Institutional Career Development Core

Given the complex challenges of developing preventative measures and novel treatments for disease and improving health, we see an imperative to train the next generation of translational researchers in an interdisciplinary environment. The Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS)—a partnership between the University of Washington, Seattle Children's, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center—is an incredibly rich environment for clinical and translational research and attracts PhD, MD and other clinically trained investigators. The reach of ITHS extends beyond its hub in Seattle across Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho (WWAMI), providing distinct opportunities through clinical research networks and collaborating universities. Since 2007, the ITHS KL2 Multidisciplinary Career Development Program has cultivated a group of talented junior faculty from a wide variety of disciplines. The primary goal of the 3-year program is to prepare a well-rounded group of early career faculty to lead interdisciplinary teams conducting translational research that will ultimately improve human health. ITHS provides salary and research funds, protected time, and mentorship to 9 scholars each year. The 62 scholars trained to date produced 458 publications while in the program and have been awarded more than $73M in NIH funding. ITHS now proposes to enhance the existing KL2 program through two new major aims to: 1. Create a larger cohort to promote scholar engagement through the addition of an institutionally supported KL2 seminar fellows program. We will maintain 13-15 seminar fellows per year, early career investigators who participate fully in the KL2 curriculum for up to 2 years but are supported by other funds. The larger cohort will enrich the KL2 experience for funded scholars by providing more opportunities for peer engagement and by adding additional scientific perspectives, which has a positive impact on innovation. 2. Increase the breadth of the KL2 cohort to support more scientists across partner and regional research institutions. We will expand outreach, purposeful recruitment, and pre-application support to draw investigators with unique scientific discipline not otherwise in our cohort. We will recruit from both our 3 Seattle-based partners and from regional institutions, expanding the geographic and disciplinary reach of our program. Centering this as a major aim will help train a translational research workforce equipped to improve the health of all Americans. KL2 scholars and seminar fellows will be rigorously trained using a curriculum grounded in translational science core competencies in a unique interdisciplinary environment. Scholars benefit from guidance of their scientific mentors and KL2 Program Directors. Graduates will be positioned to lead effective research teams that work across disciplinary and institutional boundaries, making a positive impact on human health.