The Lynne Marshall and Wayne Foo Brain Cancer Fellowship

Purpose of Award

The Lynne Marshall and Wayne Foo Brain Cancer Fellowship was created through a generous donation by the Alberta Cancer Foundation.

The purpose of the award is to support training for exceptional clinical fellows (post MD) or post-doctoral fellows (post PhD) pursuing research activity related to brain cancer and to increase capacity in research that aims to improve the lives of patients with brain cancers. The award is intended to provide valuable research training experience and to support the development of competitive applications for external salary awards at the provincial or national levels.
 

Duration

The term of fellowship support is one (1) year, with the opportunity for renewal to a maximum of one (1) year.
 

Use of Funds

Salary only.
 

Eligibility

Candidates are eligible to apply for the Lynne Marshall and Wayne Foo Brain Cancer Fellowship if one of the two following scenarios applies:

1. The applicant is a clinical fellow with:
   1. an MD degree acceptable to the CPSA earned within the last ten (10) years;
   2. completion of a residency training program or equivalent in Canada or elsewhere with training acceptable to the Department that is supporting the fellowship;
   3. all CPSA registration requirements including English Language Proficiency for international applicants;
   4. commitment to pursuing research in glioblastoma/brain cancer.
   5. NOTE: if the successful applicant is a clinical fellow, clinical activity must be no less than 20% AND no more than 30% of the fellowship. At least 50% of this clinical activity must include activities related to the field of study and cannot be used to generate additional income for the fellow as the annual income must be guaranteed by the sponsoring agency.
2. The applicant is a full-time postdoctoral fellow with:
   1. no more than three years previous postdoctoral training;
   2. a PhD, MD, or equivalent degree earned less than 3 years before September 1 of the competition year (2025) or, if degree is still pending, completed before January 31 of the subsequent year (2026);
   3. current or prospective (being recruited) postdoctoral (post MD or post PhD) research training position affiliated with a primary supervisor who is a member of the Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute; and
   4. commitment to pursuing research in glioblastoma/brain cancer.

All applicants are expected to be funded by research institutes, health research funding agencies, or awards and scholarships and have clear and specific research or academic deliverables as determined by the funding source or supporting clinical department. Examples include graduate degree or completion of a publication-ready first-author paper.

The successful applicant/awardee will be registered with the Charbonneau Cancer Institute as trainees.

The applicant may not hold other internal or external postdoctoral fellowship awards such as CIHR, NSERC, and other agencies. (Current holders of internal or external fellowship awards are eligible only if funding from these sources will be ending within 12 months from the application deadline).
 

Selection process

Eligible applications will be reviewed by the selection committee, which will be assigned by the Charbonneau Training and Education Committee and will include, among others, the co-chair(s) of the Charbonneau Education and Trainee Development Committee, at least two additional members of the Charbonneau Education and Trainee Development Committee, the Director of the Calgary Brain Tumour Program, at least one clinician scientist with expertise in brain cancer research, and the Business and Operations Manager, Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute.

Applications will be adjudicated based on the following criteria:

• Alignment of the proposed work to challenges in glioblastoma/brain cancer.
• Quality of the research proposed.
  • scientific rigor of the project
  • potential impact of the research
• Quality of the research and training environment provided by the applicant’s supervisor, and co-supervisor if applicable.
• Potential impact of the support on the career development of the applicant.
  • applicants demonstrated commitment to research and scholarship
  • clarity of the role of the applicant in the research.