NIH Mentored Career Development Awards (K Series) Part 1

1
NIH Mentored Career Development Awards (K Series)
Part 1

• Thomas Mitchell, MPH
• Department of Epidemiology Biostatistics
• University of California San Francisco

2
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.

3
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.

4
Selected NIH K Award Mechanisms
Mentored Independent Mid-Career
K01 K02 K24
K08 K22
K07 R00
K12
K23
K25
K99
5
Types of Mentored Career Development Awards
(contd)

• 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.

6
Types of Mentored Career Development Awards
(contd)

• 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.

7
Types of Mentored Career Development Awards
(contd)

• 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.

8
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).

9
Amount of Funding per year K01 K08 K23
Salary Support 50K - 150K (75K) 75K - 105K (75K) 75K - 180K (75K)
Research/ Training 20K - 50K (25K) 20K - 90K (25K) 25K - 50K (25K)
10
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.

11
General Tips on MentoredK Awards (contd)

• 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.

12
General Tips on Mentored K Awards (contd)

• 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.

13
General Tips on Mentored K Awards (contd)

• 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.

14
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

15
Section 1 The Candidate

• 1.A Candidates 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.

16
The Candidate Review Criteria

• Quality of the candidates 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.

17
Review Criteria (contd)

• Appropriateness of the content and duration of
  the proposed didactic and research phases of the
  award.
• Consistency of the career development plan with
  the candidates career goals and prior research
  experience.

18
1.A Candidates 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 1st person (I).

19
1.A Candidates Background

• Give examples of the opportunities youve 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).

20
1.A Candidates 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.

21
1.B Career Goals and Objectives

• Suggested length 2 - 3 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.

22
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.

23
1.C Career Development Activities During
Award Period

• Suggested length 2 - 3 pages.
• Given the training areas youve 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.