The Edmée Firth Prize for Outcomes Research in Ovarian Cancer

2025 Request for Proposal

Overview

Columbia University is pleased to announce a request for applications for the third annual Edmée Firth Prize for Outcomes Research in Ovarian Cancer. The prize honors Edmée Firth and her family and is meant to reduce the burden of ovarian cancer and improve outcomes for women with the disease. The prize, which also received generous support from the Dreyfus Foundation, is targeted towards patient-oriented translational and outcomes research. Priority areas of interest for the 2025 prize include:

  • Early detection
  • Strategies directed toward reducing the toxicity of therapy (hematologic and non-hematologic toxicities)
  • Maintenance therapy
  • Precision therapeutics and individualized treatment strategies
  • Treatment of relapsed disease

Award Mechanism

The intent of the award is to support novel projects that develop new directions in ovarian cancer research. There is particular interest in projects which can leverage award funding to develop pilot data for larger grant proposals, or to create multidisciplinary and cross-institutional collaborations.

The award will be in the amount of $25,000 to $50,000 depending on the nature of the project and the proposed budget. Indirect costs of up to 10 percent are allowed. The duration of the project will be one year. At the completion of the project, awardees will provide a progress report and will be invited to present the results of their work.

Eligibility

Applicants should demonstrate a dedicated interest in ovarian cancer and the development of novel strategies to reduce the burden of disease or improve patient outcomes. Proposals focused on outcomes research and patient-oriented translational science are preferred. Laboratory-based projects without a clear translational component will not be reviewed. While cancer care delivery trials will be considered, the award cannot be used to support ongoing clinical trials that will not be completed in one year. Awards are available to researchers in the United States.

Selection

Proposals will be evaluated by a panel of clinicians and scientists with expertise in ovarian cancer research.

Timeline

  • February 1, 2025: Submission deadline. All submissions must be received by 5pm on January 31.
  • Mid-March 2025: Notification of award
  • March 17, 2025: Award start date
  • April 2026: Final progress report due

Application

Proposals should be submitted as a single PDF and should include all of the following sections:

  1. Cover page including title of the grant, principal investigators name and contact information. Co-investigators and their contact information.
  2. Summary of proposed research (one paragraph) which describes the rationale for the research, proposed studies and outcomes.
  3. Research proposal not to exceed four pages. The research proposal should contain the following sections:
    1. Background. An extensive overview of ovarian cancer is not required. This section should highlight information pertinent to the proposed study.
    2. Innovation describing unique characteristics of the proposed work.
    3. Research strategy describing the proposed investigation or experiments. Preliminary data may be included in this section but is not required.
    4. Future directions detailing how this work will be leveraged for further study, funding, or patient care.
  4. Biosketches of principal investigator and co-investigators. Biosketches should follow standard NIH formatting guidelines.
  5. Project timeline describing the expected chronology of the work.
  6. Statement of overlap describing whether the current work is ongoing, whether the proposed research has received any other funding and if any applications with similar objectives are under review.
  7. Budget. A detailed budget describing proposed expenditures should be provided. Budgets from $25,000 to $50,000 will be considered based on the nature of the work. Funding may be used for salary support, supplies, data, travel, and publication costs. Indirect costs of up to 10 percent are allowed.

Proposals should be formatted with arial 11 point font and 0.5 inch margins. Proposals should be submitted electronically as a single PDF to firthprize@cumc.columbia.edu by 5:00 pm EST on February 1, 2025. Please submit questions and enquiries to firthprize@cumc.columbia.edu.