Scientific Focus

The Global Public Health Awards support the development of independent investigators from low and middle-income countries with an interest in supporting country driven research priorities to meet sustainable development goals for people infected with or at risk for viral Hepatitis (B,C,D) and/or HIV.

Research proposals should be exclusively focused on implementation science or clinical epidemiology and be centered around strengthening the cascade for surveillance, screening, linkage to care/treatment, and prevention. Applicants need not focus on all aspects of the care cascade but can focus on any one or more of the aspects or helping populations enter and/or navigate the care cascade.

Examples of research topics could include, however, are not limited to: 

  • Advancing health equity/addressing societal barriers to care
  • Community-led models (e.g., community ART refill groups, KP-led models, peer health models); Person-centered models of care; Digital health initiatives including the use of AI, Machine learning to improve outcomes; Self-care including self-testing, self-collection/swabbing, etc.
  • Strategies to improve treatment outcomes; Barriers/facilitators to novel therapies (e.g., LA ART, LA PrEP)
  • Addressing stigma and discrimination as barriers to care
  • Addressing the challenges associated with an aging HIV population
  • Intervention to scale-up viral hepatitis vaccines and/or therapy
  • Interventions to improve efficiencies at ART centres (home-delivery; vending machines; etc.)

We encourage proposals that address sustainability beyond the project period and seek to work with the following populations: 

  • People who engage in transactional sex
  • People who inject drugs
  • People who are incarcerated
  • Transgender people
  • Men who have sex with men
  • Children and adolescents  (<18 years)
  • Women
  • Migrant groups

Requirements

Gilead Affiliated Products

Proposals investigating Gilead product(s) are not eligible for funding through the Research Scholars Program.
Proposals involving Gilead product(s) should be submitted for review under the Externally-Sponsored Research Grant Program through the ESR online portal.
Funding Ineligibility

Awards granted under the program may not be duplicative of funding from institutional or hospital, other governmental, non-governmental, or industry sources. Applicants seeking an award for research projects that are currently receiving or may receive partial funding from other sources are required to submit appropriate evidence, including budget information related to the other sources, to demonstrate that there is no direct overlap in funding.

Gilead Internal Validation

The Research Scholars Program is designed to support independent research by emerging investigators and is not connected to Gilead’s strategic interests or priorities. Nevertheless, all projects selected by the Scientific Review Committee are subject to approval by an internal validation committee, which may, in rare cases, be unable to support certain clinical interventional studies (for example, studies focused exclusively on the safety or efficacy of non Gilead products).

Proposal Review

Proposals are reviewed by an independent Scientific Review Committee, (no Commercial involvement in review or selection, i.e., Marketing, Sales, and Commercial Strategy), and are reviewed based upon the criteria outlined on this website.

View Application Essentials to discover specific application details.

Top FAQs

The award is an industry sponsored award funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc. which is a for profit entity, not the Gilead Foundation. While the award is funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc., the review of the applications and selection of awardees is carried out by an independent scientific review committee. Gilead is not part of the scientific review committee and has no involvement in selecting the applications that receive the awards.

The approximate protected time refers to time spent on research in general. This time does not need to be spent only on research related to your RSP proposal.

The RSP Coordinator can’t provide feedback on proposed studies. Please carefully review the Scientific Focus page to ensure your proposal is in line with the program focus.

Application Deadline

11:59 PM CEST

28 Aug 2026

Grant Amount

4 Awards

$100,000