Prize for Academic Collaboration and Excellence (PACE)

UMass Memorial Medical Group Cares About Academic Excellence

Introduction and Purpose

UMass Memorial Medical Group and the UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science (UMCCTS) at UMass Chan Medical School are pleased to announce a funding call for the Prize for Academic Collaboration and Excellence. This award supports the engagement of Medical Group physicians in cutting-edge research, encourages interdepartmental collaboration, showcases the Medical Group’s and Medical School’s commitment to academic excellence and reinforces the Medical Group’s identity as a group comprised of academic physicians.

The goal of award funding is to support innovative investigator-initiated research and is open to any area of investigation. It is assumed that successful projects will be able to attract future funding from extramural sources.

The PACE program is funded with a $400,000 grant from UMass Memorial Medical Group and UMass Chan Medical School.

• The number of awards granted will depend on the number of winners selected from the top five submissions.
• The maximum award will be $200,000.
• Funds are to be used at the discretion of the PIs and typically cover trainee support, reagent costs, use of consultation/core services and small equipment.
• Up to 25% of the total prize earnings may be used for PIs’ salary support over two years.
• Indirect costs are not allowed.

The window to submit 2024 applications is now open.

Information and Request for Letters of Intent (PDF)

Questions: Contact Dr. Diane McKee or Dr. Max Rosen

Interested?  Here are more details:

• Goal: Innovative investigator-initiated research
  • Open to any area of investigation
• Projects must support an interdepartmental team made up of two or more Medical Group collaborating departments. Collaboration with the Medical School’s Basic Science departments at is highly encouraged as appropriate to the scientific goals of the project.
• All faculty Primary Investigators (PIs) must be Medical Group members.  Inclusion of Medical School faculty as multiple principal investigators (MPI) or co-investigators is encouraged as appropriate to the scientific goals of the project. 
• One PI must be an assistant or associate professor
• Preference will be given to:
  • Investigators without previous substantial outside funding.
  • Research that can readily be translated to improve clinical care or clinical outcomes.
  • Projects that hold promise for external funding and sustained impact.
  • Applicants will receive added consideration from the reviewers if they plan to use one or more of the research resources available through the UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science (UMCCTS) at UMass Chan Medical School.

Criteria for Awards

To be considered for funding, the evaluation criteria that are used to review proposals include:

• Intellectual Merit – Projects that include all efforts to enhance the impact of scholarly endeavors on benefiting the human condition, which for the purposes of this fund include enabling technologies
• Alignment to True North
• Collaboration – Projects that are transdisciplinary and include investigators from multiple departments, including basic science departments
• Growth Opportunity – Projects that demonstrate the opportunity to be leveraged to attract and secure outside funding from federal, state, industry, foundation and other sources

Download PDF Instructions

Learn about our past PACE Award winners.