Zenith Fellows Award Program (ZENITH)

The Alzheimer's Association's Zenith Fellows Award Program funds established independent investigators doing basic biology or clinical investigations on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). Basic biology covers bench, in vitro and animal work on causes, early detection and diagnosis, animal models and treatments; clinical investigations draw most of their data directly from human participants, for example therapeutic approaches, biomarkers, imaging technology and risk factors. Clinical trials are not funded under Zenith. The Association anticipates up to three awards, each limited to $450,000 in total (direct and indirect costs) over up to three years, with no more than $250,000 in any year and indirect costs capped at 10%. Letters of intent are due 1 December 2026 at 5:00 pm ET (3 December 2026 for ISTAART members); invited full applications are due 30 March 2027 at 5:00 pm ET, with award notifications on 15 August 2027. Submissions go through ProposalCentral.

Only established independent investigators are eligible: Associate Professor or above at the time of application, major peer-reviewed external multi-year grant support as principal investigator, an independent laboratory and an independent publication record. Previous Zenith Fellows Award recipients are ineligible. Scientists and clinicians at public, private, domestic and foreign research laboratories, medical centers, hospitals and universities may apply; apart from Veterans Administration hospitals, state and federal government-appropriated laboratories and for-profit organizations cannot be the applicant institution.