Don Brown Memorial Fund
Supporting exceptional postdoctoral researchers in all areas of basic life sciences discovery
We believe that fundamental advances in life sciences depend upon the training and support of high quality young scientists at a critical point in their career – their postdoctoral training. Our goal is to identify these exceptional young scientists and secure funding for their projects. We do not have an endowment. We seek out and partner with biotech and pharma companies, foundations, and philanthropic individuals who recognize the value and importance of basic scientific research. These contributors fund one or more researchers for the duration of their three-year award.
Postdocs are embarking on exciting, creative and innovative research, laying a foundation for their scientific career. LSRF recognizes and encourages this creativity and passion for discovery. Our awardees contribute significantly to the advancement of life science and biomedical research. We measure our success through the achievements of our alumni who have careers in academia, industry, science communication and policy development, scientific foundations, patent law, biotech venture capital groups, consulting and science publishing.
Average number of completed submissions received by LSRF every October since the first call for proposals in 1982.
Our 9 officers, 20 advisory board members and 35 review committee members all volunteer their services. These groups include 6 Nobel laureates and 36 NAS members.
Number of postdocs funded since our first class of awardees was announced in 1983. This is only possible with generous financial support from sponsors.
Average number of postdocs funded annually. This number varies each year and is tied to our annual fundraising efforts. LSRF has no endowment or pool of funds.
In the late 1970s, biologists were founding and leading companies whose goal was to apply modern biological research technology to the solution of important problems in society. While academic and commercial branches of chemistry and engineering had a long history of collaboration, this had not been true of the biological sciences. In 1981 the founder of the Life Sciences Research Foundation, Donald D. Brown, sought to establish similar collaborations in biology, focusing on training the next generation of exceptional biologists. While for-profit enterprises of the life sciences were solicited as major sponsors for postdoctoral fellowships in the early years, sponsorship has evolved with the help of our scientific advisory board to include small and large not-for-profit foundations, and private individuals.
Because all scientists (Advisory Board, Peer Review Committee, Foundation Officers) serve the Foundation without compensation, administrative costs to sponsors are approximately 4%.
