iACTIVATE: Investigators Advancing via Coaching at the Transition to Independence: a Value-Adding Team Experience

The United States biomedical workforce is responsible for scientific discovery and advancement of our nation’s science. Early-career researchers bring new ideas, skills, and talents to support such innovation and impact. In 2024, the National Institutes of Health funded over 5,000 early-career researchers with career development awards, supporting the research pipeline that is critical for scientific discovery. Such funding is foundational in the early career stage, and researchers must transition to independence with continued funding to remain in the biomedical workforce and advance the research enterprise. Early-career faculty, including those at pivotal points in their trajectory such as transitioning to independence, are more vulnerable to challenges at the local and national levels due to fewer established funding sources and publishing opportunities. As such, interventions are needed to support early-career researchers to successfully transition to independence. Coaching, a practice commonly utilized in business and management, holds potential to be a high-impact intervention for early-career investigators. Coaching applies inquiry, encouragement, and accountability to increase self-awareness, motivation, and the capacity to take effective action. The current literature on coaching in medicine suggests benefits for clinicians and administrators in terms of process metrics largely. Few studies have focused on investigators, combined individual and group coaching with customized feedback, or examined productivity and advancement outcomes. This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate a professional coaching intervention directed at early-career investigators, based on having a K-level or equivalent award. This novel intervention is based on principles of social cognitive career theory, and content is aligned with researcher competencies and informed by early-career researchers. Outcomes focus on established measures of success for faculty investigators, including self-efficacy, research productivity, and career advancement obtained through surveys (Aim 1 and 2). These data will be combined with interviews to fully capture the impact of the coaching program by understanding nuanced individual experiences (Aim 1) and experiential sampling method to examine the mechanism by which the program fosters research productivity and career persistence (Aim 3). Results from this study will provide rigorous evidence about the effect of a novel, theory-based coaching intervention on early-career investigators while offering a scalable approach that can be readily adopted by academic institutions and professional organizations. Dissemination will be supported by the development of a train-the-coach guide and coaching program toolkit. Such interventions are vital to maintain a skilled biomedical workforce and support scientific innovation in order to address the health needs of the nation’s population.