The Warren Alpert Distinguished Scholar Awards - Neuroscience

The submission period for The Warren Alpert Distinguished Scholars Fellowship Award in Neuroscience is CLOSED.  The new enrollment period will run from July 2025 to November 1, 2025 .

The Award will support individual postdoctoral scientists of exceptional creativity in the field of neurosciences.

These transitional awards are to enable a postdoctoral researcher to advance to become a full-time faculty member at the Assistant Professor level or higher and to promote the development of a laboratory program that will lead to independent funding. The medical school, research institute, or academic hospital appointing the scholar will be awarded $200,000 annually for two years to cover salary, lab costs, and related expenses.  Under certain circumstances, the awardee may transfer funding to support their beginning faculty position.  Indirect costs of up to 15% of direct costs may be included in the $200,000.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

• Must have an MD, PhD, or both
• Must hold a post-doctoral research position at a United States medical school, research institute, or academic institution.
• Minimum of 3 years and no more than 6 years of a post-doctoral fellowship by July 1, 2026
• Research focused in the field of Neuroscience
• Must be nominated by the dean of the medical school or equivalent institutional senior leader.
• Must include a nomination letter
• Commitment of a minimum of 75% effort
• 3 letters of recommendation
• Budgets submitted in NIH G300 format

Scholars will be chosen on the basis of the success in their prior post-doctoral work and other research as well as in the importance and creativity of their proposed future research.

The Foundation will select recipients for awards using an objective and nondiscriminatory selection process based upon criteria that include each applicant’s research achievements, academic records, scientific proposal and submitted letters of recommendation.

The Foundation expects to make five or more awards in 2026.

HOW TO APPLY:

Please click here to fill out the Warren Alpert Foundation Distinguished Scholar Fellowship application according to the listed requirements.  You must submit all requirements electronically no later than November 1, 2025.

Note:  All inquiries regarding this award must be submitted by either the Dean, Chief Academic Research Officer, or the Grant’s Administration office.  Awards are to be announced in March 2026.

Congratulations to our most recent awardees:

The Warren Alpert Foundation postdoctoral program was established in 2019 to advance neuroscience training as a bridge towards developing a career trajectory in academia, industry, or governmental science.  This highly competitive national program has been awarded to 5-7 individuals each year providing two years of support in a setting that permits independent scholarship to advance career development.

Applications are sought from leaders of medical schools, academic teaching hospitals, and research institutes.  The applications are reviewed by an independent committee of scientists who are knowledgeable in the field of neuroscience in particular as it relates to discovery of potential new treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders.

We wish our winners great success in their innovative research and look forward to their future accomplishments and contributions to medical science.

How to Apply

Must be nominated by the dean of the medical school or equivalent institutional senior leader.  Only one candidate per institution can submit an application.

Please click here to fill out the Warren Alpert Foundation Distinguished Scholar Fellowship application according to the listed requirements.  You must submit all requirements electronically no later than November 1, 2025.

Note:  All inquiries and applications must be submitted by either the Dean, Chief Academic Research Officer, or the Grant’s Administration office.  Awards are to be announced in March 2026.