External Deadline: February, 2026 Internal Deadline: October 27, 2025
Slides and recording from the Early K99 webinar held on December 6, 2023.
Instructions for electronic submission: To apply for the NCI K99/R00, please submit the materials requested below to this link no later than October 27, 2025, at 11:59 PM.
Budget: Mentored Phase (K99): Up to $100,000/year toward salary and fringe, $30,000/year toward the research development costs, and 8% toward applicable IDC; Independent Phase (R00): Up to $249,000/year toward salary, fringe, research costs, and applicable IDC. Total project period: up to 5 years.
Application limit: Up to a combined total of 4 applications (one in Data Science, one in Cancer Control Science, one in Molecular/Precision Cancer Prevention, and one in Other Sciences) from WCM (not including Ithaca) to any companion NOFO or any combination of companion NOFOs (PAR-23-286, PAR-23-287, and/or PAR-23-288).
Program Description:
The “Early K99” program is designed for outstanding postdoctoral fellows who do not require an extended period of mentored research training beyond their doctoral degrees before transitioning to independence. The objective of this award is to facilitate a timely transition of these fellows from their mentored, postdoctoral research positions to independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions. The program will provide independent NCI research support during this transition to help awardees to launch competitive, independent research careers.
Focus areas:
(A) Cancer Data Science: an interdisciplinary field of inquiry in which quantitative and analytical approaches, processes, and systems are both developed and used to extract knowledge and insights from increasingly large and/or complex sets of data. This includes cancer-focused data integration and visualization, systems biology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, informatics, genomics, precision oncology, and developing analytics for epidemiological or biostatistical studies.
(B) Cancer Control Science: basic and applied research in the behavioral, social, and population sciences to create or enhance interventions that, independently or in combination with biomedical approaches, reduce cancer risk, incidence, morbidity, and mortality, and improve quality of life. This includes research in epidemiology, behavioral sciences, health services, surveillance, cancer survivorship, and healthcare policy.
(C) Molecular/Precision Cancer Prevention: early translational research in cancer prevention is defined as basic research to understand mechanisms of cancer formation, development and progression of cancer precursors, and to translate basic biological knowledge into novel human interventions and human-centered adaption of current interventions with the potential to reduce cancer risk, incidence, and mortality, and improve quality of life. This includes but is not limited to research in molecular and systems biology, diagnostics, vaccine and drug development, pharmacology, and biomedical engineering.
(D) Other Cancer Research: includes all scientific fields supported by NCI that are not included in (A), (B), or (C). Applicants proposing research in (D) "Other Cancer Research" may apply only if it is reasonable to expect them to transition to independence with an abbreviated period of mentored research training beyond their original doctoral degrees.
For additional details, please consult the NCI website: https://www.cancer.gov/grants-training/training/funding/early-k99
Eligibility
- Candidates must have a clinical or research doctorate (including PhD, MD, DO, DC, ND, DDS, DMD, DVM, ScD, DNS, PharmD or equivalent doctoral degrees).
- Career Stage for Postdoctoral and Clinical Fellows: K99 applicants must have no more than 2 years of postdoctoral research experience as of the application due date (February 17, 2026). Individuals must be in mentored, postdoctoral training positions to be eligible to apply to the program. If an applicant achieves independence (i.e., any faculty or non-mentored research position) before a K99 award is made, neither the K99 award, nor the R00 award, will be issued.
- Parental, medical, or other well-justified leave for personal or family situations of generally less than 12 months duration is not included in the 2-year eligibility limit, nor is postgraduate clinical training with no research involvement (e.g., full-time residency training). Part-time postdoctoral research training, related to personal or family situations or occurring during a research residency or fellowship, will be pro-rated accordingly. Only time dedicated to research activities would count toward the 2-year limit.
- Candidates are required to commit a minimum of 75% of full-time professional effort (i.e., a minimum of 9 person-months) to their program of career development.
- There is no citizenship requirement for K99 applicants.
Please consult the NCI website for additional eligibility details and exemptions.
Individuals are NOT eligible if they:
- Have currently or previously held an independent research faculty or tenure-track faculty position, or its equivalent, in academia, industry or elsewhere; or
- Have more than 2 years of postdoctoral research training by the application due date; or
- Have been an independent PD/PI on NIH research grants (e.g. R01, R03, R21), NIH career development awards (e.g., K01, K07, K08, K23, K25) or other peer-reviewed NIH or non-NIH research grants with over $100,000 direct costs per year, or project leaders on sub-projects of program project (P01) or center (P50) grants.
Application Requirements
WCM is limited to submitting a combined total of 4 nominees for the NOFOs (PAR-23-286, PAR-23-287, and/or PAR-23-288). Due to this limitation an internal selection process will be coordinated.
Chairpersons/Institute Directors/Division Heads may submit no more than two nominations from their department/division.
Note: Chairs/Division Heads submitting more than one nomination must comment on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two nominees. Send the candidates' comparison summary by email to researchdean@med.cornell.edu by the internal deadline indicated above.
For the internal selection, please submit the following items in the order listed in one single PDF file using the appropriate naming convention:
Margins should be at least one inch and font size no less than 11 points.
- A 30-lines scienfitic abstract explaining the quantification of the applicant and fit of the project for this funding mechanism.
- Institutional Nomination Letter (2 pages)
- The institutional nomination letter must be co-signed by the candidate's Chair/Division Head/Institute Director and by the candidate’s postdoctoral mentor. The letter must identify one of the four scientific areas (Cancer Data Science, Cancer Control Science, Cancer Prevention, or Other Cancer Research). The nomination letter should also describe the institutional commitment to supporting the candidate's search for a tenure track or equivalent position. It should affirm the candidate's near-readiness to transition to independence and describe the main factors that identify the nominee as likely to obtain a tenure-track or equivalent research position at an early career stage; for example, distinctive attributes of the candidate’s career to date and/or the successful transition to independence of other early stage postdocs from the candidate's scientific area, affiliated department or program, or the laboratory of the primary mentor.
- Project Summary (2 pages). Include a description of your current research and the research you propose to continue in the independent phase.
- Candidate’s Biosketch (5 pages)
- Budget for K99 phase (use R&R Budget-5yr template)
Submit the items listed above here no later than October 27, 2025, at 11:59 PM in the order listed as one PDF document using the naming convention PI last name-first initial_NCIEarlyKFeb2026.pdf (see example below).
Example: Smith-J_ NCIEarlyKFeb2026.pdf
- Cancer
- Postdoc/Residents/Fellows