Developmental Pilot Awards

Please see the current Program Guidelines for complete eligibility information. If you have any questions about eligibility, please contact the Developmental Core Director (Liz Lowenthal, MD MSCE; lowenthale@chop.edu)

General Pilot Awards: Faculty members

Mentored Research Scholar Awards: Young Investigators (Pre-Faculty)

Young investigators at the Instructor, Research Associate, Wistar Staff Scientist, or Wistar Research Assistant Professor level are eligible for mentored awards. Senior fellows will also be considered if they have institutional commitment for a pre-faculty position at the time the award will start. Applicants should be poised to begin an independent research program. If you have any questions about eligibility, please contact the Developmental Core Director (Liz Lowenthal, MD MSCE).

Mentored Research Scholar Award applications must include a letter of support from their scientific mentor. For fellows, an institutional letter of support is also required. In addition to these letters, a one-page mentorship plan is required. Guidelines for the Mentorship Plan are available through the CFAR website.

If you have any questions about eligibility, please contact Developmental Core Director (Liz Lowenthal, MD MSCE).)

The Penn Center for AIDS Research (Penn CFAR) invites Pilot Grant applications. Projects can be in any areas of HIV/AIDS supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health including clinical, basic, behavioral and implementation science research. This year, we especially encourage projects focused on:

• Implementation strategies, including implementation of Long-acting PrEP
• HIV and Aging (all domains, including basic science, clinical, psycho/social, implementation)
• Integration of AI technologies into HIV/AIDS research (all domains)
• Research that harnesses mRNA technology to advance HIV/AIDS priorities (joint pilot with the Penn Institute for RNA Innovation)
• Research that leverages the Penn Medicine Biobank including participants/samples with whole exome sequence and HLA/genomic characterization (joint pilot with the Penn Medicine Biobank and ITMAT) *
• Collaborations with Philadelphia Department of Public Health or local community-based organizations *

Pilot awards are open to investigators without prior R01-level funding in AIDS.

*See below for more information.

Pilot projects are intended to lead to independent HIV/AIDS funding.

All proposals must address high or medium priority areas in the NIH Priorities for HIV/AIDS: https://www.oar.nih.gov/hiv-policy-and-research/research-priorities

Pilot Award eligibility include:

• New investigators without prior R01 level funding from NIH, or
• Established investigators who have had R01-level funding only in fields other than HIV/AIDS.

Two types of pilot award are available:

1. General Pilot Research Awards
2. Mentored Research Scholar Awards.

The award types are described below.

Amount: Awards are for a maximum of $50,000 per grant

Applicants should provide justification for the proposed budget. Grants are for one year and are not renewable. IRB approvals must be in place before funds can be dispersed. 

Application Details: Download the required cover page and instructions.

A brief Letter of Intent (LOI) is requested two weeks before the application due date in order to allow us to plan for a rapid review process and engagement of Community Advisory Board members. The LOI should contain:

1. A brief (<1 page) summary of the planned work with enough detail to allow us to choose knowledgeable reviewers. (e.g., target population(s), methodologic approach)
2. A list all individuals who will be directly involved with the research, who should be disqualified as potential reviewers.

Letter of Intent Deadline: October 30, 2026

Application Deadline: November 16, 2026

Funding release expected: May 1, 2027

AWARD TYPES AND ELIGIBILITY

Note that researchers who are not eligible for these awards may be eligible for CFAR microgrants which are awarded on a rolling basis throughout the year: https://www.med.upenn.edu/cfar/microgrant-program/) 

General Pilot Awards: Faculty members

Eligible applicants must have a faculty appointment of at least Assistant Professor or its equivalent at a Penn CFAR institution. It is also acceptable to have an offer letter for an appointment by the award date.

For junior faculty applicants, a one-page mentorship plan with a senior faculty member is strongly encouraged; for non-HIV/AIDS investigators, a partnership plan with an established HIV/AIDS investigator is strongly encouraged. Contact the Developmental Core leadership for assistance with identifying HIV-focused mentors and partnerships.

Mentored Research Scholar Awards: Young Investigators (Pre-Faculty)

Young investigators at the Instructor, Research Associate, Wistar Staff Scientist, or Wistar Research Assistant Professor level are eligible for mentored awards. Senior fellows will also be considered if they have institutional commitment for a pre-faculty position at the time the award will start. Postdoctoral fellows preparing transition to independence grants may also be eligible. Eligibility must be discussed with Developmental Core Co-Director, Amelia Escolano, PhD, prior to submission. Applicants should be poised to begin an independent research program. If you have general questions about eligibility, please contact Developmental Core Director, Liz Lowenthal, MD MSCE.

Mentored Research Scholar Award applications must include a letter of support from a scientific mentor and a 1-page mentorship plan. For fellows, an institutional letter of support is also required. For postdoctoral fellows preparing transition to independence grants, a brief document (max.1 page) describing the candidate’s plans for grant submission and application to independent positions should be provided. This document should explain how this pilot grant would support grant application and transition to independence.

Instructions for Specific Study Types:

* For work in collaboration with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH): Please consult with Kathleen Brady, MD MSCE, Director of PDPH Division of HIV Health. Consultation with the Implementation Science Core is also recommended. PDPH has a broad range of priority topics for collaborative research, selected examples include:

• Acceptability, feasibility, and uptake of HIV prevention services in mobile buprenorphine sites
• Assessing the impact of harm reduction vending machine implementation on health outcomes
• Development and assessment of acceptability and feasibility of non-stigmatizing health messaging for providers
• Acceptability and feasibility of interventions to improve the quality of life in people aging with HIV
• Cost-effectiveness of different implementation strategies for HIV testing (community-based testing, clinical testing, pharmacy-based, low-threshold sexual health sites)
• To what extent does the PDPH Prevention Clinical Associate facilitate the integration of opt-out HIV screening into clinical workflows? What impact do clinic-specific protocols have on the uptake of opt-out HIV screening in clinical settings?

* Community-based Organizations & Department of Health: Investigators at partner institutions may be eligible in collaboration with Penn, CHOP, or Wistar faculty.

* Research leveraging the Penn Medicine Biobank (PMBB): The PMBB recruits participants in a disease-agnostic manner from the entire Penn Medicine Health System, obtains biospecimens for research purposes, and consents participants for genomic analyses, permission to access electronic health record (EHR) data, and permission to recontact. The PMBB has already recruited >380,000 patient-participants, with whole exome sequencing and array-based genotyping data available on ~65K PMBB participants. The PMBB includes nearly 2000 patients with HIV, and more than 650 of them have whole exome sequence data with imputed HLA genotype data already available. This pilot would support research using clinical and genomic data, banked plasma/serum samples, facilitation of access to banked tissue, dissemination of surveys, or recruitment of specified participants for additional sample/data collection or deep phenotyping (including from HIV-negative controls as appropriate). Applications targeting this opportunity must be discussed in advance with Nawar Naseer (nnawar@pennmedicine.upenn.edu). Jointly supported by the PMBB/ITMAT (Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics).

Clinical Studies: The NIH restricts CFAR Pilot Grants from funding NIH-defined “Clinical Trials.” If you are planning to propose a human intervention study (biomedical, behavioral, etc.), please contact Dr. Lowenthal so we can help ensure that your study, if approved, could be supported by available funds.

Use of Fetal Tissue: Research plans using fetal tissue are not permitted in pilot awards.

For International Applications:  Applications with international components must be approved by the International Core Director (Robert Gross, MD MSCE) prior to preparation of the application. Subcontracts to foreign entities through pilot funds are currently disallowed by federal regulations. International work conducted through the Botswana-UPenn Partnership (BUP) is allowable since BUP does not require foreign subcontracting.

For work in Implementation Science: Consultation with the IS Core is strongly recommended. Please use this link to schedule: https://upenn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e4zjmPYnvIAiT42

Awardee Benefits: In addition to the financial award, grantees will be part of a cohort of awardees who will benefit from mentorship, linkage to other career-development opportunities, and support from the CFAR Community Advisory Board. Awardees will receive coaching on communicating their results to lay audiences to aid dissemination to communities of interest. This can include development of lay summaries, infographics, and other accessible dissemination products to support broader communication of research findings.

Awardee Expectations: Successful awardees will be required to submit periodic progress reports and to take part in mentoring activities and feedback seminars. Pilot recipients will be followed with periodic brief surveys for at least 5 years after the funding period ends for NIH reporting.

We strongly encourage all applicants to reach out to the Developmental Core prior to submission for help identifying resources including potential investigative partners.

Pilot grant applicants are encouraged to seek support from CFAR Cores. Cores provide resources that often help to expand the impact of HIV research.

Please refer to the CFAR website for details of other Core services: https://www.med.upenn.edu/cfar/cores/

 

Developmental Core Contacts

Scientific Questions for Clinical/Behavioral Research:

Liz Lowenthal, MD MSCE

Director, CFAR Developmental Core

 

Scientific Questions for Basic Science Research:

Amelia Escolano, PhD

Co-Director, CFAR Developmental Core

 

Administrative Questions:

Samantha Cross 

 

The Developmental Core is intended to help pilot grant applicants achieve the following goals:

• Translate the pilot grant application into a subsequent competitive external funding application (i.e., NIH or other agency)
• Gain familiarity with the Penn CFAR and CFAR Cores and services.
• Network with local like-minded professionals. The Core provides opportunities to interact with colleagues in the Penn CFAR and can provide introductions to colleagues working throughout the University of Pennsylvania, The Wistar Institute, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
• Identify potential opportunities for extramural collaboration.
• Develop awareness of policies and procedures relevant to the awardee’s work (e.g., clear understanding of human subjects and/or animal research requirements, international research guidelines, good clinical practice).
• Achieve career advancement and work towards independence as HIV-focused researchers.
• Establish an ethically sound research environment.
• Assist applicants whose pilot submissions were not funded to address reviewers’ concerns to achieve success in the following application cycle.

In accepting the Pilot Grant, awardees agree to:

1. Obtain all necessary ethical approvals and undergo successful NIH scientific review prior to release of funding. Awardees will complete the NIH Human Subjects Study Record required for all projects with a human subjects component. To determine if your project has a human subjects component, please see the NIH Questionnaire.
2. In presentations, abstracts, and publications, acknowledge CFAR funding with either of the following, as appropriate:
   • Direct CFAR Funding Support: This research was supported by a grant from the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), an NIH-funded program (P30 AI 045008).
   • Indirect/Partial Funding Support: This publication/presentation/grant proposal was made possible through core services and support from the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), an NIH-funded program (P30 AI 045008).
3. Participate in general professional development activities and research-in-progress sessions, such as Pilot Feedback Talks coordinated by the CFAR Developmental Core, both for added feedback on active awards and to learn more about what others are doing in the CFAR community and opportunities for collaboration.
4. Utilize the resources of the CFAR to maximize their research success by participating actively in the program relationship and engaging both chosen and assigned CFAR faculty in the process of transforming the pilot award grant into a subsequent grant submission. Mentored awardees should engage the mentor(s) at all stages of grant preparation, from the initial conception of an idea to the final grant submission.
   • The CFAR faculty’s time and the CFAR Developmental Core are valuable resources. The awardee/applicant is responsible for asking for assistance when needed and being fully prepared for mentoring meetings. Preparatory materials such as an agenda, pending papers, drafts of future grant-specific aims, or other information should be provided at least 2 weeks in advance of meetings.
   • Mentored pilot awardees must provide the CFAR mentor(s) with a copy of any grant application in a reasonable time (i.e., at least 4 weeks for NIH K- and R-series awards) for feedback. This timeline requires that mentorship starts well before submission (i.e., at least 3 months prior to the due date) to allow for revision and final critical review.
   • To monitor the progress of the Pilot project and submission of a subsequent grant application, the awardee must meet at least twice a year, more if indicated in the mentoring plan or as requested by his/her CFAR faculty mentor. Awardees/applicants agree to send a preparatory e-mail to the mentor outlining the topics to be covered and their goals for each mentoring meeting.
5. Take advantage of opportunities for collaborative research within the Penn CFAR and other CFARs nationwide.
6. Complete brief quarterly progress reports that review progress, spending, highlights, and next steps, and track abstracts/presentations/publications during the period of the award.
7. Complete annual surveys for at least 5 years after completion of the award.

Click here to see a list of all previous recipients of CFAR Developmental Pilot Awards  (PennKey required).