Rare Organic Acidemias Research (ROAR) Consortium Early Career Fellowship

Request for Application Published:                February 13, 2026

Deadline for Application Submission:             April 1, 2026

Awards Announcement By:                            April 30, 2026

Award Start Date:                                           June 1, 2026 & October 1, 2026

The overall mission of the ROAR career enhancement core is to recruit and retain a cohort of physicians, physician-researchers, and other researchers with clinical research expertise in rare metabolic disorders, specifically organic acidemias.

Annual funding of $50,000 (total cost, including indirect costs) is available to support a postdoctoral trainee or early career faculty member (within 5 years of residency or fellowship training as of proposed start date of either June 1, 2026 or October 1, 2026) for a one-year period. The ROAR Consortium intends to fund 1-2 awards this cycle with one award starting by June 1, 2026 and another starting by October 1, 2026. 

 

Trainees are expected to complete the following:

1.    Design and complete a clinical research project focusing on organic acidemias. This project can leverage existing projects within the ROAR consortium or can be a new project unrelated to existing projects in the consortium. Of note, funds cannot be used to support research projects involving animal models. 

2.    Meet monthly with their project mentor and periodically with the ROAR Career Enhancement Core leadership to discuss progress.

3.    Provide a progress report within 30 days of completing the program.

4.    Attend ROAR consortium activities including the monthly ROAR team calls and annual ROAR consortium in-person meeting.

5.    Present their project at the annual ROAR consortium in-person meeting or monthly ROAR team call.

6.    Acknowledge the ROAR consortium support on manuscripts published upon completion of the project.

7.    Trainees are expected to participate in the RDCRN Rare Disease Research Training Program.

8.    Trainees are encouraged to budget funds for travel to one conference relevant to the organic acidemia and/or rare disease community to present their work. 

 

The budget section of the application does not need to be approved and signed off by the applicant’s institution at the time of the initial submission of the application. The applicant that is selected to receive funding will be requested to submit an official budget signed off by the Institution after funding decisions are made.   Applicants and mentors from within or outside of the ROAR consortium may apply, but they must be affiliated with the following ROAR institutions: (Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital, University of Pittsburgh, University of Minnesota, Children’s Research Institute/Children’s National Medical Center, Children’s Hospital Colorado). All applicants must have a mentor and/or co-mentor who is a ROAR consortium member.

 

1.    Project abstract (0.5 page limit)

2.    Proposal with specific aims, background, significance relative to ROAR mission, preliminary data (if available), and research plan (5 page limit).

3.    References (not included in 5 page limit)

4.    If applicable, the following sections should be included (not included in 5 page research proposal page limit)

       a.     Protection of Human subjects

       b.     Data Safety monitoring plan 

       c.      Inclusion of women and minorities  

       d.     Inclusion of children  

5.    Career development plan that outlines a personalized plan for mentoring and developing independence as a rare disease investigator prepared 
       by trainee and mentor (2 page limit)

6.    NIH biosketch of applicant (5 page limit)

7.    NIH biosketch of mentor (5 page limit)

8.    Letter of support from mentor outlining environment, institutional support and training plan. (2 page limit)

9.    If the applicant’s mentor is not a ROAR investigator, a ROAR investigator will supply a letter of support and serve as a co-mentor (1 page limit)

10.  Detailed budget with justification 

Applications will be scored with standard NIH scoring criteria. 

Other scoring criteria will include:

1.    Potential of applicant for a long-term career in research in rare metabolic disorders 

2.    Commitment of applicant to contribute to ROAR mission

3.    Relevance of research project to rare disease research and ROAR mission  

4.    Training environment   

Applications should be submitted as a single PDF using Arial font (11 point) and ½ inch margins by the deadline above through the RDCRN grants portal (RDCRN Grants Portal). 

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