To be eligible for the ASCENT Investigator in Residence Program, applicants must:

• Hold a clinical, research, or health-professional doctorate degree (MD, PhD, DO, DSW, DPH, PharmD, ND, or equivalent)
• Have a full-time faculty, research scientist, or equivalent position at a college, university, medical or nursing school, health care system/setting, or other fiscally responsible organization within the United States
• Be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States

Complete the online application by 5:00 PM PT on March 26, 2026. Applicants will be asked to provide:

1. A biosketch in NIH’s currently approved format. Learn more about the application system used to create the NIH Common Form (i.e., SciENcv).
2. An ORCID ID, your unique Persistent Identifier (PID)
3. Ranked preference for assigned Core
4. Summary (500 word maximum) on:
   • Why being an ASCENT Investigator in Residence will enhance the applicant’s career trajectory in hospice and palliative care research
   • How hospice and palliative care research is limited in the applicant’s institution or geographic region or discipline, and how the applicant’s participation will help expand hospice and palliative care research in the applicant’s institution, geographic region, or discipline.

Every participant in the ASCENT Investigator in Residence Program, as a condition of agreeing to participate in the program, must agree to the following:

• Attend (in person) the ASCENT Annual Scientific and Business Meeting during their program year. For this application period, the meeting will be June 29-30, 2026, in Bethesda, Maryland. *Travel expenses will be reimbursed by the ASCENT Consortium.
• Participate virtually in monthly Core meetings
• Attend ASCENT-wide activities, such as Grand Rounds and Webinars
• Actively engage in at least one ongoing scholarly project within the Core such as authorship of a peer-reviewed manuscript, generation of a technical report, conduct of a workshop or special meeting, or a contribution to other substantial Core products
• Respond in a timely matter to requests to participate in ASCENT Consortium evaluation activities when requested during, and following, the completion of their program year

Individuals will be selected based on the following criteria:

• Clear articulation in the application of how acceptance into the program will advance the candidate’s career in hospice and palliative care research.
• Clear articulation in the application of how the individual will advance hospice and palliative care research at the applicant’s institution, geographic region, or discipline beyond what currently exists.
• The investigator is from an institution or geographic region with few hospice and palliative care investigators, or works within a discipline that is less represented in hospice and palliative care research.

1. Is there salary support for ASCENT Investigators in Residence?

No, there is no salary support but Investigators will be funded to attend the ASCENT Annual Scientific and Business Meeting.

2. Can you apply if you have applied for an ASCENT Research Scholar or ASCENT Pilot and Exploratory Studies award?

For the 2026 application year, individuals who have applied for an ASCENT Research Scholar or ASCENT Pilot and Exploratory Studies award are eligible, as notifications will not have been distributed for those awards prior to the application deadline for the ASCENT Investigator in Residence Program. If an applicant is selected as an ASCENT Investigator in Residence and their ASCENT Research Scholar or ASCENT Pilot and Exploratory Studies award is subsequently funded, the individual will relinquish their place in the ASCENT Investigator in Residence Program.

3. What is considered a discipline less represented in hospice and palliative care research?

Based on a landscape of currently funded NIH research in hospice and palliative care, for the 2026 application year, disciplines other than medicine (MD, DO), nursing, and health services research PhD without other disciplinary focus are considered as less represented compared to their role in hospice and palliative care.

4. What is considered an institution or geographic region with few hospice and palliative care investigators?

The applicant must present evidence or argument regarding this point. Please include as part of your application why you believe your institution or geographic region qualifies as one with few hospice and palliative care investigators.

5. What is meant by a "fiscally responsible organization"?

Any organization (including for-profit organizations) that has a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and processes for following federal guidelines/regulations for using research funds meet eligibility criteria for this grant.  The UEI Number has replaced the DUNS Number as the primary means of entity identification for federal awards government-wide.

6. Is a research doctorate required to apply?

No, a research doctoral is not required. Individuals with practice doctorates (e.g., DNP, OTD, DPT, MD, DO) are eligible to apply. However, applicants must show how they plan in their career to engage in the generation of new knowledge in palliative care through generalizable research. Quality improvement alone is not considered as generalizable research.

Please email ASCENTadmin@cuanschutz.edu with any questions.