Clarification Of Eligibility For Mid-Career Investigator Award In Patient-Oriented Research (K24)

Notice Number: NOT-OD-06-095

Key Dates
Release Date: August 22, 2006

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH) (http://grants.nih.gov/)

Policy

The purpose of this Notice is to clarify the eligibility of principal investigators for the Mid-Career Investigator Award in Patient Oriented Research (K24) as previously announced in PA-04-107.  Candidates for this award must be mid-career health-professional doctorates or equivalent and should be at the Associate Professor level or the equivalent.  Applicants may request and may be awarded from three to five years of support.  K24 awardees may apply for a one-time renewal for an additional three to five years of support if the K24 recipient continues to have independent peer-reviewed patient-oriented research support at the time of submission of the competing renewal application. Applicants should clearly demonstrate their continuing need for protected time to expand their research and mentoring programs.  During the course of the initial award, an investigator may be promoted from Associate Professor to Full Professor.  Such investigators are considered to be eligible to apply for renewal of their support, as long as they meet all other eligibility requirements stated in PA-04-107.  Renewal K24 applications will not be rejected, nor will they be unscored, solely based on the applicant’s academic rank.  Reviewers will continue to apply their professional judgment in assessing the five review criteria, and in assigning priority scores to specific K24 grant applications.   Individual NIH Institutes and Centers may differ in the programmatic priority that they apply to investigator rank in reaching their funding decisions.  Differences in the rates of investigator promotion may mean that a Full Professor may or may not be considered mid-career depending on the discipline. 

Rationale:  The intent of this program is two-fold: 1) to enable mid-career clinician scientists to devote more time and to augment their capabilities in patient-oriented research; and 2) to enable mid-career clinical scientists to mentor new clinical investigators in the conduct of patient-oriented research.  A K24 award recipient who continues to have an independent peer-reviewed patient-oriented research program and continues to provide mentoring to new investigators can continue to contribute to the overall goals of the program after being promoted.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the Institute or Center representatives listed in the program announcement for advice regarding Institute and Center priorities.

Inquiries

Inquiries concerning this Notice may be directed to:

Office of Extramural Programs
National Institutes of Health
Email: NIHTrain@mail.nih.gov

Weekly TOC for this Announcement
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices

	Office of Extramural Research (OER)			National Institutes of Health (NIH) 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20892			Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
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