The transition from clinical training to junior faculty is among the most challenging periods in the career trajectory of physician-scientists. During this phase, they must simultaneously generate preliminary data, establish research credibility, and develop a competitive training award application, all while often needing to justify their salaries through increased clinical responsibilities. These competing demands can hinder the time and focus required to establish research independence. The Early Career Physician-Scientist Award Program aims to mitigate this barrier by providing one year of dedicated funding (with a competitive renewal application for a second year) to support focused research activity and career development.
The overarching goal of the Early-Career Physician-Scientist Award Program is to provide time-limited funding to enable talented, motivated, and academically accomplished early-career physician-scientists to gain critical experience and skills to generate preliminary data necessary for a successful transition into independence.
Award Tracks
The Early-Career Physician-Scientist Award will support investigators through two funding tracks:
1. MCC Physician-Scientist Bridge Award
Supported by CRTEC and the Meyer Family Endowed Fund, this track is open to physician scientists conducting any area of cancer-related research, including clinical trials.
2. PICI Physician-Scientist Immuno-Oncology (IO) Award
Supported by PICI at WCM, this track is intended for applicants pursuing innovative cancer immunotherapy research. Projects should align with one or more of PICI's scientific priorities, including:
- Development of next-generation cell therapies
- Neoantigen-targeted approaches and synthetic TCR technologies
- Systems immunology, computational modeling, and data-driven immunotherapy discovery
- In vivo immune engineering and off-the-shelf immunotherapy platforms
Applicants submit one application and will be considered for both tracks.
Eligibility Criteria
- Hold an M.D., M.D./Ph.D., or equivalent clinical doctoral degree.
- Are either:
- in the final year of fellowship training and will hold a faculty appointment as an Assistant Professor by the start date of funding
- within four years of initial faculty appointment (Assistant Professor)
- Are performing cancer-related research at Weill Cornell Medicine
- Must be either board-certified or board eligible
- Hold or have a committed junior faculty appointment at Weill Cornell Medicine or Brooklyn Methodist Hospital
- Devote at least 70% full-time professional effort to research-related activities. 50% effort will be considered on a case-by-case basis, particularly for those individuals who are surgeon scientists.
- Have a clear plan to apply for an NIH R-award or equivalent within 24 months
- Have a letter from the Division/Department Chief confirming a faculty appointment, space, protected time, and institutional support
- Cannot already hold an R01 or equivalent award
- Applicants may hold other institutional or foundation grants, including K-awards. The expectation would be for the awardee to apply for an R-award within 18 months of receiving this funding. Applicants should list all current awards in their applications.
- Additional eligibility for the PICI Physician-Scientist IO Award: Proposed research must have a primary focus on cancer immunotherapy and demonstrate clear alignment with at least one of PICI's scientific priority areas.
Important Dates and Deadlines
| Date | |
|---|---|
| October 1, 2026 | Applications Open |
| February 14, 2027 | Applications Close |
| April 16, 2027 | Award Notification |
| July 1, 2027 | Funding Start Date |
| March 16, 2027 | Progress Report Due |
| April 17, 2028 | Notification for Continued or Terminated Funding |
| June 30, 2028 | Funding End Date and Final Progress Report Due |
To learn more about the award, view the RFA, and review the required application materials, please click here.
Please note that you will need a CWID to access this page.
Congratulations to the 2026 winner, Dr. Franco Castillo Tokumori!
Franco Castillo Tokumori, M.D., is an Instructor in Medicine within the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine and Assistant Attending physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. He treats patients with various blood conditions, with a special interest in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and hematopoiesis, which has been the primary focus of his research.
Dr. Castillo Tokumori received his M.D. from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in 2016. After graduating, he worked in his home university’s Pediatric Infectious Diseases Laboratory and completed a postgraduate Diploma in Immunology. He then completed his residency training in Internal Medicine (2022) at the University of South Florida, where he also served as chief resident. He completed his fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology (2025) at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian (WCM/NYP). He is a physician-scientist working closely with the Richard T. Silver MD Myeloproliferative Neoplasm (MPN) Center and the Dr. Joseph Scandura Laboratory at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Castillo Tokumori’s laboratory and clinical research are focused on developing new methods to measure disease activity in MPNs. His main translational work has focused on single-cell techniques to assess clonal dynamics in MPNs.