Faculty Grants
The Wisconsin Partnership Program’s Faculty Grants support innovative research to prevent, diagnose, treat and cure diseases. These grants target a multitude of issues affecting Wisconsinites, including Alzheimer’s disease, blindness, cancer, diabetes, infectious disease, maternal and child health, obesity and more.
The Wisconsin Partnership Program administers these faculty grant programs:
The Postdoctoral Grant Program is designed to support the professional development of postdoctoral trainees, postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows and research associates at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Under the guidance of their supervising mentor, who serves as Principal Investigator, grants will support postdocs as they conduct a research or education project or pursue a professional development opportunity to advance their career with a focus on improving health, health care or advancing health equity in Wisconsin and beyond.
The Collaborative Health Sciences Program provides up to $600,000 over three years to support interdisciplinary team science to advance novel research or education approaches to target complex health problems while advancing health, health care and health equity in Wisconsin and beyond. The primary project team is composed of one Principal Investigator and one or two Co-Principal Investigators and must include two or more of these disciplines: basic, clinical, education, informatics/data, population, social/behavioral, and/or translational sciences. In addition, the team may include a number of collaborators consistent with the scope of the project.
New Investigator Program career development awards are $150,000 over two years and support early-career faculty in initiating new, innovative research and/or educational approaches that address health and health equity in Wisconsin and beyond. The program funds innovative proposals that may be leveraged for external funding. Principal investigators must be assistant professors at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
The Opportunity Grant Program provides start-up funding to rapidly establish time-critical, high-profile, high-impact, state-of-the art education and research projects to address Wisconsin’s most pressing and complex health challenges.
The Wisconsin Partnership Program also provides Strategic Education and Research Grants that provide critical funding to selected investigators and teams to initiate or enhance novel infrastructure programs and initiatives to improve health and health care and advance health equity in Wisconsin.
Five-Year Plan
Learn more about the Wisconsin Partnership Program’s vision, mission and values as well as its goals and grant-making strategies as described in the 2024–2029 Five-Year Plan.
Postdoctoral Grant Program
The Postdoctoral Grant Program is designed to support the professional development of postdoctoral trainees, postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows and research associates at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Under the guidance of their supervising mentor, who serves as Principal Investigator, grants will support postdocs as they conduct a research or education project or pursue a professional development opportunity to advance their career with a focus on improving health, health care or advancing health equity in Wisconsin and beyond.
Grant awards: Grant awards are up to $20,000 for up to one year. The funding request should be limited to a single project or skill, learning or training activity and reflect the scope and scale of the proposal.
Applicant eligibility: The applicant must be a Postdoctoral Trainee, Postdoctoral Fellow, Clinical Fellow, or Research Associate with a 75 percent or higher protected time research appointment in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and a minimum of 12 consecutive months remaining in their postdoc position concurrent to the period of funding.
The postdoc’s supervising mentor serves as Principal Investigator (PI) on the grant. The PI must have a salaried appointment of at least 50 percent as professor, associate professor, or assistant professor in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. Grant awards to a postdoc will be managed through the PI’s (supervising mentor) department.
Principal Investigators with appointments in SMPH auxiliary units that report to SMPH (e.g., Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene) must have a salaried appointment of at least 50 percent as professor, associate professor or assistant professor in an SMPH department as outlined.
Application Materials and Links
2025 Postdoctoral Grant Program Request for Proposals
Collaborative Health Sciences Program
This grant program supports interdisciplinary team science to advance novel research or education approaches that bring together different disciplines to target complex health problems while advancing health, health care or health equity in Wisconsin and beyond.
Grant awards: Grant awards are up to $600,000 over three years. The Partnership Education and Research Committee anticipates funding up to five projects during the 2026 grant cycle.
Applicant eligibility: The primary project team is composed of one Principal Investigator (PI) and one or two Co-Principal Investigators and must include two or more of these disciplines: basic, clinical, education, informatics/data, population, social/behavioral, and/or translational sciences. In addition, the team may include a number of collaborators consistent with the scope of the project.
A PI is required with an appointment in a UW School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) department of at least 50 percent as:
- Professor or associate professor on the clinical health sciences, clinician-teacher, education professor, research professor or tenure track
- Academic staff with permanent PI status
View the Request for Proposals for full eligibility criteria.
The Collaborative Health Sciences Program supports a broad mix of novel basic science, clinical and translational science, community-engaged research and education initiatives. The committee encourages applications from eligible faculty and staff in basic and applied science and clinical science departments across the UW School of Medicine and Public Health are encouraged to apply.
Application Materials and Links
2026 Collaborative Health Sciences Request for Proposals
Key Dates and Deadlines
Please see the Request for Proposals for a complete list of key dates and deadlines.
- January 6, 2026: Release Request for Proposals
- January 2026: Preliminary application office hours (link to schedule in Request for Proposals)
- January 29, 2026 at 4 p.m. CST: Virtual information session for interested applicants (link to Zoom meeting in Request for Proposals)
- February 10, 2026: Preliminary application deadline
- April 15, 2026: Notify applicants of status/Invite full applicants
- April 20, 2026: Full application information session (by invitation only)
- May 13, 2026 at 5 p.m. CST: Full application submission deadline (by invitation only)
- July 15, 2026: Notify applicants of status/invite finalist teams for interviews
- September 14, 2026: Finalist presentations
- September 30, 2026: Notify finalists of award decisions
- November 1, 2026: Earliest project start date
- May 1, 2027: Latest project start date
Past Grantees
New Investigator Program
The New Investigator Program is designed to develop and sustain the academic and research excellence of early career UW School of Medicine and Public Health faculty as they initiate new, innovative research or education pilot projects to improve health and advance health equity in Wisconsin and beyond.
Successful applicants will join a highly distinguished cohort of more than 84 assistant professors from departments across the School of Medicine and Public Health who launched their careers through grants that together total more than $9 million. Their work, which spans the spectrum of basic science, clinical and translational and applied public and community health research, has leveraged $56 million.
Grant awards: Grants are up to $150,000 over two years.
Applicant eligibility: A Principal Investigator is required and must be a UW School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) assistant professor on any track (tenure, clinical health sciences, clinician-teacher, teaching professor, research professor) with a salaried appointment of at least 50 percent and an appointment start date on or after January 1, 2020 (within six years of earliest project start date).
Faculty who receive an administrative extension of their time at the rank of assistant professor or who have an appointment below 1.0 full-time equivalent will be granted a corresponding extension to their eligibility.
Assistant Professors with appointments in SMPH auxiliary units that report to SMPH (e.g., Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene) must have a salaried appointment of at least 50 percent in an SMPH department.
Eligible faculty in basic science and clinical science departments across the UW School of Medicine and Public Health are encouraged to apply.
Application Materials and Links
2025 New Investigator Program Request for Proposals
Key Dates and Deadlines
- April 1, 2025: Release Request for Proposals
- April 30, 2025: Preliminary application submission deadline
- July 8, 2025: Notify applicants of status/Invite full applications
- August 5, 2025: Full application submission deadline (by invitation only)
- TBD Week of July 21–25, 2025: Full applicant information session (by invitation only)
- November 3, 2025: Finalist interviews
- November 10, 2025: Notify finalists of award decision
- January 1, 2026: Earliest project start date
Past Grantees
Opportunity Grant Program
The Opportunity Grant Program provides start-up funding to rapidly establish time-critical, high-profile, high-impact, state-of-the art education and research projects to address Wisconsin’s most pressing and complex health challenges.
Opportunity Grants support groundbreaking research and education projects that fulfill two or more of the following criteria:
- Have the potential to transform a field of study
- Represent a novel application of an established idea or approach
- Challenge traditional thought and practice
- Engage perspectives and approaches from nontraditional partners such as disproportionately impacted communities
- Benefit from an influx of funds to quickly advance the area in significant ways
Proposals must be highly innovative with a clear path to secure additional funding from other sources to sustain the program long-term. The project team must describe how the project will improve health or advance health equity in alignment with the Wisconsin Partnership Program’s 2019-2024 Five-Year Plan framework. Proposals must address specific knowledge gaps or scientific opportunities, advance novel research methods, or enhance the education of the future health workforce while paving the way to create healthier communities and advancing health equity. The proposal must include clear and measurable benchmarks to track progress toward the overall objectives and the specific aims. Proposals must describe the need for a rapid influx of funds to support the project. Applicants must address why submission of the proposal through the New Investigator Program or Collaborative Health Sciences Program is not feasible.