Current Funding Opportunities

Lustgarten Foundation Innovation and Collaboration Program

The Lustgarten Foundation Innovation and Collaboration Program intends to provide seed funding for highly innovative research with significant potential to accelerate the mission of the Lustgarten Foundation. Proposals should address key outstanding questions and have the potential to lead to a change in the current paradigm or conventional wisdom. Proposals that involve collaborations across groups or that bring new expertise and/or technology into the field will be preferred.


Robert F. Vizza Clinical Accelerator Initiative

The Clinical Accelerator Initiative (CAI) advances the mission of the Lustgarten Foundation by accelerating the translation of research discoveries into the clinic.  CAI studies are highly collaborative, science-driven and typically small in order to support deep translational analyses and as many learnings as possible.

Applications to the CAI are biannual and expected to reopen in September 2024. For additional information, please contact Jaclyn Lyman, Head of Clinical Research and Development ([email protected]).


Lustgarten Equity, Accessibility, and Diversity (LEAD) Project

Pancreatic cancer does not impact all populations equally with significant differences in incidence and disparities in outcome across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups in the United States. Despite this, pancreatic cancer patients from minority groups are significantly underrepresented in all phases of clinical trials.

The LEAD Project aims to increase recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups in pancreatic cancer clinical trials by supporting institutions that make intentional efforts to address barriers to participation among underrepresented groups and develop and implement specific tools to increase clinical trial participation.


Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards for Pancreatic Cancer Research, in Honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Robert Lewis

The Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards for Pancreatic Cancer Research, in Honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Robert Lewis, have been established to honor the life and legacies of Justice Ginsburg and Representative Lewis, who worked tirelessly to advance gender equality and civil rights, even while battling pancreatic cancer. The intent of this program is to support the development and diversity of talent working in pancreatic cancer research.

A full description of the programs are available at www.aacr.org/grants/.


Lustgarten Foundation-Swim Across America-AACR Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Research Grant

The Lustgarten Foundation-Swim Across America-AACR Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Research Grant represents a joint effort to support innovative research to advance efforts towards the early detection and interception of pancreatic cancer. The proposed project may be basic, translational, clinical, or epidemiological in nature, must have direct applicability and relevance to the understanding, detection, diagnosis, or treatment of pancreatic cancer.

A full description of the program is available at www.aacr.org/grants/.


Lustgarten Research Program Contacts:

Andrew Rakeman, Ph.D.
VP, Research
[email protected]

Sejin Chung, Ph.D.
Program Scientist
[email protected]

Jaclyn Lyman
Head of Clinical Research and Development
[email protected]

Sasha Singh
Grants Manager
[email protected]

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