Young Investigator Award (YIA)

Young Investigator Award

Funds early-career oncology physicians through mentored training fellowships to strengthen real-world implementation.

Eligibility · Global — open worldwide

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The Young Investigator Award (YIA) is a mentored grant program offered by Conquer Cancer — The ASCO Foundation to support early-career oncology physicians at the critical transition from fellowship training to independent faculty. The award provides $50,000 over one year to fund personnel, research expenses, and travel to the Conquer Cancer Grants and Awards Ceremony at the ASCO Annual Meeting. Conquer Cancer awarded more than $11.5 million through 450-plus grants and awards in 2025, and the YIA is its flagship early-career mechanism. Awards are open to physicians worldwide from any country.

For the 2026 cycle, the program ran a general competition with a deadline of September 11, 2025, and eight special topic competitions with deadlines in January and March 2026 covering drug development, survivorship, supportive care, geriatric oncology, primary brain tumors, veteran cancer, mantle cell lymphoma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Every competition offered the same $50,000 one-year award. To be eligible, applicants must hold an MD, DO, or international equivalent; MD/PhD dual-degree holders qualify if both degrees were completed before the grant start. Applicants must be within the last two years of final oncology subspecialty training or fellowship at an academic medical institution, within ten years of their medical degree, and hold a valid active medical license. Applicants must commit at least 60% of full-time effort to research during the award period, have an identified mentor at the sponsoring institution, and hold current ASCO membership or have a pending application.

All 2026 cycle deadlines have passed. The 2027 general competition is expected to open approximately July to August 2026 based on prior cycles, with special competitions typically closing in January and March 2027. Applicants may submit only one YIA application per cycle — either the general competition or one special competition, not both. Applications are submitted through the ASCO grants portal. Applicants seeking exceptions to the ten-year medical degree rule, such as foreign medical graduates, may petition Conquer Cancer directly.