Overview of Mentored K Awards Shawna V. Hudson, PhD Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health UMDNJ-RWJMS The Cancer Institute of New Jersey April 13, 2010

Postdoctoral Training Support (T32, F32) Research Training and Development Mentored Career Development Award (K01, K07, K22, K25, K99) or Small or Exploratory/Pilot Grant (R03, R21, R34) STAGES: Graduate or Medical School Post-Doc.EarlyCareer (Inst or Asst Prof) Mid-Career / Change (Assoc or Full Prof) Predoctoral Fellowship (F31) or Short-term Training Support (T35) Independent Scientist or Mid- Career Award (K02, K05, K24) ResearchProject Grant (R01)

Mentored Career Development Awards Designed for investigators who are in the early phases of establishing their research careers (e.g., junior faculty/research staff) and who need an additional period of mentored research training in order to become established as independent investigators.

The purpose of a K award is… to enable you to become an independent researcher to protect your time for research activity to have your own R01 by the end of the K or soon after to generate pilot data

TOTAL AND AVERAGE AWARD AMOUNT OF INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH CAREER AWARDS Fiscal Year Total Award Amount (in millions) Average Award Amount (in thousands) Total Award AmountAverage Award Amount

NUMBER OF RESEARCH CAREER AWARDS BY ACTIVITY Fiscal Year Number of Awards

TOTAL FUNDING FOR COMPETING RESEARCH CAREER AWARDS BY INSTITUTES AND CENTERS Fiscal Year Participating NIH Institutes and Centers Funding (in millions)

 K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (AHRQ, NIDDK, NCI etc.)  K07 Cancer Prevention, Control Behavioral and Population Sciences Career Development Award  K22 Career Transition Award (NCI, NHLBI, NIMH, NCMHD) Mentored Career Development Awards (Mentored – Ks)

 Duration: 3-5 years  Minimum Research Effort: 75%  Renewability: None  Support: Varies across institute. For NCI salary is up to $100K and research is up to $30K per year What Are the Requirements?

 U.S. Citizen, Non-Citizen National, or Permanent Resident  Research or Clinical Doctoral Degree (PhD, MD)  Current PI of PHS Career Development (K) or certain Research (R) Awards are Ineligible  Former PI of PHS Career Development (K) and Research (R) Awards are Ineligible (except R03, R21, R34) Who Can Apply?

Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01)  Purpose: to provide support and “protected time” for an intensive, supervised career development experience in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences leading to research independence.  Purpose: to provide support and “protected time” for an intensive, supervised career development experience in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences leading to research independence.  Some Institutes/Centers support individuals who  propose to train in a new field;  have had a hiatus in their research career  or to increase research workforce diversity.

Success Rates – K Awards 38% Applicant Information - K awards

Mentored K’s – Review Criteria  Candidate  Mentors, Consultants & Collaborators  Career Development Plan  Institutional Commitment  Research Plan

Beginning the Process Where do you want your career to take you? What problems do you want to take on? Who do you want to be when you grow up?

What training, experience, and skills… –Do you have –Do you lack and must obtain to get you to your goals?

Statements by Mentors, Co-Mentors, and Collaborators Assemble a complementary team –Choose a primary mentor who is a senior investigator with a track-record of NIH funding; your primary mentor should be at the home institution but not always. –Include co-mentors who will complement the primary mentor’s strengths. –Each member of your “team” must play a role in your training or research plan. –Establish a relatively small (3-4) mentoring committee. –If you need to add additional members, call them scientific or technical advisors/collaborators, who have a relatively narrow area of responsibility and focus.

Statements by Mentors, Co-Mentors, and Collaborators (Cont’d) Evaluation criteria for primary mentor: –Appropriateness of mentor’s research qualifications in the area of this application. –Quality and extent of mentor’s role in providing guidance and advice to candidate. –Previous experience in fostering the development of more junior researchers. –History of productivity and support. –Adequacy of support for the research project.

Training Plan Should provide you the skills & knowledge you lack Can include taking coursework, spending time in a real world setting, readings & discussion with a mentor, etc. Choose mentors that are the best fit – not the closest geographically Always consider training outside your area!

Description of Institutional Environment Evaluation criteria: –Adequacy of research facilities and the availability of appropriate educational opportunities. –Quality and relevance of the environment for scientific and professional development of the candidate.

Institutional Commitment to Candidate’s Research Career Development Evaluation criteria –Applicant institution’s commitment to the scientific development of the candidate and assurances that the institution intends the candidate to be “an integral part of its research program.” –Applicant institution’s commitment to protect at least 75% of the candidate’s effort for proposed career development activities. –These assurances are stated in a letter from your department chair or division chief.

Research Plan (in K Awards) Should be a logical extension of the training plan Should provide you an opportunity to try out new skills & knowledge learned in training Should provide you with the experience and data you will need for your first R01 or R34 Should be another opportunity to learn from mentors

Useful websites NIH “K Kiosk” elopmentawards.htm elopmentawards.htm elopmentawards.htm NIH funding information at NIH Reporter lists current grants at m m m