American Diabetes Association Pathway to Stop Diabetes Grants

Program Summary

American Diabetes Association – Pathway to Stop Diabetes Grants
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is inviting nominations for the Pathway to Stop Diabetes initiative, which supports innovative basic, clinical, translational, epidemiological, behavioral, or health services research relevant to any diabetes type, diabetes-related disease state, or diabetes complication. This call for nominations will prioritize investigators across the spectrum of diabetes research, spanning basic science through public health research and implementation science. The ideal applicant will propose innovative research with the goal of improving the lives of people at risk for or living with diabetes.

Each institution is allowed a maximum of two nominations: one (1) nomination spanning basic through preclinical research and one (1) nomination spanning clinical through public health research. The nominations can be in one of the two available Pathway award types (please click on the hyperlinks for each program type’s detail):

• Initiator – For researchers in postdoctoral training (up to 7 years from PhD). Phase One: request up to $100,000 per year, 2 years max. Phase two support (contingent): up to $325,000 per year, 5 years max.
• Accelerator – For early-career diabetes investigators (prior to submitting R01/U01 renewal or second R01/U01 regardless of outcome; may hold first R01 or other NIH funding). Up to 5 years of funding support, not to exceed $325,000 per year (including 30% indirect costs) for a maximum total budget up to $1,625,000 USD over 5 years.

If funded, the PI must agree to devote at least 75% of their total time and overall effort towards research. 

Internal Application Process

Pathway awards provide up to $1.625 million per award in combined salary and project support. Since UCI may submit only two proposals across both categories, interested applicants (or their nominator) are asked to submit a preliminary application to the Office of Research by Monday, March 23, 2026 at 11:59pm (via the UCI Review site), with the following information:

• Clearly state both the stage of research (basic/preclinical or clinical/public health) and award type (Initiator or Accelerator).
• Brief Research Overview** (up to two pages, 12-point font) outlining the nominee’s research strategy. Please include the following sections:
  • Research Goal/Hypothesis
  • Specific Aims
  • Innovation
  • “Move the Needle” section (150-words) describing how the proposed research has the potential to significantly improve the lives of people at risk of diabetes or living with the disease.
• Names of three references the nominee could ask to write letters supporting their proposal, with title, organization and 1-2 sentences explaining why they would be a strong reference.
• Nominee’s Biosketch (no more than two pages).

If necessary, an ad hoc committee will convene to review the preliminary proposals. The selected nominees will be notified in time to develop their full application and meet the ADA nomination deadline of May 19, 2026.

For the complete nomination guidelines, please refer to the ADA Pathway nomination guidelines.