CARE Seed Grant

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, CARE has awarded 35 Seed Grants to pioneering scientists across a wide range of disciplines seeking early-stage funding to pursue innovative research in Asian health.

These grants have given CARE investigators the freedom to explore their most promising and uniquely Stanford research ideas, which nurtures and expands Stanford Medicine's exceptional capacity for innovation in Asian health. These funds are particularly helpful in promoting collaborations across disciplines and supporting the collection of pilot data to achieve further grant funding. This strategy has been successful in launching and nurturing new Asian health research projects, and has allowed researchers to accumulate sufficient “proof-of-concept” data to apply competitively for follow-on research funding, both in the form of philanthropic investment and traditional public and/or private grant funding from the NIH, AHA, and others.

Every year, CARE releases a Call for Applications in early December with applications due via Slideroom on February 1. Awards are announced in early March. The award period is two calendar years, typically beginning on May 1 and ending on April 30.

View our Current CARE Seed Grant Awardees 

Specialized Grants for our 2026 Seed Grant Cycle

In addition to our general seed grants, CARE will be collaborating with the following centers and groups to offer 4 specialized grants:

Lung Cancer & Asian Health 

This year, CARE and the Stanford Cancer Institute (SCI) will be co-sponsoring a specialized seed grant titled “Translational Therapeutics for Lung Cancer in People Who Have Never Smoked”. This funding will support the development of Novel Therapeutic Entities (NTEs) for Lung Cancer with up to $200,000 in funding.  There will be one grant awarded for this cycle.  

• Disease area: NSCLC in People who have Never Smoked
• Any therapeutic modality: small molecule, antibody, cell-based, peptide, other immuno-oncology, …
• Preference will be given to projects with high likelihood of commercialization within three years (i.e. potential to be licensed out of Stanford for further development by an established or new company).
• Projects should have a clearly defined and validated therapeutic target.  The grant is not intended for target identification or validation.  

AI & Asian Health 

CARE and the Stanford Center for Digital Health (CDH) will be co-sponsoring a specialized seed grant titled “The use of generative AI to improve the health of Asian populations”. This project will focus on leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to advance, implement, and promote cutting-edge digital solutions to improve Asian health. There will be one grant up to $50,000 awarded for this cycle. 

Diabetes & Asian Health 

This year, CARE's ADVANCE (Accelerate Innovation in Diabetes LeVeraging Unique PAthways iN Asians) Program will be co-sponsoring two specialized seed grants titled “Innovative Diabetes Research in Asian Populations Powered by the ADVANCE Biobank.” There will be two grants of $50,000 each awarded to support innovative research on Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in Asian populations utilizing samples from the Stanford ADVANCE Biobank.  

The ADVANCE Biobank is an Asian diabetes biobank within the Stanford Precision Health Biobank, created to better understand the unique genetic, molecular, and clinical features of diabetes among individuals of Asian descent, with and without diabetes.  

  We invite proposals that:  

• Leverage ADVANCE Biobank samples and linked clinical data
• Focus on Type 1 and/or Type 2 diabetes in Asian and Asian American populations
• Use approaches such as genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, immunology, imaging, data science, or AI/ML
• Aim to generate preliminary data for future NIH or other extramural funding  

In order to access samples for research purposes, please follow the instructions listed under the ADVANCE Biobank tab using this link: https://med.stanford.edu/precisionhealthbiobank/education/for-researchers.html  

APPLICATION:

Apply HERE for our 2026 cycle! 

ELIGIBILITY:

Stanford faculty with University Tenure Line (UTL), Medical Center Line (MCL), Non-Tenure Line-Research (NTLR), Clinician Educator (CE), or Instructor appointments. PI waivers are not needed for internal funding opportunities. Post-doctoral fellows, clinical trainees, lecturers with Stanford appointments, and research scientists/scholars must identify a faculty mentor and may be included as co-PIs. 

SELECTION CRITERIA:

• CARE Seed Grants are only eligible for active Stanford Faculty. This includes research and clinical faculty who can serve as a Primary Investigator on the project.
• Higher preference will go to projects that are aligned with CARE’s current high-impact research areas:
  • Asian Cancers: Lung, Gastric, Liver, Nasopharyngeal (Note: At least one seed grant in the 2026 cycle will be reserved for lung cancer research.)
  • Cardiovascular disease and diabetes
  • Mental Health
  • Longevity
• For all seed grants, focus areas above that also integrate Artificial Intelligence as a component to the study are encouraged. 

AWARD: 

• Term: May 1, 2026 – April 30, 2028
• Funding Amount: Up to $200,000 (determined by review committee each year)

SEED GRANT IMPACT REPORT: 

Awardees are required to provide a one-page status report summarizing progress on the project and any resulting research products (abstracts, papers, grants, etc.) at 12, 18, and 24 months after receipt of funds. 

Please refer to our Seed Grant Policy for information on requirements and conditions of funding.

Any additional questions can be sent to stanfordcare@stanford.edu