Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Awards for Medical Scientists (CAMS)

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is committed to fostering the development of the next generation of biomedical scientists and is committed to supporting degree-granting institutions to achieve this goal. The career development of young scientists has been a major funding theme at BWF and various programs have provided major support to promising young scientists to help them make the transition from late postdoctoral training to early faculty service.

The Career Awards for Medical Scientists (CAMS) was introduced in 2007 to specifically address the declining participation of physicians engaged in academic biomedical research. The CAMS award provides support to facilitate the transition from mentored position to independence for the early career physician scientist. The program is ideal for the physician scientist considering an academic career.

CAMS is a highly competitive program that provides $700,000 in support over five years for physician scientists (M.D., D.O., D.V.M., D.D.S.), who are committed to an academic career, to bridge postdoctoral/fellowship training and the early years of faculty service.

Proposals must be in the area of basic biomedical, disease- oriented, or translational research. Proposals in health services research or involving large-scale clinical trials are not eligible. BWF anticipates making up to 13 awards in the 2024-2024 cycle.

Special Considerations

Proposals that incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning or climate change and human health are of particular interest.

• BWF believes that a diverse scientific workforce is essential to the process and advancement of research innovation, academic discovery and public service.
• BWF strongly encourages applications from persons who have been historically underrepresented in the research enterprise, including but not limited to: women of any ethnic or racial group; any person identifying as Black or African American, Latino/a or Hispanic American, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, indigenous to the Pacific Islands, indigenous Canadian; persons with disabilities; persons from disadvantaged backgrounds (see https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-20-031.html for examples). BWF also strongly encourages individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+ to apply.
• BWF seeks institutional and geographic diversity. Applicants at academic or research institutions that have received few or no BWF grants to date are encouraged to apply.
• There are many training paths that can prepare candidates for a career as a physician scientist, and BWF seeks to ensure that CAMS awardees reflect this. Therefore, special consideration will be given to single degree physician-scientists (M.D., D.O., D.V.M., V.M.D., D.D.S.) as well as dual degree physician-scientists who have not historically been well represented in our applicant or awardee pool (D.V.M., Ph.D., D.O., Ph.D., D.D.S., Ph.D., M.D., M.S., M.D., M.P.H., etc).