Supplemental Information for NIDCD Career Development (K-Series) Award Applicants and Active Grantees
Release Date: June 27, 2000
P.T.
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
This notice provides new information on the unique guidelines and award provisions of the career development (K-award) programs offered by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). Prospective applicants should also consult the relevant trans-NIH K-award program announcement (PA) referenced below and the Form PHS-398, Section IV: RESEARCH CAREER AWARDS, for instructions on preparing an application.
The present notice supplements the following trans-NIH PAs issued in the NIH Guide:
PA-00-020: Independent Scientist Award (K02) (issued on 12/02/99)
PA-00-003: Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08) (issued on 10/08/99)
PA-00-004: Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) (issued on 10/08/99)
PA-00-005: Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24) (issued on 10/08/99)
This notice replaces and supersedes: NIDCD Supplemental Information to the NIH Career Development (K Award) Program Announcements, NIH Guide, April 27, 1999.
Increased salary levels for the K02, K08, and K23 awards made by the NIDCD are effective for competing applications submitted for the October 1, 2000, and subsequent receipt dates.
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Independent Scientist Award (K02)
The K02 award provides up to five years of salary support to recently independent scientists, having research support at the time the award is made, who demonstrate the need for a period of intensive research focus (at least 75 percent effort) in order to foster their career development as outstanding scientists. Applicants for the K02 award must document within the application that they will have peer-reviewed research support at the time of the award, or are awaiting a funding decision on a submitted research grant application. However, scientists whose work is primarily theoretical may apply for this award in the absence of external research grant support, as per the trans-NIH K02 announcement (PA-00-020). It is the policy of the NIDCD not to renew a K02 award beyond its original period of five years. Scientists with firm salary support for their research endeavors must demonstrate a compelling need for a K02 award (e.g., release time from other duties for research).
Eligibility Requirements
The applicant must hold a doctoral degree and have demonstrated independent research accomplishments at the time of application. Applicants will normally have had at least five years of postdoctoral research experience, but not yet be considered well established in the research area of the K02 application.
Allowable Costs
1. Salary
Beginning with awards made from competing applications submitted for the October 1, 2000, and subsequent receipt dates, the NIDCD will provide up to $75,000 per year of salary support, based on the established salary structure at the applicant's institution for staff members of equivalent qualifications, rank and responsibilities. When requested, the NIDCD will provide fringe benefits based on the sponsoring institution's established policies and on the proportion of the applicant's salary provided by the K02 award. Salary support in currently funded Federal research grants generally must be forfeited upon award of a K02 grant and cannot be rebudgeted to another budget category on the research grant. Consult with the NIDCD program official listed under INQUIRIES if you receive salary support from more than one Federal research grant.
2. Research Development Support
The NIDCD uses the K02 award for salary support only, and not for the support of incidental expenses related to research and career development, such as tuition, fees, books, publication costs or travel to scientific meetings.
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Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08)
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
The need to increase the numbers of clinician-investigators capable of transferring scientific knowledge from the laboratory to the clinic has been underscored by several National Institutes of Health (NIH) advisory groups and in recent reports from the Institute of Medicine, the National Research Council and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. On December 8 and 9, 1999, the NIDCD convened the Work Group on Research Training and Career Development (WGRTCD) to discuss research training and career development needs relevant to its scientific mission. Several provisions incorporated into this section of the present notice were recommended by the WGRTCD to provide substantially increased resources to K08 and K23 awardees in order to enhance their in-depth research experiences and subsequent success as independent principal investigators (PIs).
The purpose of the K08 award and the K23 award is to foster the development of clinically trained professionals into independent investigators in the biomedical and behavioral scientific mission areas of the NIDCD. These awards serve to facilitate the awardee's progression from mentored research status to research independence, not to maintain a promising clinician-scientist in postdoctoral training status. Furthermore, these awards are not designed for individuals seeking to change their career trajectories from clinical practice to research, but for individuals seeking to integrate both elements in their career. Hence, the applicant should demonstrate in the application how the K08 or K23 award will enable them, in the short- or long-term, to transfer scientific knowledge to clinical practice. Candidates seeking to concentrate their research career development on fundamental research should apply for a K08 award. Candidates seeking to concentrate their research career development on "patient-oriented research," as defined in PA-00-005, should apply for a K23 award. The K08 and K23 awards provide for three, four or five years of mentored research experience and specialized study tailored to individual needs. The duration of the project period is typically five years. The design of the career development program, including the extent and nature of mentoring, will depend on the amount of prior research experience and the need for additional experiences to achieve independence as an investigator. At least 75% of the awardee's full-time professional effort must be devoted to the program. In addition to the primary mentor, one or more co-mentors may be designated. The role(s) of the mentor(s) in the career development plan and the schedule for contact between the candidate and the mentor(s) must be carefully described in the application. To facilitate regular face-to-face contact within the mentoring relationship, the primary mentor should be based at the applicant's home institution or at an institution within a reasonable distance (i.e., approximately 100 miles) of the applicant's institution.
The K08 and K23 awards are not renewable beyond the original term of three, four or five years. Furthermore, an individual is limited to one NIH mentored career development award. The NIDCD strongly encourages K08 and K23 recipients who are successfully progressing in their career development program to submit an application for independent research support through an NIH research project grant mechanism, typically the new-investigator R01 grant, during the latter years of their award. This will facilitate a smooth, uninterrupted transition from the mentored research career stage to the independent research career stage.
Eligibility Requirements
The applicant should hold a clinical doctoral degree, have completed postgraduate clinical training and have secured employment in an academic or nonacademic research institution prior to award of a K08 or K23 grant. However, one may submit an application during the final stages of clinical training. In certain cases, the NIDCD may consider an individual holding a doctoral degree in a non-clinical discipline, but certified or licensed to perform clinical duties, eligible for these career development awards, providing the individual's career goals are to combine research with clinical practice. Individuals holding both clinical and non-clinical doctoral degrees are eligible. Two years of prior research experience, including experiences at the undergraduate, predoctoral and postdoctoral levels, is expected of K08 and K23 applicants. Individuals holding positions of senior academic rank, such as associate professor or professor, or the equivalent in non-academic settings, are not eligible to apply for these awards. Consult with the NIDCD program official listed under INQUIRIES concerning your eligibility for these programs.
Individuals who are current or former PIs on NIH K-series awards, research project grants (R01), FIRST awards (R29), program project (P01) and center (other P-series) grants (including subprojects of multiproject grants, or the equivalent) are not eligible for the K08 and K23 awards. However, recipients of small grants (R03), AREA grants (R15) and exploratory/developmental grants (R21) remain eligible. In fact, the NIDCD encourages early-stage clinician-scientists to consider applying for one year of support through an NIDCD R03 award, if needed to demonstrate the feasibility of the research to be proposed in their K08 or K23 application.
The K-awardee may hold an NIDCD R03 award concurrent with the K08 or K23 award, providing the aggregate number of years of R03 support (prior to and during the K award) does not exceed three years and that the R03 does not provide the K-awardee with additional salary support. The purpose of such an R03 grant is to provide the mentored K-awardee with additional research funds to support the transition to independence. The research specific aims (SAs) of the R03 application may overlap, but should expand upon the SAs of the K08 or K23 award, rather than duplicate the SAs of the latter award. In this case, the concurrent professional effort associated with these awards is considered overlapping rather than additive. It is also possible for a K-awardee to serve as a co-investigator (Co-I) on another PI's research grant, providing the Co-I's overall percentage effort does not exceed 100%. K08 and K23 recipients offered research support from other Federal agencies or from private professional and voluntary organizations and foundations should consult with the NIDCD program official listed under INQUIRIES prior to accepting the non-Public Health Service award.
Allowable Costs
1. Salary
The NIDCD shall provide salary support up to a maximum of $105,000, plus commensurate fringe benefits, based on the applicant institution's established salary structure for a full-time, 12-month staff member of equivalent qualifications, rank and responsibilities in the department concerned. This salary level is consistent with 75% of the current legislatively-imposed salary cap for PHS grants. Formerly, the NIDCD contributed up to $75,000 of the awardee's salary. NIDCD K08/K23 grant holders formerly awarded at this level shall not be raised to the new salary level for their noncompetitive years. (Current NIDCD K08/K23 awardees will continue to receive up to $75,000 for each remaining year of the award.)
2. Research Development Support
The NIDCD will provide up to $50,000 per annum for the research development expenses outlined in PA-00-003 and PA-00-004, including expenses relating to travel of the designated external advisory committee to the awardee's institution (see later section on External Advisory Committee).
If additional research development support is needed for an NIDCD-supported K08 or K23 grant already in progress to help transition the awardee to independence, an NIDCD R03 may be submitted. In the event that the limit of three years of aggregate R03 support has already been reached, additional support may be requested from the NIDCD as an administrative supplement application if compelling justification can be provided. The awardee should consult with the NIDCD program official listed under INQUIRIES prior to submitting such an administrative supplement application.
Application Procedures
1. Career Development Plan
In addition to the guidelines in PA-00-003 and PA-00-004, the NIDCD requires that applicants describe plans to complete a graduate-level didactic course in biostatistics and research design during the first year of the award or provide evidence that such training was previously completed by the applicant.
2. Letters of Reference
Three sealed letters of reference addressing the candidate's potential to develop into an independent investigator must be included with the application. The mentor's statement within the application should not be included as one of these letters, although the mentor(s) may submit (a) separate letter(s) of reference.
3. Environment and Institutional Commitment
The sponsoring institution must provide a statement of its commitment to the career development of the applicant within the body of the application, including an assurance that the applicant will be able to devote the requisite 75 percent effort or more to the career development plan described in the application.
4. External Advisory Committee
The NIDCD requires that the applicant, in consultation with his/her mentor(s), configure an external advisory committee, to be described in the application, composed of two scientists from outside the applicant's institution who are experts in the field of the proposed research career development, but who are not mentors or collaborators of the applicant or the applicant's mentor. The scientists should have records of mentoring new investigators and of Federal research funding. The external advisory committee members shall commit to be available to the candidate for consultation on an as-needed basis [beyond the input of the mentor(s)] and to site visit the awardee and his/her primary mentor at the home institution twice during the period of the K-award, in the first half of the second year and in the latter half of the fourth year of the award period. Each external advisory committee member shall write a letter, to be included with the application, stating his/her commitment. The underlying goal of the external advisory committee is to provide the awardee, the mentor, the institution and the NIDCD with a mechanism for quality assurance on the conduct of the research career development program. The specific purposes of these site visits are: 1) to advise the awardee in attaining the goals of the career development program, and 2) to help ensure that the institution's commitments to the terms of the award, including the awardee's protected research career development time, the research facilities and resources available and the mentorship arrangement, are being met. The travel costs associated with these site visits shall be budgeted within the application as research development expenses. A report of the input of the external advisory committee to the awardee and his/her institution, signed by each committee member, should be incorporated into the Application for Continuation Grant (PHS Form 2590) (progress report), submitted to the NIDCD by the awardee's institution for Years Three and Five of the award.
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Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24)
The NIDCD will support established clinician-investigators who have attained the academic rank of full professor, or the equivalent in non-academic settings, and have a record of Federal or private research grant funding, past and present, and scientific accomplishment in patient-oriented research who seek protected time to: 1) enhance their research program and capabilities; and 2) mentor medical residents, clinical fellows and/or junior clinical faculty in research. Individuals holding the rank of associate professor who are under consideration for full professorships by their university may submit a K24 application, but will not be funded until they attain the higher rank. Such individuals are often at a period in their careers when their research time has been seriously challenged by the increasing demands of clinical service, teaching, clinical training and administration. The award protects up to 50% of the time of such individuals and allows them to become role models for newer clinician-investigators during a period of research renewal. Applicants for this career development award must present a compelling justification for the need and utility of this mechanism for their continued career development in patient-oriented research.
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Submission Instructions for NIDCD K-Awards
In addition to the original application and three copies sent to the NIH Center for Scientific Review, send two additional copies of the application (and five sets of appendices) to:
Chief, Scientific Review Branch
Division of Extramural Activities
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
6120 Executive Boulevard, Room 400-C, MSC 7180
Bethesda, MD 20892-7180 (regular mail)
Rockville, MD 20852 (overnight/express mail)
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Inquiries
Consultation with the following program official, responsible for the NIDCD extramural research training program, is strongly encouraged prior to submitting a K-award application. Direct inquiries to:
Daniel A. Sklare, Ph.D.
Research Training Officer
Division of Extramural Activities
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Executive Plaza South, Room 400C, MSC-7180
6120 Executive Boulevard
Bethesda, MD 20892-7180 (regular mail)
Rockville, MD 20852 (overnight/express mail)
Tel: (301) 496-1804
Fax: (301) 402-6251
Email: daniel_sklare@nih.gov
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