Ask the Trustees

Q:

In the series of updates on Donaghue Investigators, I’ve noticed that many of them do work that is different from your current grants. A lot of them are focused on basic biology. Why are you not funding in that area anymore?

A:

You’re right that the earlier Donaghue funding focused on clinical, pre-clinical and basic research. About half of these awards were for research in basic or pre-clinical science.

From its first year of funding in 1992, Donaghue had three programs that funded research in basic, pre-clinical, or clinical work: Postdoctoral Research Fellowships, Research Grants-in-Aid, and New Investigator Grants.

However, after about a decade of making awards, Donaghue considered the challenges of maintaining programs across all types of biomedical and health research. Although we recognize the importance of basic and pre-clinical research, we felt that focusing on research questions that have the potential for near-term impact was the better interpretation for now of Miss Donaghue’s purpose of converting knowledge from research into practical benefit for improving health.