Overview

The Pfizer Quality Improvement (QI) Competitive Grant Program—Optimizing RSV Diagnosis in Hospitalized Adults—invites proposals for sustainable, system-level changes that improve timely and guideline-concordant RSV laboratory testing in adult patients admitted to emergency departments or hospitalized with respiratory symptoms. Projects should translate existing evidence on RSV diagnostics into local practice by strengthening testing pathways, raising clinical awareness, and enhancing reporting mechanisms to support improved patient management and surveillance.

This program is designed to support data-guided initiatives that address common implementation gaps, such as low testing rates, delayed testing, limited access to molecular diagnostics, inconsistent specimen collection, and prolonged turnaround times. Core project components may include baseline assessments of current testing practices, standardized clinical pathways and ordering prompts, laboratory and workflow interventions, and the establishment or upgrade of sentinel hospital RSV surveillance. Proposals should describe measurable system changes, such as updated triage or testing protocols, lab workflow redesign, standardized result communication, or audit-and-feedback dashboards.

Note that this is a quality improvement program, not a clinical research program. Projects evaluating the efficacy of therapeutic or diagnostic agents or projects that are purely educational in nature will not be considered. The primary audience includes healthcare professionals and laboratory teams involved in the assessment and testing of adult patients with acute respiratory illness.

Funding and Project Length

• Individual Project Budget: Requests of up to $50,000 USD will be considered.
• Total Available Budget: The estimated total available budget for this RFP is $350,000 USD.
• Maximum Project Length: 12 months.
• Allowable Costs: Award amounts may include direct costs, institutional overhead costs (capped at 28% per Pfizer policy), and indirect costs. Equipment hire or leasing is acceptable, though capital purchases are not funded.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants include medical, dental, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy professional schools; healthcare institutions; professional organizations; government agencies; and other entities with a mission related to healthcare improvement. Only organizations are eligible to receive grants. The Project Lead or Principal Investigator must be an employee or contractor of the requesting organization, and the requesting organization must be legally able to receive award funding directly from Pfizer LLC.

Collaborations within institutions as well as between different organizations are encouraged. All partners must have a relevant role, and the requesting organization must hold a key role in the project.

Geographic Scope: Projects must be located in one of the following countries:

• Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland

Application Process

Applications must be submitted via the online portal at www.cybergrants.com/pfizer/QI. First-time users should click “Create your password” and then click the “Start A New Quality Improvement Grant Application” button.

In the application, select “Yes” for the “Competitive Grant?” question. Select “Infectious Disease – Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) – Older adults” as the Primary Area of Interest and “2026 Vac Eastern Cluster RSV Detection QI” as the Competitive Grant Program Name. Complete all required sections and upload the full proposal in the Proposal/Protocol field.

The full proposal should be single-spaced using Calibri 12-point font with 1-inch margins and must not exceed 15 pages, excluding references. Proposals must address the following sections: Goals and Objectives, Assessment of Need, Target Audience, Project Design and Methods, Innovation, Evaluation and Outcomes, Anticipated Project Timeline, Organization Detail, and Budget Detail (in USD).

Deadline and Timeline

• RFP Release Date: May 14, 2026
• Submission Deadline: June 22, 2026, at 23:59 Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT -5). Applications submitted after this date will not be reviewed.
• Anticipated Grant Award Notification: July 2026
• Anticipated Project Start Date: September 2026

Contact Information

Questions regarding this RFP should be directed in writing to the Grant Officer, Nicola Fenderico, at Nicola.Fenderico@Pfizer.com. The subject line must include: “Optimizing RSV diagnosis by improving RSV detection in patients admitted to ED/hospitalized due to respiratory symptoms”.

For technical difficulties with the submission website, applicants may use the “Technical Questions” link found at the bottom of the Cybergrants portal.