Parkinson's Foundation Early Career Clinical Awards

Parkinson's Foundation Melvin Yahr Clinical Research Award

Supports early-career clinicians advancing Parkinson's disease care and research collaborations across emerging regions.

Eligibility · United States

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

The Parkinson's Foundation Melvin Yahr Parkinson's Disease Clinical Research Award is a one-year grant of USD 50,000 for early-career MD clinician-investigators pursuing Parkinson's disease clinical research. The award is named for Dr. Melvin Yahr, who developed the widely-used Hoehn and Yahr staging scale for Parkinson's disease severity, and is administered by the Parkinson's Foundation, a US 501(c)(3) formed in 2016 through the merger of the National Parkinson Foundation and the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. The award is globally open with no institution country restriction, and the Parkinson's Foundation particularly encourages applications from investigators in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to promote geographic equity in Parkinson's research capacity — making this one of the more accessible PD awards for early-career clinicians from underrepresented geographies. Eligibility requires the applicant to hold an MD and to be either under age 35 or within five years of completing residency at the time of application; neurologists and related clinical specialists qualify. No letter of intent is required; the program moves directly to a single full-application deadline. For the 2026 cycle, the full application was due January 12, 2026, with a July 1, 2026 award start; that cycle is now closed, and the next cycle is expected in late 2026. The award provides USD 50,000 for one year of direct costs — substantially smaller than the Parkinson's Foundation postdoctoral fellowship tracks but designed for clinicians earlier in their careers or at institutions with limited research infrastructure. Applications are submitted through ProposalCentral at proposalcentral.com. Competitive applications frame a focused, executable one-year clinical research question on Parkinson's disease management, diagnosis, or patient outcomes, and articulate how the award period will produce publishable results or establish the groundwork for a larger independent program. Contact: Grants@Parkinson.org.