In Germany alone, around four million children, adolescents and adults suffer from one of the up to 8,000 rare diseases known today. In Europe, there are more than 30 million, and the number is rising. Despite their very different diseases, they all have to struggle with very similar problems: extremely long diagnosis paths and the inadequate provision of therapies, medication and information often burden patients and their families for years.
In order to improve medical care for these “orphans of medicine”, the Eva Luise and Horst Köhler Foundation for People with Rare Diseases has been presenting the Eva Luise Köhler Research Award for Rare Diseases every year since 2008. This is awarded in cooperation with the Alliance of Chronic Rare Diseases (ACHSE).
The prize is funded with 50,000 euros and honors innovative, scientifically outstanding projects, both from basic research and translational research on rare diseases. It is aimed at researchers at all career levels. Sustainable, cross-disease and research-networking projects with high patient relevance are particularly worthy of the award. Research in the field of oncology, pure registry projects, biobanks and patient apps are not eligible for funding. Only applications from university or non-university institutes or clinics with a non-profit orientation are eligible. Applications can be submitted more than once, even in two consecutive years.
Application documents can be submitted in German or English.
The application deadline for the 17th Eva Luise Köhler Research Prize, which will be awarded in Berlin in summer 2025, is 8 September 2024 at midnight.
Contact person: Dr. Insa Gülzow, forschung@achse-online.de
