Health issues do not usually follow a convenient schedule. With the constant influence of population shifts, environmental changes, technology, and politics, they continue to emerge and evolve with every passing moment. Because of this, it is important for the scientific and health care communities to be vigilant and responsive to new problems as they arise.

While a wide variety of funding agencies provide invaluable financial support for basic scientific and clinical research, most of these sources of support function on a prescribed schedule characterized by a grant submission period, a period of grant review, and then a period disbursal of funds to successful grant applicants. While this model of funding has provided the majority of support for vital discoveries in science and medicine, it is inherently limited in its ability to respond rapidly to emerging health problems.

Because the impact of some health issues may increase with time, and because the cause of these issues may be easiest to identify early in their evolution, a mechanism of immediate support for scientific and clinical research is a vital component of an effective system for the identification and eradication of issues that negatively impact feline health.

Given the importance of such a mechanism, the Cornell Feline Health Center is happy to announce the establishment of a Rapid Response Fund for the support of investigation of emerging issues in feline health. This fund will be used to support investigators who are on the forefront of basic scientific and clinical research into a wide variety of emerging feline diseases and husbandry issues in a timely manner. The application process for this fund will be streamlined to provide financial support rapidly, within a time frame that will increase the likelihood of identifying, mitigating and/or eradicating factors that negatively influence feline health.

With the establishment of this unique fund, the Cornell Feline Health Center continues to work toward our goal of improving the health of all cats by responding rapidly to emerging feline health issues as they arise.

Read about our 2020 Rapid Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: