Training Awards

Kellogg Family Early-Career Patient-Oriented Diabetes Research Award

Supports early-career investigators in patient-oriented type 1 diabetes projects that connect translational goals with clinical outcomes.

Breakthrough T1D is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1970 — rebranded from JDRF in June 2024 — that funds T1D research through academic and industry partnerships and supports approximately 1.5 million Americans living with the condition. Its training award portfolio includes a named gift-funded mechanism, the Kellogg Family Early-Career Patient-Oriented Diabetes Research Award (ECPODRA), which is supported through Kellogg Family philanthropy and directed specifically at early-career investigators working in patient-oriented T1D research rather than purely basic or preclinical science.

The FY27 ECPODRA carries the same uniform deadline as all FY27 training awards: July 2, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET. Submissions are made through the Breakthrough T1D portal at breakthrought1d.smartsimple.us. Eligibility is restricted to early-career investigators at academic institutions or qualified research organizations — the award is not open to for-profit entities or nonprofits without research infrastructure, and it is intended for individual investigators rather than teams. The patient-oriented scope means research must involve human subjects or direct clinical applicability; the FY27 cohort of training awards has been expanded to include human subject research on long-term complications such as eye, kidney, and cardiovascular disease. Specific career-stage criteria, award amounts, and duration are defined in the FY27-Kellogg-Family-ECPODRA-RFA.pdf.

As a named award, the ECPODRA is limited in number by the philanthropic endowment supporting it, making it more selective than the general postdoctoral fellowship. Applicants should document their patient-oriented research focus clearly and demonstrate how their work aligns with Breakthrough T1D's stated mission and priorities. The organization's Grant Handbook provides policies applicable to all training awards, and the RFA PDF is the controlling document for this cycle.