The Avon Foundation for Women continues to seek new preventive strategies to address the growing number of breast cancer cases around the globe.  To develop new strategies to prevent breast cancer we need to understand the causes of breast cancer in women, changes in breast cells that give rise to cancer, markers for disease, and how breast cancer progresses.  The 2012 Avon Foundation Research Program seeks proposals in these areas to advance understanding of causes of breast cancer and prevention. 

How to Apply:

For 2012, there is one application cycle and a 2-stage application process:

(i) Stage 1: Letter-of-Intent (LOI) – Open to all research organizations: universities, nonprofit organizations, or in rare instances, for-profit organizations.
(ii) Stage 2: Full Proposal – By invitation only based on the review of your LOI submission.

A Letter of Intent is completed using the online system, which can be accessed by using the appropriate link at the bottom of this page.  A pdf of the information fields required for the LOI can be found here.  Please note:  the pdf is for informational purposes only and can not be used for submission.  Only letters of intent received via the online system will be considered.  Only a small subset of LOI's received will be invited to submit a full proposal.

Review Cycles:

 * Only a small subset of LOI submissions will be invited to submit a full proposal.

Please review the full program details in the Research Program RFP  

Funds Available:
Proposals may request up to $150,000 total costs per year (this limit is inclusive of 10% indirect costs), for up to 2 years in duration.  Thus, the total award budget can be up to $300,000 to cover up to 2 years duration.  Applications involving multiple institutions or collaborators in need of a higher level of funding may contact the Avon Foundation to inquire whether an increased amount may be requested. A detailed budget and budget justification are required in the online application. 

Priority Areas:
Research questions we hope to answer to further the development of breast cancer prevention strategies include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Understanding the potential causes of breast cancer and research to develop new preventative strategies
• Understanding the role of endogenous and exogenous environmental factors in the development of breast cancer
• Understanding whether viruses or infectious agents play a role in breast cancer
• Validation of markers/biomarkers of breast cancer risk
• Development or validation of clinically applicable assays or diagnostic tests that are predictive of breast cancer risk or that can be used to monitor changes in breast over time 

Love/Avon Army of Women:

To facilitate research towards these strategies in the areas of causes of breast cancer and prevention, the Avon Foundation and the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation partnered to launch the Love/Avon Army of Women in October 2008.   To date, more than 361,000 women have joined the Army of Women, expressing their willingness to learn about and take part in research studies.  The Army of Women has launched e-blasts to its members for 55 research studies and more than 55,000 AOW members responded with interest.

Research project proposals submitted to the Avon Foundation must utilize human studies, and researchers are highly encouraged to access the Army of Women to obtain volunteers.  You should include costs for the Army of Women eblast in your proposal and we encourage you to notify the AOW staff of your proposal and to obtain budget information (email research@armyofwomen.org).  For details about the Army of Women please visit www.armyofwomen.org and review the “For Researchers” section.  If a study is not utilizing the Army of Women, then the proposal must include a description of the samples that will be used in the study.