CPRIT Graduate Scholar Program
Deadline Extended: Apply Now for the 2026 CPRIT Graduate Scholar Program
Applications for the 2025-2026 program will be accepted April 1- June 4, 2025
The MD Anderson Cancer Center CPRIT Research Training Program provides fundamental, interdisciplinary, and innovative training in cancer research at MD Anderson. This program is the continuation of a highly successful and comprehensive training program supported by the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas. The program includes three tracks: the CPRIT TRIUMPH (Translational Research in Multidisciplinary Programs) post-doctoral, CPRIT Graduate Scholar, and CPRIT Summer Undergraduate Research Programs.
The CPRIT Graduate Scholar Program is designed for post-candidacy graduate students attending the MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School under the direct mentorship of MD Anderson Cancer Center appointed faculty. Awarded annually, this competitive award provides tuition, stipend, and fringe benefits to recipients as well as a modest travel allowance. CPRIT Graduate Scholars also receive additional training and support through the program.
Program Details & Eligibility
Program Details:
The MD Anderson CPRIT Research Training Program will support nine CPRIT Graduate Scholars per year. The funds will cover graduate student tuition, stipends, fringe benefits, and provide a modest travel allowance. CPRIT Graduate Scholars will be appointed for one year with competitive renewal option for up to three years. Renewals will be dependent upon successful academic and research progress, participation in activities related to the CPRIT Graduate Scholar Training Program (e.g., an annual CPRIT Symposium, journal club meetings), and competition with new applicants.
Eligibility:
Post-candidacy Ph.D. students affiliated with MD Anderson graduate (GSBS) faculty are eligible for the CPRIT Graduate Scholar Award. Successful candidates will have a competitive cancer research project and be directly supervised or co-mentored by a CPRIT Graduate Scholar Faculty Member.
Applications will be limited to one per laboratory for each funding announcement cycle. While all students affiliated with MD Anderson graduate (GSBS) faculty member laboratories are eligible, the faculty member must nominate only one per his/her laboratory per funding announcement. Multiple applications from the same laboratory will be declined and not undergo further review.
MD Anderson students who are directly supervised by CPRIT Graduate Scholar faculty members (found on the faculty mentor sub-page) have the option to choose a co-mentor from the training grant faculty.
MD Anderson students who are supervised by other faculty, outside of the CPRIT Graduate Scholar program, have equal opportunity to receive a CPRIT Graduate Scholar Award. In these cases, the applicant must select a co-mentor from the CPRIT Graduate Scholar Training faculty to serve as a member of his/her advisory committee. In this case, the co-mentor should provide a letter of recommendation stating his/her commitment to serving as CPRIT Graduate Scholar co-mentor.
How To Apply
Application Instructions:
Required documents must be compiled into a single PDF file (less letters of recommendation) in the order listed
(under “Required documents”) and submitted via email to Dr. Lewis: keleonard@mdanderson.org
Page formatting: 1-inch margins on all 4 sides.
Font: Arial or Helvetica, 11pt.
Required Documents:
Submitted by Applicant:
1. A 2-page research proposal written by the CPRIT Graduate Scholar Candidate. This should include the
significance of the project and its relevance to cancer, theoretical aspects guiding the study (e.g., hypothesis),
goals of the project, and expected outcomes. A two-page limit is enforced but references may be included in
additional pages. Text and figures on additional pages will not be considered.
2. A current curriculum vitae for the applicant.
3. Undergraduate transcript- an unofficial transcript is sufficient.
4. GSBS status report and all advisory committee reports to date. For GSBS reports, please contact Ms. Bunny Perez
at Lourdes.V.Perez@uth.tmc.edu
5. A statement of commitment by the CPRIT Graduate Scholar candidate and dissertation mentor that indicates the
applicant’s intent to participate in all required activities of the CPRIT Graduate Scholar Training Program listed
below and the mentor’s support for this participation (1-page limit).
• Attendance and participation in the program’s monthly journal club.
• Attendance and participation in the program’s annual Shark Tank event.
• A maximum of 4 hours participating in CPRIT and UPWARDS summer program activities with our
undergraduate and high school trainees. Such activities may include, but are not limited to, judging the
summer program’s elevator and poster competition.
• A 3-hour time commitment (annual) for note taking at TRIUMPH fellows’ committee meetings.
During each 1 hour meeting, Graduate Scholars will take notes and provide them to the fellow and
his/her mentor within 48 hours of the meeting. As meeting dates and times are finalized, an email will
go out to the Scholars to sign up.
Submitted by Mentor/Co-Mentor:
1. A training plan written by the applicant's dissertation mentor, including plans for scientific oversight of the
project, mentoring of the candidate, how the project is expected to facilitate the trainee's career goals in cancer
research, career development opportunities that will be encouraged/supported, and the mentor's overall
research goals. In addition, the mentor must affirm that only one application per lab will be submitted per award
announcement cycle. (1-page limit)
2. A statement from the CPRIT Faculty Mentor or CPRIT Co-Mentor indicating willingness to serve as a member of
the CPRIT Graduate Scholar's supervisory committee*.
3. A letter of recommendation from the primary graduate mentor**.
Submitted by Recommenders:
1. Two additional letters of recommendation should be submitted in support of the CPRIT Graduate Scholar's
application**. Recommendation letters should be sent in PDF format from the referee's institutional email address to keleonard@mdanderson.org. Please include the applicant's name and CPRIT Graduate Scholar in the subject line. Letters of support should be received on or before the day the application closes.
*The statement on willingness to serve may be combined with the CPRIT Faculty Mentor or Co-Mentor’s letter of
recommendation.
**If a co-mentor is to be included, the co-mentor should provide one of the two required letters of recommendation.
It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the application and letters of support are submitted by the
deadline of June 4, 2025.
Steering Committee
Professor, Department of Immunology
PI and Director of Graduate Scholar Program, CPRIT Research Training Grant
Professor, Experimental Radiation Oncology
PI and Co-Director of CPRIT Graduate Scholar Program, CPRIT Research Training Grant
Natividad Robert Fuentes, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Cancer Biology
Assistant Professor, Department of Cancer Biology
Professor, Department of Cancer Systems Imaging
Associate Professor, Department of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis
Program Contact Information
Please reach out to Dr. Kara Lewis (keleonard@mdanderson.org) with any questions. You may also contact Dr. Stephanie Watowich (photo) Program Director for the CPRIT Graduate Scholar Program at MD Anderson with any scientific/programmatic questions.
Stephanie Watowich, Ph.D.
Email: swatowic@mdanderson.org
Phone: 713-563-3262
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