Funder: Uplifting Athletes
Due Dates (Anticipated): September 2027 (Application deadline)
Funding Amounts: Minimum $20,000 USD for one year ($10,000 from Uplifting Athletes plus at least $10,000 in matching funds)
Summary: Seed grants support mentored, early-career rare disease researchers pursuing collaborative research toward treatments and potential cures.
Key Information: Researchers must be nominated by an eligible patient advocacy organization willing to provide the matching funds.
Description
Uplifting Athletes’ Young Investigator Draft supports the next generation of rare disease researchers through seed grants for collaborative basic bench and translational research. The program aims to advance new FDA-approved treatments and potential cures while helping investigators generate preliminary data for NIH fellowship, career development, or research grants, or other funding sources. Disease-specific patient advocacy organizations nominate researchers and co-fund their awards, connecting scientific work with unmet patient-community needs.
The program supports early-career investigators whose research remains mentored, including postdoctoral and clinical fellows. Its Draft platform recognizes researchers, raises awareness of their work, and highlights its potential impact on the rare disease community. The Underrepresented Researchers in Medicine initiative also seeks to expand access to funding and guarantees selection of at least one researcher from an underrepresented background.
