Clinical Research Career Development

NCRR's Division for Clinical Research Resources participates in clinical research career development programs of the National Institutes of Health. These programs are designed to attract talented medical students, physicians, dentists, and allied health professionals to the challenges of clinical research. The NIH Director’s Panel on Clinical Research Report definition of clinical/patient-oriented research was adopted by NIH in 1997.

Visit the NIH K Kiosk for more information about NIH Career Development Awards.

Notice: NOT-RR-07-006: Notice of NCRR's Withdrawal from PA-05-143 (K23) and PA-04-107 (K24) Funding Opportunity Announcements

Career Development Opportunities

(K30) Clinical Research Curriculum Award — intended to stimulate the inclusion of high-quality, multidisciplinary, didactic training as part of the career development of clinical investigators. It supports the development and/or improvement of core courses designed as in-depth instruction in the fundamental skills, methodologies, and theories necessary for the well-trained, independent, clinical researcher.

NIH Clinical Research Development Programs — support the early career development of clinical researchers from a variety of disciplines, including patient oriented research, translational research, small and large scale clinical investigation and trials, and epidemiologic and natural history studies.

The award mechanisms listed below were initiated as NIH Roadmap for Medical Research programs and are being continued as part of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards. The CTSA-linked mentored career development programs are referred to as the KL2/K12 and TL1/T32 programs. A major goal of the CTSA initiative is to develop a national consortium of CTSA institutions that will work together to train the next generation of clinician-scientists and transform the discipline of clinical and translational research across the country.

• K12 Mentored Clinical Research Scholar — focuses on training individuals to achieve excellence in their ability to design and oversee research in multidisciplinary team settings, and have a high potential to become leaders of various fields of clinical research critical to the overall mission of the NIH.

  The grant supports academic institutions that can provide training for up to 15-20 health professionals at the post-doctoral level. The appointees — referred to as Mentored Clinical Research Scholars or clinical research (CR) scholars — come from a variety of fields (e.g., medicine, dentistry, nursing, the behavioral sciences, biostatistics, and epidemiology) and can receive up to five years of training. The first phase of training consists of classroom instruction in how to design and conduct clinical research studies as part of a team of scientists encompassing several disciplines. During the second phase of their training, the CR scholars will design and take part in clinical research projects under the guidance of mentors who have extensive experience in conducting clinical research. This training award is unique, as it will provide training to all members of the clinical research team, including nurses, pharmacologists, biostatisticians, and epidemiologists.

• T32 Predoctoral Clinical Research Training Program. This institutional program provides interested students access to a level of clinical research training that is appropriate to their career stage and level of interest, and to accommodate their changing training needs as they progress through their predoctoral training.

  The goal of the Predoctoral Clinical Research Training Program is to increase the number of well-trained clinical researchers who will assume leadership roles in the design and oversight of future clinical investigations critical to the overall mission of the NIH. Support may be provided for up to 5 years, and the program will provide early exposure and appropriate training in clinical research for predoctoral students enrolled in medical, dental, and nursing schools in addition to pharmacy, public health, and other allied health disciplines. Students may apply for an advanced degree in a combined program where a clinically-related research master's degree (or doctorate) is given with a health-professional doctoral degree.

  The TL1 program at CTSAs allows for the support of postdoctoral fellows seeking additional training in clinical research

Notice: Existing Roadmap K12 and T32 grants to institutions that are successful in attaining a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) will be reconfigured into the CTSA program. There will be no repeat competitions for these career development grants.

Contact Information

For further information about clinical research career development support from NCRR, please contact: