Damon Runyon-Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists

The Damon Runyon-Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists sits under the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation as a supplemental U.S. cancer research award for current or recent Damon Runyon Fellows. It is reserved for people the foundation has already funded and who have produced work well beyond expectations. The award is issued on an annual cycle and provides $100,000. Eligibility is narrow: only specific fellow cohorts can compete in a given cycle, and applicants must be current or former Damon Runyon Fellows from those cohorts. The work must stay at a U.S. institution and within cancer research. The program is intentionally selective and follow-on in character. Rather than widening access, it concentrates extra support on fellows who have already shown unusual momentum. That makes the award a marker of trust as well as funding, because it rewards results that stand out within the foundation's own fellowship track. It is a compact way for the foundation to back proven talent again, while keeping the award tied to a very small, well-defined candidate pool.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.