PILOT and FEASIBILITY GRANT PROGRAM SUMMARY The Boston Area Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center Pilot and Feasibility (BADERC P&F) program has been effective both in recruiting and maintaining new talent in diabetes and endocrinology research, and in fostering the most innovative pilot projects among established investigators with a new idea in diabetes research. The subsequent funding history of P&F recipients from our first three funding cycles 2000-2014 has been outstanding, despite the adverse funding climate, with nearly 75% of investigators achieving subsequent PI status on diabetes-related NIH or foundation grants, and the overwhelming majority remaining in academic diabetes-related research. The 73 pilot awards administered over the most recent 10 years of full, active funding, alone (2009-2019) have spawned 87 NIH R-level project grants (or equivalent), estimated at more than $93,000,000 in research funding. As such, the investment of ~$3.9M of P&F funds administered 2009-2019 has realized a >2200% return on investment, exclusive of additional NIH career development awards, and additional foundation and industry funding. Of these 73 awardees, an impressive 77% have obtained subsequent diabetes- related research funding, and 91% remain in academic diabetes research. A further deliberate evolution of the program has been towards funding an increasing number of cutting-edge clinical and translational research projects, comprising over 1/3 of all funded applications in the 2014-2019 funding cycle. During our 2-year funding gap, a testament to our commitment to this impactful program and to growing the next generation of leaders in diabetes research, we have continued to support 7 of the most innovative P&F proposals with a second year of funding, and funded 2 new BADERC-Nutrition Obesity Research Center of Harvard (NORC-H) jointly funded proposals by judicious funding reallocation. Overall, the success of the BADERC P&F program reflects the ability of the investigators who constitute the BADERC research base to recruit and train outstanding, ambitious, creative and productive young investigators. The BADERC P&F program contributes demonstrably to the career progress of these exciting young scientists and their entry into diabetes research. The program has the ultimate goal of fostering the careers of those who will contribute to the advancement of knowledge and therapeutics for all forms of diabetes. In the coming grant period, we will continue to fund and support the most promising P&F projects, and introduce innovations that further the BADERC mission to recruit and retain the most talented and diverse pool of investigators throughout the Boston area in basic, clinical, and translational diabetes-related research.