Research & Grants

Frequently Asked Questions - Pathway

Nomination Questions

Each institution is allowed to submit one nomination (total) to any of our Pathway Awards (Initiator, Accelerator orVisionary).

Previously unfunded Pathway proposals will not automatically be carried forward for consideration in future competitions, and cannot be resubmitted to the Association outside of the institutional nomination process. Institutions are permitted one repeat nomination of an individual applicant. Investigators who would like to be reconsidered after submitting a previously unfunded proposal must proceed through their institutional nomination process. There is no required time frame for repeat nominations, but revised applications must follow the Application Instructions in effect at the time of resubmission. The second application, whether revised or new, may be submitted to any subsequent application cycle, assuming all current eligibility requirements are met at the time of application and institutional nomination is obtained.

Generally, we consider an institution as independent if they have their own DUNS or IPF number, but please inquire regarding the specific institution prior to submitting a nomination.

HHMI-supported Investigators are not eligible for the Accelerator Award-Early Investigator, as the HHMI funding is generally considered to be equivalent to having an R01 renewal. There are no specific restrictions that exclude an HHMI-supported investigator to be nominated for the Accelerator Award-New to Diabetes Research, as long as all of the other eligibility criteria for the award are met. In particular, the criterion regarding what constitutes "previous national funding for diabetes research” should be carefully considered. Since HHMI award funds may be more flexible than other more traditional (NIH) funding, we would caution that the researcher really be "new to diabetes research”. For example, someone with HHMI funding concentrating on cancer cell biology would certainly be considered new to diabetes research, while someone with funding for a field closely related to diabetes, such as metabolism research, would not be considered sufficiently unrelated to qualify as new to diabetes. 

No. All candidates must be identified through nominations from U.S.-accredited academic and nonprofit research institutions. For further details, access the "Call for Nominations" section on the right navigation menu.

All Pathway applicants must have permission to work within the U.S., either as U.S. citizens or permanent residents, or with appropriate work visas/permits. Institutional certification of permission to work within the U.S. will be required prior to activation of the award.

Initiator Awards

Eligible applicants must currently be in research training positions (post-doctoral fellow, research fellowship). For non-tenure track research positions, (research scientist, research associate) you may be eligible to be nominated if your institution can confirm that your current position is a mentored training position that is not independent (i.e., you are fully supported by your mentor and your employment is dependent upon your mentor).

Yes. As long as you are still within your seventh year at the time of application submission, you are eligible to be nominated.

Yes, you are eligible to apply. When completing the budget form you must request one year of support for Phase I (instead of the two available) and up to five years of funding for Phase II.

Accelerator Awards

No. You are not eligible to be nominated if you have applied for a renewal or a second R01/U01, regardless of the outcome of the applications currently in review. If you have applied for a second R01/U01, even if it has not been funded, you have accumulated enough experience and enough data to be considered an established investigator.

You are eligible to be nominated if you hold other diabetes-related funding, as long as it is not more than one R01 or U01 grant. However, as Pathway awards are considered Career Development awards, upon receipt of a Pathway award you may be required to relinquish other Career Development/Junior Faculty awards from funding institutions that do not allow recipients to hold two awards of similar intent simultaneously.

Online Issues

Yes, you may retake the quiz. Please clear your cookies and cache. Restart your browser window and then click the link to create a new application.

The application link is very sensitive and the online application contains cookies, which may be prohibited by your security system. These problems can be avoided by: 1) Restarting computer, making sure all other applications and browsers remain closed, 2) temporarily changing your security setting to allow cookies (your network administrator may need to do this for you), and 3) copying and pasting the link (https://www.grantrequest.com/SID_320/?SA=AM(link is external)) into your web browser. Please note: If you have had problems accessing the application in the past, you will likely need to take the same precautionary measures every time you revisit the saved application.

No. All three reference letters must be submitted to each application before the system allows a submission. Please refer to the Letter of Recommendation upload instructions for further details and troubleshooting tips.

Review Process/Status

Our system will automatically generate a confirmation email, which includes a tracking number. If you do not receive an email within 24 hours, please email us at Pathway@diabetes.org(link sends e-mail).

All notifications regarding the status of the award will be sent to the Principal Investigator by mid-December.

Pathway scientists will be selected by a Mentor Advisory Group—an assemblage of eminent scientists from diabetes research and other fields who personify the core elements needed for exceptional science.