NIH Mentored Career Development Awards (K Series) Part 1 Thomas Mitchell, MPH Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics University of California San Francisco

Types of Mentored Career Development Awards There are a number of different mentored K awards that individuals with a research or health professional doctorate should consider. Most of these awards support individuals after they have completed training and are transitioning to a faculty position.

Key Features of Mentored K Awards 3 – 5 years in length Provide substantial salary support but limited research funding. Contain both a training plan and a research plan. Includes a team of mentors, co-mentors, advisors, etc. Goal: transition to research “independence”.

Selected NIH K Award Mechanisms MentoredIndependentMid-Career K01K02K24 K08K22 K07R00 K12 K23 K25 K99

Types of Mentored Career Development Awards (cont’d) K01s Mentored Research Scientist Development Award: provides for an intensive, supervised career development experience in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences leading to research independence. Some NIH institutes use this award for individuals who propose to train in a new field. Other NIH institutes use this award to increase research workforce in particular types of research.

Types of Mentored Career Development Awards (cont’d) K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award: development of the independent clinical research scientist. K12 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Program Award: support for an institution for the development of independent clinical scientists.

Types of Mentored Career Development Awards (cont’d) K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award: Development of the independent research scientist in a clinical arena. K25 Mentored Quantitative Research Development Award: To foster interdisciplinary collaboration in biomedical research by supporting career development experiences for scientists with quantitative and engineering backgrounds.

Newest Types of Mentored Career Development Awards K99/R00 NIH Pathway to Independence (PI) Award: Provides an opportunity for promising post-doctoral scientists to receive both mentored and independent research support from the same award. K22 Career Transition Award: Provides 2 years of funding, once the candidate (postdoctoral fellow) has attained a full-time faculty position (to be achieved within 12 months of the award).

Amount of Funding per year K01K08K23 Salary Support $50K - $150K ($75K) $75K - $105K ($75K) $75K - $180K ($75K) Research/ Training $20K - $50K ($25K) $20K - $90K ($25K) $25K - $50K ($25K)

General Tips on Mentored K Awards Understand the intent of the mentored K award. To help promising new investigators achieve research independence (i.e., to compete successfully for R01 funding). Therefore, preparing for the R01 grant application you will submit at the end of the K award should be the organizing principle of the K grant application.

General Tips on Mentored K Awards (cont’d) Make a compelling argument why you need a K award Explain exactly how additional training and mentored research experience will enable you to compete successfully for R01 funding. Be specific: give concrete examples of areas where you need additional training or experience in order to conduct the proposed research or areas where you are deficient that are directly related to your research career goals.

General Tips on Mentored K Awards (cont’d) Develop a career development training plan that is uniquely suited to you. Given your previous training and research experience, and your short- and long-term career goals, propose a mix of didactic training and “hands- on” research experience that make perfect sense for you (and only you). Degree-granting programs (e.g., MPH, MAS) are appropriate for candidates with little or no previous formal training in research, but even these programs should be “customized” whenever possible.

General Tips on Mentored K Awards (cont’d) For candidates with substantial previous formal training in research, a plan that emphasizes “hands-on” research experience is appropriate. Reviewers expect you to fully exploit the training resources available to you.

Writing a competitive mentored K award grant application 4 main sections of the grant application: The Candidate Statements by Mentors, Co-Mentors, and Collaborators Environment and Institutional Commitment to Candidate Research Plan Plus: 3 sealed letters of recommendation

Section 1: The Candidate 1.A Candidate’s background 1.B Career goals and objectives 1.C Career development activities during award period Suggested length: 4-8 pages – remember, Section 1 (Candidate) plus Section 4 (Research Plan) combined cannot exceed 25 pages.

The Candidate: Review Criteria Quality of the candidate’s academic and clinical record. Potential to develop as an outstanding independent researcher. Likelihood that the career development plan will contribute substantially to the scientific development of the candidate.

Review Criteria (cont’d) Appropriateness of the content and duration of the proposed didactic and research phases of the award. Consistency of the career development plan with the candidate’s career goals and prior research experience.

1.A Candidate’s Background Suggested length: Approximately 1 page. Using your NIH biosketch as your guide, provide a personal narrative of your professional career. Explain why you made key career choices (e.g., to pursue specific kinds of training opportunities or research projects). OK to use 1 st person (“I”).

1.A Candidate’s Background Give examples of the opportunities you’ve had to engage in research (basic or clinical), as evidence of your long-standing commitment to research. Describe your role in these projects; highlight early evidence of productivity (e.g., pursuing a specific question, analyzing data, presenting or publishing your results). Describe any formal research training (e.g., TICR, MPH).

1.A Candidate’s Background Tip: Begin this section with a summary statement regarding your long-term research career goals. Example: “My goal in seeking a Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award is to advance our understanding of health disparities in chronic kidney disease (CKD) within Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Specifically, I seek to develop the skills necessary to establish a community-based CKD cohort with the ultimate objectives of identifying modifiable, ethnicity-specific risk factors for CKD; improving access to CKD care; and developing effective management strategies to confront the higher rates of end-stage renal disease observed in ethnic minority communities.”

1.B Career Goals and Objectives Suggested length: pages Explain how further training and mentored research experience will enable you to achieve independence (ie, to compete successfully for R01 funding). The research plan you propose should include some specific “challenges,” for which you need additional training and/or experience to accomplish successfully. These “deficits” in your training/experience then become the focus of your career development training plan.

1.B Career Goals and Objectives Describe the specific areas where you have deficiencies (e.g., primary data collection, biostatistics, qualitative research methods). Explain why gaining additional training and mentored research experience in these areas will be critical to achieving your short-term and long-term career development goals. Give concrete examples.

1.C Career Development Activities During Award Period Suggested length: pages. Given the training areas you’ve indicated in Section 1.B, describe the specific training areas you will pursue to acquire these skills. Describe in detail how you will gain this training, such as through specific courses, individualized tutorials, or practical experience gained from conducting the research. See Examples 1, 2, and 3.