NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (DP1 Clinical Trial Optional)

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), number RFA-RM-27-001, announces the NIH Director's Pioneer Award (DP1 Clinical Trial Optional) funded through the NIH Common Fund. The award supports exceptionally creative individual scientists proposing bold, highly innovative, and high-impact research relevant to the broad mission of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). To qualify as pioneering, the proposed research must represent a fundamentally new scientific direction rather than an extension or scale-up of the investigator's current research program. The NIH intends to commit approximately $8 million in FY 2027 to fund roughly seven awards. Each award provides $700,000 in direct costs per year for a limited project period of five years. Eligible applicants include higher education institutions, nonprofits, for-profit organizations, and government entities; however, foreign organizations and applications involving foreign subawards or subcontracts are ineligible. Pioneer recipients must commit a significant portion of their research effort to the project: at least 51% (6 person-months) during the first three years, transitioning to a minimum of 33% in year four and 25% in year five. Applications must be submitted as "new," and detailed experimental plans or preliminary data are not required. Applications will be evaluated based on the investigator's innovativeness, the significance and novelty of the project, and a demonstrated shift in research direction. Highly ranked candidates will be invited for interviews in March–April 2027, with the earliest start date for awards in July 2027.