Access Advocate for Clinical Research Participation

MJFF Access Advocate for Clinical Research Participation

Supports structured trial access advocacy in Parkinson's programs by strengthening participant pathways at sites.

Eligibility · United States, Canada

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

The Michael J. Fox Foundation Access Advocate for Clinical Research Participation program funds clinical trial sites in the United States and Canada to implement a structured Access Advocate model aimed at improving inclusive, representative enrollment and retention in Parkinson's disease clinical trials. MJFF, founded in 2000 and having raised over $2 billion for PD research, created this program to address persistent gaps in the demographic representativeness of PD trial populations. Each award is fixed at $200,000 over a 24-month period — there is no flexibility on the award amount. Full proposals were due June 16, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time.

Eligibility is strictly limited to sites located in the United States or Canada that have active or planned interventional Parkinson's disease clinical trials; observational studies do not qualify. Sites must demonstrate strong study volume, clearly defined advocate roles supported by formal training plans, trackable enrollment and retention workflows, and a commitment to sharing learnings across sites — MJFF explicitly excludes proposals that fund broad community outreach alone without the structured advocate model. For-profit organizations are not eligible; the program targets academic medical centers, nonprofit hospitals, and research organizations.

The $200,000 fixed award is intended to cover the costs of implementing and operating the Access Advocate model, not general site operations. Applicants should document existing trial volume and articulate how the advocate model integrates with current enrollment workflows. Cross-site learning is treated as a programmatic requirement, not a bonus — teams should describe concrete mechanisms for disseminating findings to the broader PD research community. Applications are submitted through grants.michaeljfox.org.