Competitive Medical Research Fund (CMRF)

The CMRF was established in the mid-1980s by the UPMC Health System with the intent of providing modest research support across the broad range of the biomedical sciences. The OORHS administers this intramural, peer-reviewed funding program, which awards grants to New Investigators. The aim of these new investigator awards is to provide funds for relatively junior, independent scientists to develop preliminary data and refine procedures and hypotheses that will enable submission of highly competitive applications to national funding sources.

CMRF grants are awarded on a competitive basis. A review committee, composed of scientists from within the University of Pittsburgh, UPMC, and the local Veterans Administration medical science community, is responsible for reviewing each application, for providing written critiques of each application, and for making recommendations for awards to OORHS and to the UPMC Board of Directors.

Solicitations of grant applications to the Competitive Medical Research Fund program are issued around mid-September every year. The application submission deadline falls around the second week of the following January. The next submission deadline is Monday, January 7, 2013. CMRF Policies, Application Instructions and Application Packet are attached below.

Sincerely,

Michelle S. Broido, PhD
Associate Vice Chancellor for Biomedical Research
   and Director, Office of Research, Health Sciences
Co-Director, Clinical and Translational Science Institute