Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research

The Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research, established in 1937, awards the "Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellowship" for research in the medical and related sciences bearing on cancer.

History

The Fund was founded on June 11, 1937, by Starling Winston Childs and Alice S. Coffin, in memory of Jane Coffin Childs. The Fund was established for the purpose of supporting research into the causes and treatment of cancer.

Description

Currently, the Foundation awards 20 to 30 fellowships per year. The fellowship is regarded as one of the most prestigious fellowships in the US, and postdoctoral candidates are awarded with a three-year support. The researchers and the research labs where the fellows conduct their projects have made major scientific contributions in areas such as the advancement of our understanding of cancer and other human diseases. There have been more than sixteen hundred Jane Coffin Childs fellows doing basic cancer-related research in laboratories in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. There are nearly two dozen individuals associated with the Fund—as grantees, fellows, and advisers—who have won Nobel Prizes in physiology, medicine, and chemistry.
Over the years, the Fund has attracted distinguished scientists for its Board of Scientific Advisers. As of 2024, 17 of the former board members have earned the Nobel Prize.
Members of the Board of Scientific Advisors have included:

The Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research is dedicated to providing financial support to offer highly qualified postdoctoral fellows the opportunity to pursue research into the causes and origins of cancer and other human diseases. The goal of the Fund is to support the brightest postdoctoral fellows in biomedical research pursuing disease-related research while promoting and emphasizing the value and contribution of the individual in keeping with the spirit of the conception of the Fund.
Notable fellows have included: