Travel Awards

2024 ACNP Travel Award Program

Congratulations to the 2024 ACNP Travel Awardees!

Opened: March 11th

Deadline: April 18th at 5:00pm Central 

Award recipients will be notified by email in late June 2024.

2024 Travel Award Program Flyer (Full Version)

2024 Travel Award Program Flyer (Overview)

The American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) annually selects distinguished young scientists in the field of neuropsychopharmacology to be part of our travel award program. These travel awards offer an opportunity to attend an outstanding scientific program in clinical and basic research on brain-behavior-drug interactions, become aware of the most recent, and often unpublished, advances in psychopharmacology, and meet and interact with internationally distinguished researchers and scientists.

As part of our Travel Award Program, we recognize the ACNP Young Investigator Memorial Travel Awards, established in 1997 to commemorate the life and work of deceased College members who made contributions to the field of neuropsychopharmacology. These were awarded 1998-2005 in the names of; Louis S. Lasagna (1923-2003), Marian Weinbaum Fischman (1939-2001), Arnold J. Friedhoff (1923-2001), Leo Hollister (1920-2000), Seymour Kety (1915-2000), Heinz E. Lehmann (1911-1999), Jerry Sepinwall (1940-1998), Menek Goldstein (1926-1997), Daniel X. Freedman (1921-1993), and Gerald L. Kierman (1928-1992). ACNP continues to honor their contributions, made both during their lives and in memoriam through the support of young investigators, many of whom have gone on to become ACNP Members and make significant contributions to the field.

AWARD BENEFITS

• Waived Annual Meeting registration for award recipient and one accompanying spouse or significant other 
• Opportunity to present a poster abstract 
• Up to five nights lodging in Phoenix, Arizona. *Based on the annual meeting location, some years we are unable to accommodate the travel awardees at the main conference hotel or closer overflow hotel. 
• Roundtrip coach airfare for the awardee to attend the Annual Meeting. Accompanying other airfare is not provided by ACNP.   
• Up to $100 for ground transportation
• Up to $50 per day for meals for up to six days
• Onsite childcare stipend of $80 per day, per child for up to six days
• An ACNP member mentor for the annual meeting
• An automatic invitation to attend four (4) additional annual meetings with reduced registration fee, and the opportunity to present a poster abstract at each meeting.
• Up to $1,000 Past Travel Award Scholarship to assist with travel expenses to attend one ACNP Annual Meeting within two years of receiving your initial Travel Award, which is reimbursed following the meeting.

APPLICATION PERIOD

The College is no longer accepting applications for travel awards.
The deadline for application submission was April 18, 2024 by 5:00pm Central Time.

ELIGIBILITY

Any scientist worldwide is eligible to apply for a travel award. All candidates must be eligible in one of the three applicant tiers AND meet training/post training limits as described below. The post training limit (5 years past final training) can be extended by up to 2 years for significant life events and/or career advancement delays due to the COVID pandemic. In this case, please provide background information in the application about the circumstances for the committee to consider (e.g., birth/adoption of a child, childcare, eldercare, illness or disability of applicant, care for an ill/disabled family member, personal or family tragedy, COVID-related lab shut-down, etc.). ACNP members (all categories of membership) and previous Travel Awardees are not eligible to apply.

Candidates from historically excluded groups in science and medicine are highly encouraged to apply. ACNP defines historically excluded groups as Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, and individuals who identify as LGBTQIA2S+.

APPLICANT TIERS

Clinical Student Level

Clinical Student Level applicants are defined as those individuals who currently are candidates for a clinician-scientist dual degree (M.D./Ph.D., Pharm.D./Ph.D.), or are in another graduate-level clinical program (M.D., D.O., D.V.M., D.N.P., Psy.D., Clinical Psychology) and are receiving research training. Those individuals who already have earned their graduate degree are ineligible to apply for this student award and should consider applying in the appropriate Junior or Senior level awards. Those working to obtain a non-clinician Ph.D. (without a clinical degree) are ineligible for this award and should apply for the Junior level award.

Junior Level

Junior Level applicants are defined as those individuals who are at or below Assistant Professor (or equivalent level if in a non-academic institution) AND currently engaged in research training, i.e.: non-clinician Ph.D. students, medical residents or fellows, Pharm.D. residents, interns, and post-doctoral fellows. These applicants may be within, but no more than 5 years past their final training. Post training for clinicians (M.D.’s, D.O.’s, Psy.D.’s, D.V.M.’s, D.N.P.’s, Clinical Psychologists) will be counted from the final year of their residency or fellowship. Post training for Pharm.D.’s will be counted from completion of Pharm.D. or residency, if completed. Post training for non-clinician Ph.D.’s will be counted from the last year of postdoctoral fellowship.

Senior Level

Senior Level applicants are defined as those individuals who are at the Assistant Professor level or its equivalent, but not an R01 awardee. Applicants may be no more than 5 years past their final training (postdoctoral fellowship or residency). Any person who is an Associate Professor or has already obtained an R01, is considered too senior to apply for a travel award. Post training for clinicians (M.D.’s, D.O.’s, Psy.D.’s, D.V.M.’s, D.N.P.’s, clinical program Ph.D.’s) will be counted from the final year of their residency or fellowship. Post training for Pharm.D.’s will be counted from completion of Pharm.D. or residency, if completed. Post training for non-clinician Ph.D.’s will be counted from the last year of postdoctoral fellowship.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Eligible applicants must complete a common online application and submit the following:

• Curriculum vitae (all applicants) – CV must include your publication record, a listing of your research funding, and teaching experience, if applicable. Include one line about your role in each peer-reviewed original data paper listed and how you contributed to data collection and analysis. CV must be in pdf format for upload. 
• A supporting letter (all applicants) – Supporting letter must be written by an ACNP member, all categories of membership to include Fellow, Fellow Emeritus, Member, Member Emeritus, and Associate Member. Members will be allowed to nominate two persons for a Travel Award.  At least one of the two award nominations must be an individual who identifies from a historically excluded group. ACNP defines historically excluded groups as Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, and individuals who identify as LGBTQIA2S+. The College’s Commitment to Diversity: The College and its members actively promote diversity and inclusion within the College and within our field not limited to race, ethnicity, religion, disability, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, intellectual perspectives and points of view.
  • Members will have to enter the supporting letter into a text field in the submission system, which will be kept confidential from the travel award applicant.  The letter should include a concise and compelling description of why the candidate should receive the award. Focus on the candidate’s research accomplishment and how and why at this time in their development this award would advance their career. Indicate whether the candidate is in the: top 1%, top 5%, top 10%, top 25%, or top 50% of all active research junior colleagues (M.D., D.O., D.V.M., D.N.P., Psy.D., Ph.D., or Pharm.D.) the ACNP member has known. *Please note, this is a change from previous years where the supporting letter was uploaded as a pdf. If you need guidance on entering your supporting letter into the system, please call the ACNP Executive Office at (615) 324-2360. The Executive Office is open Monday – Friday from 8:00am to 5:00pm Central.   
  • A list of current ACNP members can be found here. 
  • Letters from non-ACNP members will not be accepted.
  • Nomination Instructions for ACNP Members
• A one-page focused career statement (all applicants) – Your career statement needs to describe your interest in an ACNP Travel Award, including your career goals and ambitions. Place an emphasis on your research goals, your most significant research accomplishments, and why you think this award would benefit you at this time in your career. Convey in a concise statement what you are working on and describe your own work in contrast to that of your mentor(s). Please address how your focus is relevant to the mission of the College. Please include a brief statement explaining any extenuating life circumstances that you feel have impacted your career accomplishments thus far. These can include significant caregiving responsibilities (childcare, eldercare, etc.), chronic illness or disability, or prolonged research disruption due to COVID-19. The applicants must enter the career statement into an entry field in the application, with a limit of 7,400 characters, which includes spaces. The system will not allow you to exceed this limit. If you utilize copy/paste, please double check that your full statement falls within the limit, as edits after the deadline will not be permitted. 
• A summary of recent Early Career Development K or R Award, if applicable.

TRAVEL AWARD APPLICATION MENTORS

Travel Award Application Mentors are recent past Education and Training Committee members who have agreed to counsel prospective travel award applicants and/or their ACNP member nominator on travel award application for the Travel Award program. Travel Award Application Mentors may offer advice as to whether a prospective Travel Award applicant is likely to be competitive and if they are, aspects of their application that might enhance their likelihood for success. 

The members included on this list of Travel Award Application Mentors have agreed to be contacted by applicants and their ACNP Member nominator.

Travel Award applicants and/or their ACNP member nominator seeking advice from these individuals should know they are offering their best advice, but they do not speak for the Education and Training Committee. There is no guarantee following their advice will result in a Travel Award.

DEADLINE

The deadline for submission was April 18, 2024 by 5:00pm Central Time.

AWARD NOTIFICATION

Award recipients will be notified by email in late June 2024.

QUESTIONS

For questions regarding the travel award program, contact ACNP at acnp@acnp.org in the Executive Office.

AWARD DESIGNATIONS

Each year, ACNP awards the following Travel Award designations to awardees of the Travel Award class. In order to be considered for these designations, please be sure to note your career interests and track in addiction and/or behavioral neuropsychopharmacology in your application.

ACNP/AMP BRAD Fellowship Program

The American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and Americans for Medical Progress (AMP) are accepting applications for the ACNP/AMP BRAD Fellowship.  Named for Biomedical Research Awareness Day (BRAD), an annual science celebration, this fellowship seeks to raise awareness about the essential role of animal research in neuropsychopharmacology and other related fields.

The ACNP/AMP BRAD Fellowship is open to early career scientists in the field of neuroscience, psychology or pharmacology.  Applicants must support humane, essential animal research and have a passion for scientific communication and advocacy.  Only legal residents in the U.S. may apply.

The deadline to submit an application is June 1, 2024.

For full details about the Fellowship, please visit the AMP Website and see the ACNP/AMP BRAD flyer.

What is the ACNP/AMP BRAD Fellowship?  Learn from the previous BRAD Fellowship awardees themselves: