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 has three medical research funding streams in 2026:

  1. Hecht basic research – CLOSED – adjudication underway
  2. Hecht clinical trials (early phase) – CLOSED – adjudication underway
  3. **NEW** Hecht-Cancer Research Society clinical trials (advanced phase): integrative oncology funding stream OPEN

HECHT APPLICATION PROCESS

2026 Hecht-Cancer Research Society integrative oncology clinical trial applications are administered by the Cancer Research Society and reviewed through an independent, peer reviewed process. Letters of intent and full applications must be submitted via Proposal Central.

All applications for regular Hecht Foundation basic research and clinical trial competitions are submitted electronically through the Hecht online funding portal starting with a short Letter of Intent (LOI). For detailed instructions outlining the kind of information you will be asked to provide in your funding application for basic or clinical research, please email health [at] hecht.org.

The next Hecht medical research competition will not open before January 2027. Sign up here to receive updates as new funding opportunities are launched.

2026 Hecht 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.

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

2026 Hecht 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).

2026 submissions were due April 1. Successful applicants will be notified mid-June. 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.

HECHT PROJECT EXAMPLES

These projects illustrate recent research interests but does not reflect the Foundation’s annual medical research 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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