Navigating the K Award Process CTSI K Award Workshop

July 26, 2012

Carol Mangione, MD, MSPH Professor of Medicine and Public Health

Career Development Awards (K Awards) for Individuals with a Health-Professional Doctorate

Types of CDAs •  K01: To qualify, you need to be a clinician or Ph.D. in the

fields of epidemiology and outcomes research and must have accomplished independent research experience after earning your degree.

•  K08: You are seeking salary and research support for full time supervised career development in health related research that does not involve patients.

•  K12: Provides support to an institution for the development of independent scientists. Most, but not all K12 s focus on the careers of physician scientists (required element in CTSA).

Types of CDAs •  K23: You have completed specialty training and are

seeking salary and research support for full time supervised career development in patient oriented research

•  K99/R00: Purpose is to provide an opportunity for scientists to receive both a 1 to 2 year “mentored” K (phase 1) and a 3 year independent “R” (phase 2) in the same award. To qualify, you must have a clinical or research doctorate and no more than five years of postdoctoral research training at the time of application.

•  See the K award wizard to help you select the correct mechanism:

•  http://grants.nih.gov/trainingcareerdevelopmentawards.htm •  Diversity Supplements: After administrative review these

are added onto a funded grant, with extra resources for the trainee to develop and conduct mentored research

*

Timing: When to Apply to NIH:

Timing: When to Apply to Institution:

Time Commitment and Salary Caps

• Time Commitment: • 75% full time effort (50% for neurosurgeons)

• Salary Cap increased to: • 95K for K08 and K23 and 105K for K02 (May 18, 2012, NOT-NS-12-018)

Support from Other Awards: NOT-NS-09-015 • “Within the first 3 years of a mentored K award, those who obtain an R01 or federal equivalent, may obtain up to 80% of their institutional base salary, as long as the R01 represents an expansion of the K award project” • “A minimum of 75% effort must still be devoted to the K award during the first 3 years of support.” • “During the final two years of the K, additional salary may be obtained from the awarded R01, or from another R01, for effort exceeding the 80% level. If appropriate or desired, the level of effort on the mentored K award may be reduced to a minimum of 50% during the last two years of the award.” • If you have R01 support during the final 2 years of the K…In accordance with present NIH policy, additional salary support may also be obtained from the R01 or federal equivalent

Additional Salary Support while on a CDA

•  During the last two years of a mentored career development award (K01, K08, K22, K23, K25), NIH will permit you to receive concurrent salary support from any peer-reviewed grant from any federal agency, if you meet the following criteria: •  You are a PI on a competing research project grant, or

director of a subproject on a multi-component grant, from NIH or another Federal agency.

•  Your K award is active. •  Under those circumstances, you may reduce your K

award's time and effort to 50% person months.

Governmental Alphabet Soup

•  NIH - National Institutes of Health •  AHRQ - Agency for Healthcare Research

and Quality •  PCORI – Patient Centered Outcomes

Research Institute •  RFA - Request for application •  RFP - Request for proposals •  PA - Program announcement

Approach of the NIH U.S. Government

Congressional Appropriation

NIH funds allocated to each institute

Investigator Initiated Institute Initiated

RO-1 K awards NRSA

RFP - contracts RFA - grants

Organization of the NIH •  Establish relationships with the program officers

at the institutes in your research area •  Each Institute handles career development funds

in slightly different ways – Review their websites •  2 parts:

•  Program- Includes the Institutes that set the research priorities

•  Review - CSR or Center for Scientific Review •  Evaluates the scientific merits of the proposals •  http://www.csr.nih.gov

NIH Review Process

•  Takes about 9-10 months at best •  Initial Administrative review •  Importance of the title and “steering the proposal” •  Peer Review - Study sections made up of scientists

from universities and other institutions •  Most applications are not funded on the first round •  You can resubmit up to 2 times within 37 months

of the original submission

NIH Review Process

•  Final decision by Council -- where the previous contact with administrators can matter!

•  If successful, final administrative procedures to set up the budget

•  K-08 and K-23 and NRSAs are specifically designed to train and advance the careers of junior and mid-level faculty

Approach of the NIH RO-1, NRSA, or K application

CSR assigns the application to 1) Study Section 2) An Institute

Study Section assigns a Priority Score (1-9)

Institute uses the Priority Score to rank the application among those received from various study sections

Advisory Council reviews the priorities

Applications are funded in order of priority until the money runs out!

Funding Climate

NUMBER OF RESEARCH CAREER AWARDS*

* Includes both individual and institutional awards. The actual number of individual participants is higher.

Fiscal Year

Num

ber

of

Aw

ards

TOTAL AND AVERAGE AWARD AMOUNT OF INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH CAREER AWARDS

Fiscal Year

Tot

al A

war

d A

mou

nt

(in m

illio

ns)

Ave

rage

Aw

ard

Am

ount

(in

thou

sand

s)

Total Award Amount

Average Award Amount

TOTAL COMPETING DOLLARS AWARDED TO RESEARCH CAREER ACTIVITIES

Award  Amou

nt  

(in  m

illions)  

Fiscal Year

TOTAL FUNDING FOR COMPETING RESEARCH CAREER AWARDS

BY INSTITUTES AND CENTERS

Fiscal Year

Par2cipa2ng  NIH  Ins2tutes  and  Centers  

Fund

ing

(in

mill

ions

)

NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH CAREER AWARDS

BY INSTITUTES AND CENTERS

Fiscal Year

NIH Institutes and Centers

Num

ber  of  Awards  

K01s APPLICATIONS, AWARDS, & SUCCESS RATES

K08s APPLICATIONS, AWARDS, & SUCCESS RATES

K23s APPLICATIONS, AWARDS, & SUCCESS RATES

One  Award  Only  

NIH CAREER DEVELOPMENT (K) GRANTSCompeting Applications, Awards, Success Rates and Total Funding

by NIH Institutes/Centers and Activity Code Made with Direct Budget Authority FundsFiscal Year 2010

Number of Applications

Reviewed

Number of Applications

Awarded

Success Rate Total Funding

K01 465 185 39.8% $24,377,709

K08 480 211 44.0% $30,787,581

K23 558 211 37.8% $31,635,065

See Table #204 at “report.nih.gov/FileLink.aspx?rid=551” for more details.

NIH CAREER DEVELOPMENT (K) GRANTS Competing Applications, Awards, Success Rates and Total Funding

by NIH Institutes/Centers and Activity Code Made with Direct Budget Authority FundsFiscal Year 2011

Number of Applications

Reviewed

Number of Applications

Awarded

Success Rate Total Funding

K01 441 151 34.2% $19,779,309

K08 425 177 41.6% $26,461,116

K23 599 203 33.9% $31,036,760

See Table #204 at “report.nih.gov/FileLink.aspx?rid=551” for more details.

K01 APPLICATIONS AND AWARDS BY PARTICIPATING INSTITUTES AND CENTERS

FY 2007

Participating NIH Institutes and Centers

Num

ber

of A

pplic

atio

ns/

Aw

ards

Applications

Awards      

K23 APPLICATIONS AND AWARDS BY PARTICIPATING INSTITUTES AND CENTERS

FY 2007

Participating NIH Institutes and Centers

Num

ber

of A

pplic

atio

ns/

Aw

ards

Applications

Awards      

Diversity Supplements FY07 *

*

Diversity Supplements FY07 *

First steps in K proposal preparation

•  Requires several months of reading, organizing, writing, and revising

•  Check NIH REPORTER to make sure that your proposed study is not already underway

•  Decide where will it go and/or who your audience is

First steps in K proposal preparation

•  Pick a mentor and organize the project team •  Will more than one person be writing? •  Make sure to include co-mentors with the main areas of

expertise needed to design and complete the study-- step back and think carefully about what areas are critical to cover

•  Give considerable thought to the curricular agenda. Which content areas will advance your career the most?

•  Decide early on whether matriculating a degree will be part of the plan – the desirability of this varies by institute so ask!

Key Personnel •  PI or Mentee:

•  Has ultimate authority and accountability for the study. •  The day-to-day manager of the study. •  Usually is an entry level faculty member who is gaining the

needed experience and publications to become a PI on RO-1s •  Mentor:

•  Granting agencies look carefully at this person’s track record and experience both as a researcher and a mentor.

•  This will usually be a senior scientist (i.e. Associate Professor or higher)

•  Most competitive if this person is already funded as a PI at the same institute…or at least one of the institutes.

First steps in K proposal preparation

•  EARLY ON talk to the scientific administrator! •  Follow the written guidelines from the funder carefully

•  Outline of the structure •  Page limits •  Font sizes •  Funding limits •  Elements that must be included •  Priority areas

Get Organized

•  Work from an outline •  Establish a timeline for completing the proposal - make

time to work on this •  Have the mentorship team meet periodically •  Give assignments with deadlines •  Make deadlines for yourself •  Find a model proposal

•  recently funded by the same agency •  look over the reviews if you can get a hold of them

•  REVIEW, PRETEST, REVISE REPEATEBLY

Questions?

More coming up from Dr. Salusky on proposal preparation and Dr. Norris on the review process