RPB Career Development Award

About the Grant

The RPB Career Development Award helps RPB-supported ophthalmology chairs support promising junior ophthalmology faculty who have demonstrated their potential for independent research. As RPB’s flagship award, the RPB CDA launches careers and catalyzes sight-saving research.

Grant Variation: RPB Career Development Award

This grant does not have a specific focus and is open to any topic within vision research.

Grant Eligibility

Candidates (MDs, PhDs, or MD/PhDs) must have primary appointments in ophthalmology with academic positions up to and including Assistant Professor. The candidate’s first full-time ophthalmology faculty appointment must have been within three (3) years of the application deadline.

The candidate must hold their position at an RPB-supported department of ophthalmology (a department with an Unrestricted Grant or Challenge Grant).

PhDs are no longer required to have a secondary appointment in a basic science or other relevant department prior to submission; however, a secondary appointment is recommended.

MDs and MD/PhDs must devote at least 50% of their time to research activities, with 60% desirable.

The candidate cannot currently have or have held an R01 or been funded through a DP mechanism as a Principal Investigator.

How to Apply

Applicants must be nominated by their Ophthalmology Department Chair. Please note: applications received without a prior nomination form will not be accepted. Candidates can access the nomination and application forms below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Am I eligible for a grant?

Each RPB grant has different eligibility criteria, which is detailed on the relevant grant webpage. If you have questions about the eligibility details, please reach out to us; we’re happy to help.

Do I need to be at an RPB-supported department to get a grant?

While a few of our RPB grants (RPB Medical Student Eye Research Fellowship, RPB Career Development Award, and the RPB Physician-Scientist Award) are restricted to departments that have an RPB Unrestricted or Challenge grant, the majority of our grants are open to researchers at any academic medical center in the U.S.

The reason that the three grants mentioned above are restricted to RPB-supported departments is that our Departmental Grantees undergo an extremely rigorous peer-review process. The environment and leadership at these departments have met our stringent criteria and are appropriate venues for the research being conducted by these early- and mid-career researchers, giving us assurance that they will receive outstanding support.

If you are not sure if your department has a Departmental Grant, visit our current grantees here.

Do you fund outside the U.S.?

No, all of our grants are awarded to researchers or departments of ophthalmology at U.S.-based academic medical centers. The RPB International Researcher Collaborators Award supports collaboration between U.S. and outside-the-U.S. researchers; however, the award is made to the U.S. academic medical center, which can then disperse the funds as needed to support the project collaboration.

I received an email about a grant requirement (Year-End reporting, Financial Report, Progress Report, etc.). Who do I contact?

For Financial Reports and Progress Reports, please contact Director of Grants Management MariaClaudia Lora-Montana (mlora@rpbusa.org). For Year-End Reports (photos, research summaries and bibliographies), please contact Jo Casella (jcasella@rpbusa.org).

I’m a grantee and I published or presented (or plan to publish or present) a paper or poster. Who should I contact?

We love to help promote our grantees’ work! Please reach out to Director of External Affairs Diana Friedman (dfriedman@rpbusa.org or 646-892-9565) to share your good news.

Still have questions?

Contact us for more details!

MariaClaudia Lora-Montano

Director of Grants Management