Building a Research Career

1. Building a Research Career Ralph Nitkin, Ph.D. - RN21E@NIH.GOV National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR) Eunice K. Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) National Institutes of Health (NIH)

2. General comments • Start with an area where you care about the outcomes and are interested in the techniques • Preferably an under-occupied niche that has research potential • With time, differentiate yourself from your mentors and colleagues • Build a theme, with balance between low-risk and high-risk projects

3. Research is very different from Clinical Treatment • Seek causative links not just correlative associations • Develop mechanistic hypotheses; predictions • Seek opportunities to control/isolate variables • Design experiments to critically challenge your hypotheses and get conclusive results • Defend your choices: patient population, inclusion/exclusion, subject numbers, dosing, outcome measures, etc.

4. Self Assessment • What is your skill set? • What is your record of productivity? • What does your CV project? • Do you have passion and persistence? • What is (will be) your research identity? • What do you “like” doing?

5. Choosing your Mentor(s) • Complementary but not overlapping background • Research status: publications, grant funding • Record of mentoring, and committed to you • Understands your goals and expectations • Works with you to develop Research Project • Consider scientific as well as career mentors • And remember: You have to hold up your side of the bargain

6. Additional Considerations on your Early Collaborations • There are advantages in not being too original at the start • You must realistically think about rapid productivity • If you work on a close off-shoot of a mentor’s research s/he will be able to help you anticipate and solve methodological problems • If you work on a more distant problem, your mentor will be able to offer guidance but less direct experience

7. What to look for in a Faculty position • Realistic amount of protected time and for how long [teaching, clinical responsibilities, administrative duties ] • Access to patients, technologies, and/or animal facilities • Continued mentorship & support for career development; Seek an environment that nurtures your growth • People who understand your work and share ideas - you cannot be effective as a solitary investigator • Reasonable start-up package, funded students or fellows, and summer salary (if on nine-month appointment) • Having funding in hand provides leverage • You only have leverage until you take the position • Understand the expectations for tenure

8. Practical Considerations • Think realistically about productivity (i.e., publications), especially early in your career • Develop mixed portfolio: mostly sure-fire studies with a few high-risk excursions • Develop a stable base of grant funding • Guard your time; collaborate effectively

9. Developing a Research Application • Review current literature and ideas with mentors and colleagues • Define and refine the problem under study • Develop hypotheses and a logical sequence of approach • Use the most direct methods or approaches to achieve your goals; propose alternative approaches • Why hasn’t this been done before? • Will your approach be conclusive? • What will be the impact on the field?

10. Networking • Gather access to the necessary resources, equipment, and reagents • Recruit necessary collaborators • Document access to research subjects, animals, equipment, etc • Discuss your proposal with NIH staff (e.g., current research initiatives, funding mechanisms, study sections)

11. Preliminary Studies • Demonstrate your competence, commitment, and standards • Suggests the feasibility of your approach • Chance to address potential theoretical hurdles • Document ability to use difficult or highly specialized techniques through: • Personal mastery (e.g., past publications, preliminary data, your writing style) • Recruiting collaborators with appropriate expertise

12. Progression of Funding [NIH model] • Training grants and fellowships • Career development awards (K awards) • Smaller foundation grants & pilot studies • Co-investigator on R01 or other major grants • Principal investigator on major grant (R01) • Involvement in larger collaborative studies

13. Training and Career Development • Individual Fellowships • Graduate students (F31) or Postdoc (F32) • Institutional Training Grants (T32) • Dept support for graduate and/or Postdocs • Career Development Mechanisms (K awards) • New investigator in specific fields or • Clinician getting into research • Mentored research (3-5 yrs @ 75% effort) • Application processes may vary across NIH institutes

14. Career Development application • Write a Career Development plan • Who are you now and what skills do you possess • Who do you want to be and what skills will you need; What are your professional goals • What kind of training experiences (courses, lab exposures, collaborations) will get you there • What additional mentorship will you need • Develop a realistic time-line

15. The Career Development (K award) Application is like an Autobiography • Show that you are a good candidate: • Focus - Productivity – Experiences • Articulate your Career Goals, both short-term • and long-term • Do a needs assessment: strengths/weaknesses • Discuss appropriateness and commitment of your • proposed mentor(s) • Propose other didactic experiences, as needed: • courses, workshops, sabbaticals • Research Project (developed with mentor); to get you • needed skills, training, credibility, and publications

16. What are your career goals? Give them a “hook”: focus on a mechanism or approach Not just a technique, patient population, or research tool

17. Given those research goals . . . • What skill set do you need? • What are your strengths? Experiences? • Where do you need further training, e.g.: • Molecular or cellular biology; Genetics • Clinical disorders and patient populations? Pathophysiological processes? Outcome measures and assessment tools? Behavioral and Psychosocial strategies? Bioengineering? Statistics?

18. The Research Project • Experiential: exposes you to needed techniques, approaches, and/or patient populations • Develops your research identity and credibility • Shows that you understand how to develop and write a research application • Potential to translate into publications • Demonstrates commitment/involvement of mentor • Document access to patient populations and specialized resources • Reasonable time-line and expectations

19. NIH Career Development Mechanisms

20. Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) Clinical trained in targeted area and have advanced degree (e.g., PhD or MD) NIH Institutes have their own specialized uses of this mechanism to promote research in certain fields For example, NICHD is currently targeting: Medical Rehabilitation Population research Child abuse and neglect NIH-wide announcement http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-040.html NICHD-specific info at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not96-301.html

21. Mentored Clinical Researcher(K08 and K23 mechanism) Clinically trained individual (e.g., MD) . . . seeking training in basic research = K08 http://gr.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-042.html seeking training in patient-oriented research = K23 http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-043.html

22. Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award (K25) Quantitative or Engineering background getting into biomedical Research http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-039.html

23. Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) Two phase award: • 1-2 yrs years mentored support as a postdoc (<$90,000/yr) • Then up to 3 yrs support as beginning faculty (<$249,000/year) • Open to non-US citizens http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-036.html

24. Supplements to already-funded NIH research grants To add qualified individuals at any career level (high school through beginning investigator) who: • are from under-represented minorities • come from disadvantaged backgrounds • have disabilities • re-entering research after family obligations Contact NIH program director of funded grant http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-08-190.html

25. NIH Loan Repayment Program To repay educational debt (up to $35,000/yr) Requires up to a two-year commitment to research Five Loan Repayment programs: Clinical Research Pediatric Research Health Disparities Research Clinical Researchers from Disadvantaged Bkgs Contraception and Infertility Research http://www.lrp.nih.gov/

26. New and Early-Stage Investigators • NIH encouraging support for new investigators • “New investigator” status highlighted in the peer-review process • NIH Institutes have extended paylines • Shortened review cycle (for ESI) • See NIH websites for specific policy New Investigator = never been PI on an R01 grant Early Career = New and within 10 yrs of terminal research degree

27. You are encouraged to contact NIH staff • Look through websites of NIH Institutes to identify appropriate “program officials” • As introduction, email your abstract and “specific aims” pages • Discuss potential grant mechanisms, funding initiatives, and study section assignments • After review, program official can help interpret your summary statement and likelihood of funding • But funding decisions are largely driven by you getting the best possible score from the study section