Program objectives

The Zenith Fellows award was initiated in 1991 to provide a vehicle for research support for donors with a substantial personal commitment to the advancement of Alzheimer’s disease research. The awards are made possible by the generosity of a group of individuals and organizations (Zenith Fellows) who have each committed $1 million to the Alzheimer’s Association for support of the program.

The objective of the Zenith Awards program is to provide major support for investigators who have 1) contributed significantly to the field of Alzheimer’s disease research or 2) made significant contributions to other areas of science and are now beginning to focus more directly on problems related to Alzheimer’s disease and 3) are likely to make substantial contributions in the future. The proposed research must be “on the cutting edge” of basic, biomedical research and therefore may not conform to current conventional scientific wisdom or may challenge the prevailing orthodoxy. The proposed research should address fundamental problems related to early detection, etiology, pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.

Funding and award period

We anticipate funding five awards under this program. Each award is limited to $250,000 (direct and indirect) for two years. Requests in any given year may not exceed $150,000 (direct and indirect). Indirect costs are capped at 10 percent.

Eligibility

Only established independent investigators are eligible as evidenced by (examples are for illustrative purposes only) 1) academic appointment; 2) major, peer-reviewed, external multi-year grant support on which the applicant is the principal investigator (PI); 3) independent laboratory operation; 4) quality and independence of publication record.

Only applicants who have already contributed significantly to the field of Alzheimer’s disease research or have the clear likelihood of making significant contributions will be seriously considered. Previous recipients of Zenith Awards, Medical and Scientific Advisory Council members and members of the National Board of the Alzheimer’s Association are ineligible to apply.

Receipt of application deadlines and award dates

For information on the application and award schedule, see Program Summary and Dates.

Mechanism of award, reporting requirements and allowable costs:

The mechanism of award is the regular research grant. The maximum duration of award is two years — there is no program for competing continuation applications (3-year) funding as was the case in the early years of the Zenith program. Annual progress and financial reports are required. Continuation of the grant over the awarded duration is contingent upon the receipt of scientific progress and financial status reports.

Budget: A “budget summary” for the proposed research project is required and must be submitted with the application and within the allowable page limits. However, if the application is to be awarded, a more detailed budget will be required prior to the disbursement of funds.