Review and Funding Process

Peer Review

Applications undergo an internal pre-review process to ensure all eligibility requirements are met. Applications considered eligible will then go through a rigorous external peer review process. The American Lung Association's Review Committees are comprised of accomplished and diverse researchers with the necessary expertise to review and assess each proposal for its scientific merits, technical feasibility, innovation and significance in meeting the organization's mission. Those applicants who receive a full peer review will be provided with written critiques.

Peer review meetings will take place in the spring. Outcome notifications, along with reviewer critiques, are emailed to all applicants in May or June. We cannot respond to telephone or email requests for results during the review period.

Funding Statistics

Proposals are funded based on the results of the peer review process. The American Lung Association only funds those applications deemed of highest quality. There are no requirements in the number of applications that must be funded for each grant mechanism. Therefore, the numbers of grants funded are not an indication of the importance of one grant mechanism over the other and will change on a yearly basis.
Funding results for a recent review cycle(s) are as follows:

Abstracts of funded research are reported in our annual Research Awards Nationwide.