MEDICAL RESEARCH & PRACTICES

­The Hecht Foundation prioritizes basic and applied medical research that is novel, innovative, and disruptive, challenging conventional wisdom about the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of serious diseases, particularly cancer. The Hecht Foundation invites research proposals that:

  • Test non-conforming hypotheses that challenge existing theory, standards, or practice;
  • Pursue serendipitous or collateral findings of other lines of research;
  • Apply cross-disciplinary approaches, insights, and discoveries;
  • Study non-patentable molecules and substances that promise valuable patient support.

2026 FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

The Foundation welcomes applications in the following funding streams:

  1. Basic research 
  2. Clinical trials (early phase)

PROCESS

All applications are submitted electronically through our online funding portal starting with a short Letter of Intent (LOI). Detailed instructions outlining the kind of information you will be asked to provide in your funding application can be found here.

  • New applicants. Please email health [at] hecht.org for an invitation to our online portal. If you meet eligibility criteria for an active funding competition, you will be provided with instructions on how to access your personalized account to begin the application process.
  • Returning applicants. Please login to your account on our online portal to initiate a new submission. Active funding competitions will be visible in the “Apply Now” section.

The Hecht Foundation strives to limit the administrative burden associated with funding applications while collecting minimally sufficient information necessary for comparable project review and evaluation. Applicants will be required to complete some standard questions relevant to each funding competition, and to attach supplemental budget and project proposal documentation.

DEADLINES

Phase I: Letter of Intent

Letters of Intent are peer-reviewed. At this stage, you should be prepared to submit a short summary of your project, including a brief rationale, hypothesis/es, methods, expectations, team composition and expertise, duration and requested budget of your proposed study.

Submissions are due January 31, 2026. Only qualified proposals will be invited for the full application stage, the week of March 2, 2026.

Phase II: Full application

Invitation only, for shortlisted projects. At this stage, you will be asked for program-specific details about your project, including public and scientific summaries, detailed project description and description of deliverables and measures of success, team affiliations, budget and justification, and supplementary documentation (as appropriate).

Submissions are due April 1, 2026. Successful applicants will be notified the week of June 15, 2026. Funding may be disbursed immediately contingent upon execution of the Hecht Foundation funding agreement.

GENERAL ELIGIBILITY

Canadian researchers and practitioners, or mixed teams consisting of Canadian and foreign project leaders. Projects may be led by either single- and multi-investigator teams. Trainees can lead applications in these funding opportunities. Lead applicants must be affiliated with universities or other research institutes considered Canadian qualified donees.

Requests for scholarship funding or general operational (infrastructure or facility and personnel management) support will not be considered in either funding stream.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Proposals are evaluated based on novelty, feasibility, and alignment with the Foundation’s operating principles. Research projects submitted to the Hecht Foundation are selected for funding after a peer-review process. The following criteria are taken into consideration when making final funding decisions:

  1. Novelty and uniqueness of the project; general fit with the Foundation’s priorities.
  2. Need for the project.
  3. Substantiation of research hypotheses and methods proposed.
  4. Feasibility and robustness of experimental design.
  5. Cost and duration of project.
  6. Expertise of research team.
  7. Clinical relevance (if applicable) and/or potential impact to the body of scientific knowledge.
  8. Likelihood of securing funds from other, conventional and governmental, sources.

All funding decisions are made at the discretion of the Board of Directors in alignment with the intent of our founders.

PROJECT EXAMPLES

This list of projects provides illustration of previously funded projects and does not reflect the Foundation’s annual funding capacity.

2025

  • Targeting neuro-immune crosstalk to overcome immunotherapy resistance in perineural invasion
  • In vivo generation of edited CAR-T cells to enhance anti-tumor functions
  • Minimally invasive alternatives to surgery and radiation for prostate cancer treatment
  • Using pathogens’ “secrets” to find new cancer treatments

2024

2023

  • Blocking cancer mutations to extend the efficiency of therapy
  • Giving breast cancer patients a voice to transform care
  • Personalized cancer care through genetic screening

2022

  • Green light therapy in the context of osteoarthritis pain management

2021

  • Porphysome nanoparticle-enabled image-guided cancer interventions

2020

  • High-dose intravenous ascorbic acid in the context of COVID-19

 

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