Institutional Career Development Core

Without a CTSA hub within 250 miles, Frontiers plays a critical role in addressing the science and health care workforce needs for clinical and translational research (CTR) in the Midwest. Alumni of Frontiers career development programs drive research for improvements in clinical and public health practice – advancing the delivery of innovations to the patients and communities that need them. Frontiers brings together more than 200 federally-funded investigators in CTR drawn from eight regional Midwestern institutions with strong track records of working across state lines and institutional boundaries to advance interdisciplinary research. The overarching goal for the Frontiers KL2 career development program is to provide early-stage scientists with the mentoring, tools, and environment needed to become successful translational researchers. Since 2011 when the Frontiers CTSA was first funded, 20 scholars have been enrolled. One hundred percent of graduates remain engaged in research with 93% of our graduates leading NIH-funded or major foundation-supported research projects, participating as key personnel on interdisciplinary research teams, or leading research in entrepreneurial ventures. KL2 scholars have more than 500 publications. Scholar project topics have run the spectrum from methodological projects for statisticians, to basic research in gene-environment interaction, to behavioral health projects addressing diet, physical activity, obesity, eating disorders, and autism spectrum disorders. Scholars come from a variety of disciplines, with a complement of clinical PhDs (25%), research PhDs (35%), and MDs (40%). In this renewal, we seek to recruit applicants from all phases of clinical and translational research (T0-T4), surround these scholars with mentoring teams that provide sponsorship in addition to content expertise, and train scholars to conduct cutting edge CTR. We propose the following aims: Aim 1. Recruit a highly qualified, dedicated, and multidisciplinary pool of KL2 scholars to expand CTR infrastructure for the region and the nation. Aim 2. Help KL2 scholars build exceptional mentor teams who will guide, advocate for, and sponsor scholars, so that they will succeed and stay motivated to move meaningful research into practice. Aim 3. Train KL2 scholars in the competencies needed to conduct scientifically rigorous research that will accelerate the timeline for meaningful CTR contributions for the region and the nation. Aim 4. Employ continuous improvement strategies to evaluate KL2 recruitment, mentorship, and career development with the goal of accelerating the development of CTR scientists and increasing the impact of their scientific contributions. Integration of our KL2 training program with our overall CTSA goals will help ensure a close alignment between the needs and resources of Frontiers-affiliated institutions and will increase the likelihood that our scholars will be able to address the CTR needs of our region and the nation.