparities in ovarian cancer
- Improving access to quality care, diagnostic tools, and treatment options for underserved communities affected by ovarian cancer
- Exploring the impact of racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, or geographic disparities on disease progression and survival rates
- Investigating the genetic and molecular factors influencing ovarian cancer disparities and potential therapeutic approaches
Funding Information
- Support of up to $100,000USD annually for two years ($200,000 USD total) will be granted to the institution of the Principal Investigator. The Health Equity Research Grant will have a start date of February 1, 2026.
Eligibility Criteria
- Principal Investigators at all stages of their careers are eligible to apply. Applicants must have either their PhD, ScD, MD or other doctoral degree at the time of application.
- There must be a clearly defined research project with aims related to health equity with a focus on ovarian cancer and/or related gynecologic cancers. Projects looking for funding for community programs without a defined research component are not eligible for this grant.
- Funding is only available to accredited non-profit universities/colleges, non-profit research hospitals, or a recognized non-profit scientific research facility. OCRA does not offer funding to any for-profit entities, consulting companies, or non-profits who are not conducting the research themselves.
- The selection committee will consider most favorably applications that are creative, original, that seek to understand or reduce health disparities in ovarian cancer and/or related gynecologic cancers.
- The primary review criteria will be the likelihood that the investigators can leverage this funding to explore ideas specifically related to reducing health disparities, with long-term impact for the field. The ideal project would provide resources to promote the generation of data, which would be capable of performing high-impact research and competing successfully for additional funding, and the authorship of impactful scientific publications. The proposed projects may be new research projects or may be part of ongoing research.
- There are no citizenship requirements for OCRA Grants, international applicants are welcome to apply.
- Proposed projects that do NOT have a scientific research project focused on health equity in ovarian cancer and/or other related gynecological cancers are not eligible for this grant.
- Each applicant may submit only one LOI per grant cycle.
Applications Requirements
- Beyond basic contact information about yourself (the Principal Investigator) and any key personnel (if applicable), LOIs must include the following:
- Scientific Abstract – Provide a summary of the proposed research project. The abstract should clearly outline your proposed research project & aims, an overview of the research team, and resources for the project to allow the reviewers a clear understanding of your proposed project. The abstract should be presented in 6,000 characters or less (including spaces). Text only; figures, images, and graphs are not permitted.
- PI BioSketch — A current NIH biosketch for the PI is required (must match the person submitting the LOI in SmartSimple). Please use the NIH Biosketch template available for download in SmartSimple and adhere to its instructions and space limitations.
- Key Personnel Biosketches — NIH biosketches should be provided for anyone you listed in SmartSimple as Key Personnel. All key personnel biosketches should be combined into one document and uploaded as a single PDF. Please use the biosketch template available for download in SmartSimple, and adhere to its instructions and space limitations.
- Budget — Requested total budget amount in USD for the entire grant. A detailed budget is not required during the LOI.
For more information, visit OCRA.
