MIND Prize

The MIND Prize, officially titled “Maximizing Innovation in Neuroscience Discovery,” is an initiative of The Pershing Square Foundation. This private philanthropic foundation supports bold, high-impact research, and its brain initiative is designed to transform the understanding and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). The initiative responds to the urgent need to improve prediction, prevention, and therapy for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. It promotes breakthroughs in both basic and translational science, targeting critical gaps in knowledge and technologies necessary to combat cognitive decline globally. Structured as an annual competitive award, the MIND Prize is modeled after the Pershing Square Sohn Prize in cancer research and is aimed at early-to-mid-career investigators. It empowers applicants to radically rethink how research is conducted in neuroscience and encourages interdisciplinary collaboration across departments and institutions. Successful projects may develop new tools, technologies, and therapeutic approaches, spanning fields such as neurobiology, brain mapping, machine learning, synthetic biology, and drug delivery. The program awards each winner $250,000 annually for three years, totaling $750,000 per recipient, inclusive of direct and indirect costs. Five to seven awards are typically made each year. Beyond funding, recipients benefit from a strong professional network that includes annual retreats, opportunities to present at major events, and introductions to potential industry, philanthropic, and business collaborators. The initiative promotes innovation, creativity, and high-risk/high-reward research strategies that often fall outside the scope of conventional funding mechanisms. Applications follow a two-stage process. Stage 1 requires submission of a Letter of Intent (LOI), biosketch (using a provided template), and budget. Full proposals are not accepted; selections are made based on LOIs alone. The portal opens on August 25, 2025, and the deadline to submit is September 29, 2025. Finalists will be notified by December 17, 2025, and invited to present in person or virtually at a review meeting on January 29, 2026, in New York City. Awardees will be announced in early February, with funding beginning May 1, 2026. Eligibility is restricted to principal investigators with MD, PhD, or MD-PhD degrees who have one to eight years of independent research experience by May 2026. Applicants must hold tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions at U.S.-based academic institutions. Multiple individuals from the same institution may apply, and applicants may apply to the MIND Prize up to three times. Importantly, candidates may not concurrently apply to other Pershing Square Foundation prizes in the same year. Non-U.S. citizens are eligible, provided their visa status allows completion of the project term within the U.S. LOIs must be a one-page document in Georgia 11-point font, single-spaced, with 0.5-inch margins. Applicants are asked to address the current gaps in the field, their proposed solution, and why their project is worth funding. The document must include a delineated hypothesis, the innovation rationale, and how MIND funding would contribute to the project. Figures are allowed but must be legible within the one-page limit, and references do not count against this limit. Contact and submission details are available at the application portal (https://prizeapplication.smapply.io/). For questions, applicants are encouraged to contact info@mindprize.org.

Applicants are encouraged to be innovative and creative, to propose high-risk/high-reward research.